Southeastern and Thameslink Trains at Strood on September 26th 2024

2nd visit to Strood on the North Kent Line as well as the terminus for services on the Medway Valley line Featuring services from Southeastern and Thameslink The 1st station of Strood was located to the South opened in 1845 by the former South Eastern Railway as Rochester however closed a year later in 1846 before reopening 8 months in August 1847 before renaming as Strood, Rochester and Chatham in 1849 then became Strood in 1852 however closed in June 1856 when it was replaced by todays station It was retained for use as a sidings yard until 1990 however today occupied by housing development Todays station of Strood opened on June 18th 1856 when the North Kent Line was linked up with the Medway Valley Line from Paddock Wood which originally had opened in 1844 It became a junction in 1858 when the opening of the East Kent Railway between Strood and Chatham a year before the EKR was merged under the London, Chatham and Dover Railway which opened its line from Rochester to as far as Bickley in 1860. The curve that joins the North Kent Line with the Chatham Main Line had for a period at the time fell into disused with only a single goods train a day working however in 1877 under the insistence of then Mayor of Chatham at the time Mayor Toomer the curve was reinstated. Although Strood was opened by the SER however the Toomer Loop as well as the original stations of Rochester and Chatham were under the LCDR Complexity of SERs and LCDRs rivalry enabled the SER to reach their own stations of Rochester and Chatham in 1892 In 1899 the LCDR and SER entered a working union of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway which began elminating the duplicating lines resulting the 1892 Rochester being retained whilst the Rochester Common and Chatham Central of the SER being abandoned. In 1911 a connecting line was added on the South east of the SERs Rochester Bridge which enabled them to reach Rochester and Chatham however both rail companies of SER and LCDR merged in 1927 under the Southern Railway. Around that time another connecting line was added on the North east side of Rochester Bridge which led to the LCDRs Rochester Bridge being taken out of use completely. The former 1892 Rochester Station survived until December 2015 when it was closed and replaced by a new 3 platform station which enables to accommodate 12 car trains 500 metres to west. As for Strood today has changed with new lifts for step free access to Platforms being added in 2014 which access beforehand being an underpass. The present station building, Waiting Room and Ticket Hall dates from an overhaul being completed in December 2017 There are 3 platforms with Platforms 1 and 2 used by services going via the North Kent Line although services continuing towards or coming from London have to heed a speed limit of 15mph around the tight curve just before Strood Tunnel which is one of 2 Tunnels in total before it emerges at Higham. Southeastern services mainly operated by Class 395 Javelins which provide half hourly services to and from London St Pancras to Faversham and Ramsgate began running in December 2009 which at the time of filming were undergoing mid life refurbishment They also provide another service directly via the Medway Valley Line which run to and from Maidstone West fwhich only call on the Medway Valley Line at Snodland however its limited to a few services a day Monday - Friday Morning or Evening Peak Hours. The other consequence of the addition of Southeastern High Speed services through Strood was the reduction of services calling at both Newington which is between Rainham (Kent) and Sittingbourne and Teynham being between Sittingbourne and Faversham. The other service on the Medway Valley Line terminate at Strood via Platform 3 to and from Paddock Wood and Tonbridge via Maidstone West which operate half hourly although nowadays operated by 3 car Class 375/3 Electrostars Thameslink Services provided by Class 700s from Luton to Rainham via Greenwich and Dartford every half hourly which began running to Strood in May 2018 having taken over the workings of the former Southeastern London Charing Cross to Gillingham workings. Music used: JJD - Adventure Music provided by NCS Video link: NoCopyrightSounds    • JJD - Adventure | Glitch Hop | NCS - Copyr...   Filmed on Thursday September 26th 2024 on iPhone 15 Pro and edited on iMovie #southeastern #class375 #class395 #thameslink #class700 #siemens #hitachi #strood #kent #northkentline #alstom #medway #travel #traintravel #trainspotting #trainspottinguk