Trains at: Hitchin, ECML, 29/04/19

An excellent evening spent at Hitchin station on the East Coast Mainline where we see plenty of services from London Northeastern Railway, Govia Great Northern, Thameslink, Hull Trains and Grand Central.
Hitchin station was built in 1850 as one of the original stations along the East Coast Mainline when the tracks were first layed. The same year saw Hitchin become a junction station when the a line to Royston was built and a year later was extended towards Shepreth. There was a line running from Hitchin to Bedford and for a while was running very successfully, but when the Midland Railway built a line from Bedford to London via Luton the Hitchin branch eventually became a branch line and was starting to lose money because passengers were taking the train from London St Pancras. Eventually the line was shut completely in 1961. The embankment is still there as it now carries a single stretch of track for trains that use the East Coast Mainline for Letchworth Garden City.
The line was operated by the Great Northern Railway to start with before they became a part of the LNER, with the rest as they say is history. Before stevenage was opened Hitchin was served by Intercity services.
When First Capital Connect operated services along the East Coast Mainline they installed new safety features at the station including new lighting, New CCTV camera's and automatic ticket barriers, this in turn gave the station a Secure Station Status.
The highlight for this video being a LNER class 800 working a training run from Doncaster to Kings Cross.
My next station is Banbury on the Chiltern Mainline.
You can now find me on Facebook through the group Tornado922, there you will find regular updates, videos and photos from all of my goings on throughout 2019.
You can also find me on Instagram through the name tornado922

[@robloxboi3108]

Enjoyed that film! So exited for Banbury! One of my favourite stations

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much, the film will be up shortly

[@ClaretBlueTrainspotter]

Great video.

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much

[@MegaLee32]

Hi tornado 922 yet another good selection of trains there I'm off to Inverness soon so hopefully I'll get some photos and put them on Facebook or maybe I will go live

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much, I hope you have an enjoyable time out!!

[@thestaffordshiretrainspott5799]

Another very enjoyable video.

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much

[@keiranclarke2955]

I like all the Farringdon trains

[@chxrliethompson]

Great video and great station! 👍🏻

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much bud

[@thomasnorton2679]

I hope the 365s will be on the route for some time along there, but that's what I like about evening peak hours there, getting the 365s on the peak services to Baldock and Royston, thumbs up from me jarred, thoroughly enjoyed watching

[@Tornado922]

They are excellent trains so it would seem a shame to get rid of them completely.

[@Trainspotter11_]

Another fantastic video here Tornado922! I really Enjoyed this :)

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much

[@tomtrainspotter7231]

Another well made video there jarred! That sun set is absolutely brilliant

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much Tom, the sunset was stunning

[@Vanmanyo]

once again..WELL DONE

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much for saying so :)

[@evanswoodcentral315]

Excellent video, top draw and enjoyable as always. As usual the HST's were awesome as was the class 90 and i never get tired of seeing the RAF memorial flight livery 91. Be well and keep safe, regards Gary.

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much, I loved the evening here it was fantastic :)

[@scotlandtrainspotter4223]

Great video tornado

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much

[@franchi7304]

Brilliant video I’ve been here

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much, this is a great station

[@Kwebbel48]

As always great video! Hope you have a nice weekend :)

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much, I'm having a very good weekend so far :) Hope you are to :)

[@sethgallop9266]

Great video again today

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much

[@FromClaphamJunction]

Very good one ..... thanks

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much I'm glad you enjoyed watching this

[@mrgeorgewhite]

Amazing vid as per usual heading to Carlisle for some spotting today

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much, I hope you had a good time out

[@mrgeorgewhite]

Bit of a quiet day due to Euston closure but did see the flying banana so that’s all good I am putting a video on my Chanel today btw thanks for the reply 🙃

[@reecelucasfilms]

11:31 - That's one of your wishes ticked off the wishlist for the vid

[@MrRobertacusYouTube]

15:00 I feel that might’ve been a TPWS alert since you have to be under 20mph otherwise boom, that is probably what would’ve happened...modern trains eh?

[@blkpig6664]

Land of Long Train, wow! Constant action here, LNER Service is top for it's class up these parts I assume? No Virgin Services needed! All ladies were beautiful, and that sky what a show. T.Y. B.P.

[@Tornado922]

LNER is the main intercity operator on the East Coast Mainline, it used to be Virgin Trains East Coast but sadly that company went as they couldn't afford to pay off the contract for the ECML, so the government stepped in and created a publicly run company called London Northeastern Railway :) The evening was incredible with plenty of variety throughout and sunset topped it off :)

[@blkpig6664]

Power to the people. Viva LNER! B.P.

[@chrisatrailway7573]

Nice video have a 🍺

[@Tornado922]

I had a strong one afterwards

[@Owenjedi5000]

Great video on seeing the new LNER azuma's and it's my birthday today

[@Tornado922]

Happy birthday to you!!

[@NoahFairweather404]

91110 and 822??

[@keiranclarke2955]

7:09 That's from Cambridge North

[@Tornado922]

Right ok

[@ttvvideos2050]

Great video are you gonna film at Arlesey

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much, I can look into it for you

[@ttvvideos2050]

Ok

[@Ed_Gilbert]

How many hours were you there when filming and what day did you film?

[@thestaffordshiretrainspott5799]

The date that he filmed is in the title

[@Ed_Gilbert]

Day* not date, read properly next time please. And also the time of day

[@thestaffordshiretrainspott5799]

The 29th was a Monday

[@Tornado922]

@Eddie's Adventures if you listen to the video you will know I was there from 6 till about 8

[@franchi7304]

I’m going to Peterborough and Stevenage what about you

[@Tornado922]

Well it all depends on what day you're talking about

[@djk2509]

Any chance of filming at Royston between here and Cambridge.?

[@Tornado922]

I will look into it for you

[@70humdinger94]

If you go onto a train platform that has ticket barriers, but you have no intention of boarding a train (just for doing a day of trainspotting, for example), how much of a fare do you have to pay?

[@thestaffordshiretrainspott5799]

Just say you are photographing trains. I had that senario at Huntingdon and the person at the barriers let me through.

[@Tornado922]

I usually just buy a return ticket to the closest station and then commence filming. Although on some stations I do just say what my intentions are and they usually let you go through. Some stations require you to sing in though

[@pjt1974]

If the signal ahead is at Danger the emergency brakes will apply if the driver is approaching too fast

[@Tornado922]

as far as I'm aware the signal was on green

[@pjt1974]

@@Tornado922 fair enough. It was a bit strange that he came to an abrubt halt. The mysteries of the railways eh 😎

[@khorrorstories2305]

When will u be doing clapham junction

[@Tornado922]

At the end of this year like I do every year

[@TrainGamer-mh6qi]

Is that kid at 10:14 your son?

[@Tornado922]

No he isn't

[@bb-3653]

class 700s traction motors are so silent..the whine is all u hear ..or on third rail the siren noise is all u hear

[@Tornado922]

They are very quiet when compared to a lot of EMU's on the network, strange though that when it is operating on different power inputs it makes different sounds

[@zelq..4194]

I miss the 365's :(

[@arnoldspottingvideos5269]

Same

[@alfiepotasnick3744]

Me too being replaced by the 700s which I don't like

[@keiranclarke2955]

Why were all LNERS late

[@Tornado922]

not a clue