1387

FIRST PICTURE: (With tour Window decal). Thundering through Paddock Woo
left is on the former Hawkhurst branch. (Richard Weller.). FOLLOWING THR

NEXT PAGE: Like all the other photos, heading east, this time at He

od as a train leaves for Charing Cross. The NR training establishment lower
REE, INCLUDING BELOW: Approaching Wandsworth Road. (Stuart Hicks.)

eadcorn on the Down Main. (Very appropriately by Andy Main.)





The Thanet Thunderer, 31 Jul 2021:: East Midlands Parkway P2 - Up Fast - Sileby Jn - Up Slow - Up & Dn
Slow - Leicester P3 - Up Main - Kettering N Jn - Up Slow - Kettering P1 - Up Slow - Bedford North Jn - Dn Slow
- Bedford P2 - Bedford St Johns - Fenny Stratford - Up Vale - Bletchley E Jn - Dn Vale - Bletchley P5 - Up Slow -
Drayton Road Jn - Up Fast - N Wembley Jn - Up Slow - Wembley Central Jn - Willesden Relief - 2m 37ch - Up
Willesden Relief - Wembley Yard S Jn - Up Willesden Relief - Willesden No7 - Up Willesden Relief - Willesden
West London Jn - Up West London - Latchmere Jn No2 - Up Kensington - Up Ludgate - Factory Jn - Chatham

Reversible - Voltaire Rd Jn - Dn Chatham Main - Dn Chatham Fast - Bickley Jn - Dn Fast Tonbridge Loop - Petts
Wood Jn - Dn Fast - Down Main - Dn Fast (Tonbridge) - Down Main - Ashford West Jn - Dn Fast - Ashford P6 -
Canterbury West P2 - Minster East Jn - Dn Stour - Manston Jn (2nd X/O) - Up Thanet - Ramsgate P3 - Margate
P3. Margate P2 - Ramsgate P3 - Manston Jn (1st X/O) - Minster P2 (rev) - Minster S Jn - Dover Priory P1 (rev) -
77m 08ch - Up Chatham - Canterbury East - Gillingham P2 - Rochester Bridge Jn - Strood P2 - Dartford P2 -
Up Main - Lee Loop Jn - Grove Park Down (Bramdean) Siding No42 (rev) - Lee Spur Jn - Up Goods/Departure -

Hither Green P3 - Courthill Loop Jn S - Up Courthill Loop - Lewisham P1 - Crofton Road Jn - Up Catford Loop -
Up Chatham Main - Chatham Reversible - Factory Jn - Dn Ludgate - Clapham Junction P5 - Barnes P3 - New
Kew Jn - Acton Wells Jn - Dudding Hill Jn - Brent Curve Jn - Dn Fast - Leagrave Jn - Dn Fast - Bedford South Jn -
Bedford P2 - Dn Slow - Sharnbrook Jn - Dn Fast - Wellingborough P1 - Dn Fast - Kettering South Jn - Kettering
P2 - Dn Corby (avoiding station) - Manton Jn - Syston East Jn - Up and Dn Slow - Leicester P4 (rev) - Up and
Dn Slow - Syston S Jn - Dn Slow - Dn Slow - East Midlands Parkway P3. Route/miles thanks to Alan Sheppard.

More familiar track as the tour approached the Lee Spur avoiding Hither Green station, past the
Chiltonian trading estate. It is named after the large Chiltonian Biscuit Factory that once stood there.
I grew up close to it but never noticed any pleasant or other aromas coming from it. The same could
not be said for the Peak Freans biscuit factory next to the South Eastern lines at Bermondsey; which
frequently gave out mouth watering aromas when passing on my morning commute.

'Hither' Green is reputedly named after the Green, as in village, that is hither, (ie near to Lewisham);
the next green was further on, commemorated by Further Green Road alongside the rear of what I
always think of as the Continental Freight Depot. So the yard's could be 'Further Green' not 'Hither
Green'? Our tour went into Bramdean Sidings to reverse. They were the source of things that went
bang in the night, buffers and loose coupled goods vehicles moving while I was asleep a few hundred
yards away. Bramdean Crescent, passed on my drive the day before, was hidden by dense foliage.

Return to the Midland main line was by familiar railtour routing direct to the Down Main. I had done
this before. The rare opposite move from the Up Main I did unknowingly on the 28 Sep 2019 'Cottam
Farewell'. I was told that I had done it, so I checked 'Six Bells'. Yes, I had. My excuse was that I was
tired and it was dark. I had wondered how that train reached Clapham Junction on time when it was
running late but did nothing to check why. Leaving Bedford on the Down Slow, our Thanet Thunderer
came to a stand at Sharnbrook Jn as an EMR passed on the Down Fast. I could see the signals from
where I was sitting; we had a yellow and feathers and followed the EMR on the Down Fast and come
back to the Slow to call at Kettering. The platform train indicator showed that we were a service train
to Corby due in a few minutes time. Our platform stopping place was by a mother and her two young
sons. The younger showed no interest but the elder was all for getting on the train probably because it
looked much more appealing than an EMR Class 360 EMU. His mother held him back; he was most
upset but did not burst into tears. The family group waved to us as we left, we returned the waves.

LEADING FROM TO MILES The next part of the tour was a rerun

50007/50049 East Mids Pkwy Margate 223m 04ch of the EMR HST Farewell Tour routing

50007 Margate Minster 009m 35ch to Leicester. Here a Class 66* green in

50049 Minster Dover 019m 03ch fuel and livery beckoned during a leg

50007 Dover Hither Green Yd 068m 39ch stretch to go forward to East Midlands

50007/50049 Hither Green Yd Leicester 135m 46ch Parkway (EMP). Total 474¾ miles for

66004 Leicester East Mids Pkwy 019m 13ch £99 in Standard Class - not bad. The off

chance of a new Class 66 for haulage was dashed. The number of cars leaving the Parkway car park

with passengers off the same train must have been a record. Drove home on the Sunday, went round

the western fringes of London rather than the eastern. No M1 or Blackwall Tunnel. [That's very keen,
Hither Green to EMP, to go to … Hither Green and back to … EMP then return to… Hither Green.]
*66004, now running on 100% Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, fully renewable and producing 90% less
CO2. It was obstructing the rostered Class 66 and was required by many - also a new form of power.

:Details must be checked 1387 CONNECTIONS (Paul Stewart) [email protected] .Please mention BLN.
2810] SWR Senior Savers: ALL passengers age 60+ can have over 30% discount on all SWR Off-Peak,
Super Off-Peak & Semi-Flex Returns, Evening Out, Sunday Out & First/Standard Class Advance tickets.
Book by 30 Oct at https://bit.ly/3ANb210 travel 18-31 Oct. Senior Railcards give an extra 34% off.

2811] FREE TRAVEL IN WALES (for some): Concessionary Travel Passes issued by any Welsh local
authority can be used on trains 1 Oct to 31 Mar each year: Machynlleth - Pwllheli although the line
is closed until Sat 11 Dec for work on Barmouth estuary crossing (see what we did there); restrictions
apply in school terms on two trains each way for part of their journey. Wrexham - Hawarden Bridge.
Shrewsbury - Swansea via the Heart of/Central Wales Line; not valid for just Llanelli to Swansea or
Shrewsbury to Bucknell or intermediately on those sections. Plus at any time of the year: Llandudno
- Blaenau Ffestiniog. Free tickets have to be obtained from the ticket office or conductor on the train.

2812] Northern Rovers Return! A new Northern newspaper offer is in JPIMedia and Reach papers

across the North. As before, you collect tokens from newspapers and attach them to a form printed from
the Northern website. You can then purchase day Rover tickets for Northern for only £10 or all weekend
tickets for £17.50 (no price increase) from booking offices, including ones not operated by Northern. Travel
is 1-30 Nov after 08.45 SSuX, any time weekends. See https://bit.ly/2YTdF4E for details and conditions.

2813] A Photographic Journey through THE LONDON UNDERGROUND Look Again: (Elke & Niko Rollmann)
and Today's London UNDERGROUND (Reiss O'Neill). Just like London buses, you wait ages and then two
books about London's Underground arrive together, both recently published by Pen & Sword as landscape
full colour, quality hardback photo albums. The former concentrates on notable architecture and features,
with captions generally limited to the location. The images over 146 pages (27.94 x 21.59cm) vary from
heritage signs/tiling, through modern construction to buskers and station gates. There are even a few
shots featuring trains! It highlights the visual treats there for all to see rather than detailing their history.

The latter is a meatier tome at 274 pages (19.3 x 2.29 x 25.4cm) but, originally published in 2018, readily
admits it covers 2007 to 2017 rather than 'today', with even the cover photo including now superseded 'D'
Stock. Each line has its own section; an introduction details changes on each in the period covered, then
there are sections on architecture, signage and rolling stock. The photos are mainly trains in stations with
detailed, informative captions but some suffer from lack of lighting, mostly underground but also poor
weather. Other than the Victoria Line, stations are shown in a haphazard order, rather than geographical
sequence. There are all sorts of snippets of information you might not know: what is the steepest section
on the Underground, what station is at the highest altitude and where is there an Egyptian Mummy mural?

Both books have blank pages at the end, which could have been used for more images if the authors had
known at little extra cost. Nonetheless, those interested in the sights and sounds of London's Underground
should find these books noteworthy and may well be encouraged to seek out some 'not so Hidden' parts
that they may have walked past, like me, without appreciating the huge variety all around. They certainly
show just how much the Underground has changed in 15 years. Cover price £25 and £30 respectively, or
£19.99/£15.21 (Amazon; free delivery) online; Kindle online edition £15.19/£9.49. (Tim Wallis.)

2814] Post Office Railway/Mail Rail, London: (MR p17) More tunnel walks, advertised as to parts not
visited on the Mail Rail public train rides: See https://bit.ly/2YKTxRB for details, dates and to book.

CONTACT DETAILS: See BLN/e-BLN 1378 (summary) or 1350 (18 Apr 2020), website PDF or via your BLN Editor.
●Editor: Paul Stewart [email protected] 4 Clarence Close, MALVERN, WR14 3HX 01684 562862 07790652351.

●Bookings: Mark Gomm [email protected] 84 Mornington Road, STOKE-ON-TRENT, ST1 6EL 07983 541887.
●BLS Sales: Graeme Jolley [email protected] Dolbryn, Penegoes, MACHYNLLETH, Powys, SY20 8NN. 07484646542.

●Printed by Willow Printing & Design Ltd, [email protected] 75/79 Back Cross Lane,
NEWTON-LE-WILLOWS, WA12 9YE 01925222449.https://goo.gl/X6aQBA

●Published by the Branch Line Society, 10 Sandringham Rd, STOKE GIFFORD, BS34 8NP. ISSN 1354-0947.

ABOVE: The Very Light Rail vehicle at Ironbridge Power Station 'Oil Line' platform. (Press Release.)

X.226] :Thur 18 & Fri Nov; Ironbridge Power Station VLR (five) trips:: Part of our AGM fixtures, with
thanks to Kev Adlam. We are delighted to announce a unique opportunity for our members to be
some of the first people to experience first-hand Eversholt Rail's and Transport Design International's
Revolution vehicle (RVLR). https://revolutionvlr.com/ has more details.

Visits will be available at the former Ironbridge Power Station demonstration site, with a trip in the
vehicle along the former freight line. Lasting about two hours they will start at 09.30, 12.00 & 14.30 on
Thursday and 09.30 & 12.00 Friday. We are extremely grateful to Eversholt Rail and Transport Design
International for all their assistance with this exciting opportunity. Members only £22, no junior discount
this time. All profits will be donated to https://www.backuptrust.org.uk/ (Back Up Trust) Eversholt
Rail's chosen charity, inspiring people affected by spinal cord injury to get the most out of life. Up to
14 of our members can go on each trip - a total of 70 places are available.

This fixture will be of particular interest to those who have not been into the power station before and
it is on the course of the Bridgnorth to Shrewsbury line at the former Buildwas Junction site.

The programme for each visit:

(1): Arrival tea/coffee.
(2): A short presentation from the team.
(3): To the platform (near end of Oil Siding) for Revolution Very Light Rail arrival/photo opportunity.
(4): Board Revolution Very Light Rail vehicle and ride along No1 Reception Line to the maintenance
…….shed, with the opportunity to disembark and look at the underframe, powerpacks etc.
(5): Reboard for another run along the 0.8km track (two runs for the Society subject to available time).
(6): Into the marketing suite for tea/coffee and a further presentation.
(7): Question and Answer Session.