Hello all. Today I suggest the London Charing Cross - Hastings route in 1980. Route Starting at Charing Cross, the route crosses the Hungerford bridge before creeping east to London bridge. The railway then shoots toward Kent, traversing the complex junctions at Lewisham, and through the suburbs. The scenery quickly changes, from the busy suburbs to the quiet Kent countryside. At Tonbridge, the line splits in two: eastbound to Ashford and southbound to Hastings. We go south. The line cuts through several tunnels, through Royal Tunbridge Wells, and along the coast towards Hastings. Finally, coming out of the Hastings tunnel, we reach the seaside town of Hastings. Setting This suggestion would take place in 1980: this is before the Hastings line electrification in 1986. This is also before modern networker units and Network Southeast. Branches Hayes branch This branch line runs from Lewisham Vale junction to Hayes via New Beckenham. Services stop at all stations on the line. Bromley North branch This short line runs from Grove Park to Bromley North. This route is set in a time when only peak time services ran from Bromley North to London. The rest of the day, it runs as a shuttle. Trains Class 201 Hastings thumper These 6 carriage DEMUs were built in the 1950s and were designed for the London - Hastings service. In fact, the 7 units were limited to this route; they were unusually thin because they needed to clear the multiple thin tunnels on the Hastings line, which made them unique. Alongside more standard thumpers of the time, they got thier name from thier iconic engine sound. The units wore several liveries over the course of thier lives, but the units in this route would wear BR Blue and Grey. After electrification of the Hastings route and withdrawal of these units in 1986, some tunnels were reduced to single track so that normal units could be used. Class 411 These electric slam door units were built around the time of the 201s and ran services across the southeast. 135 4 carriage units were built and at the time that this route is set, many were running in the area. They ran on faster services such as London - Ashford, but in this route they would only go as far as Tonbridge. After the 201s were retired, they also took over the Hastings line. These lasted a great deal longer than thier diesel counterparts: 49 years to be exact. They too would be in BR Blue and Grey. Class 415/416 The class 415 was a 4 carriage and the class 416 a two carriage electric multiple unit. They were used on slow services into Charing cross and Cannon Street. They were used for a while too, but replaced in the 90s by class 465 and 466 networkers. Points of interest Charing Cross and the Hungerford bridge Coming out of the grand 6 platform station at Charing Cross, the line crosses the Hungerford. London Bridge (Old) This is set long before the upgrades to London bridge Station, so we see the old one instead. Lewisham Vale junctions This complex set of junctions around Lewisham is the joining and diverging of the Charing Cross, Victoria, Dartford and Hayes lines. Additionally, a bypass line and secondary junction onto the Hayes line was built to free up space. Grove Park depot and sidings This massage storage area is where many trains spend the night. Sidings are on both sides and can exit east or west. Chislehurst/Petts Wood junctions These junctions diverge onto the Chatham Mainline. Chislehurst Junction joins the CML at St Mary Cray, and Petts Wood at Bickley. Tonbridge jubilee sidings Another depot area, this is right next to the station at Tonbridge.
This is a route I would get behind. I live on the Hastings - Charing X line and travelled upon it many times to both termini. The route time era specified is before my time, but I have seen many videos of these Hastings Thumpers on the line and it would be a great addition to the game. I know it is a long route and won't be ideal for many, but in terms of the timetable, I could see journeys being Charing X to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings to Tonbridge, and as well as the full-length route.
so im all behind this because the 1066 line is local to me so you said its set before network southeast so does that mean that a southern green 201 will be there or just the normal br blue and grey. ive been trainspotting at stations like ore which is local to me since my love of trains started and ive wanted the hastings line in tsw since eastcoastway came out this is because it had services that went to ore and hasting but the never went that far and i was annoyed by that. i conclusion i hope dtg sees this
Excellent idea and there can be a Hastings line expansion pack if made using the 4 cig EMU the 421 alternative timetable feature 1986. Feature is a 411 4CEP Combination with 4 cig set
If this were ever made I'd like to see a Class 33/2 included as well, these being the narrow body version of the loco for use on this particular line, mostly for freight but could also serve as a thunderbird loco in case any of the units were to fail.
