Trains At Hastings, ECL, 13/09/23

Hastings railway station is the southern terminus of the Hastings line in the south of England and is one of four stations that serve the town of Hastings, East Sussex. It is also on the East Coastway Line to Eastbourne and the Marshlink line to Ashford International. It is 62 miles 33 chains (100.4 km) from London Charing Cross measured via Chelsfield and Battle; and 82 miles 33 chains (132.6 km) from Charing Cross via Chelsfield and Ashford.
The station was first proposed by the South Eastern Railway (SER) on 9 October 1835, as the terminus for a railway from Tunbridge Wells via Rye. These plans began to take fruition during 1843, as the SER planned the most practical route to the town through what would be difficult terrain. In the meantime, the Parliamentary Select Committee had supported a scheme by the Brighton, Lewes & Hastings Railway (BLHR), which would connect the town to the London and Brighton Railway (LBR). The BLHR were awarded the act of parliament to build the railway to Hastings, with an additional option to extend the line through Rye to Ashford. The SER were not happy about a rival company building routes in their area, and in late 1845 researched the feasibility of a route via Tunbridge Wells. The Government insisted the SER constructed the line from Ashford to Hastings (now the Marshlink line) first before any direct route could be built. Meanwhile, the LBR and BLHR had amalgamated with other companies to form the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, who became bitter rivals with the SER.
The station opened on 13 February 1851 when the line from Ashford was completed through to Bopeep Junction. The station was originally V-shaped allowing the two railway companies to have separate platforms and booking areas: one side for SER trains to pass through and the other as a terminal for LBSCR services. The two companies continued to argue with each other and object to trains stopping or passing through the station. The SER also wanted separate goods sheds from the LBSCR. The connection to Tunbridge Wells opened on 1 February 1852.
The station building was re-built in 2004, with the neo-Georgian booking hall demolished and replaced with a modernist building. The southernmost loop platform has been curtailed into an Ashford facing bay. The station contains a small police post staffed by British Transport Police, although this is a satellite of the Ashford International police station.
Duration of the video: 11:55 - 14:00
We’ll be seeing services by Southeastern, Southern and probably some freight as well in the duration of the hours that was spent in this video.
I really enjoyed my time that was spent at Hastings especially when I haven’t been there before for any train spotting but on the plus side I did manage to see quite a lot of variety especially with the amount of variety of trains I managed to get through the station however I wasn’t expecting some Ex Gatwick Express units on the line but it was something special to witness seeing though.
I hope you enjoyed the video if you did smash that like button and don’t forget to subscribe for more upcoming content that’ll be featured on the channel and feel free to leave any comments or recommendations of stations you want me to do as I’ll try get back to them as soon as possible.
My next station will be Eastbourne I haven’t visited there before but I’m sure it’ll be a good station to visit and have lots of variety of trains that’ll be featured in the hours I’ll be spending there so until then thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.

[@julieblackman8636]

Another good video 2:28