Thumpers for Dummies

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From Preserved Tumpers - the "Thumpers for Dummies" page.  Why "lighter side"? - have a look at the glossary.

Where and when I was brought up, the thumpers were just a bit exotic. Only at times of disruption did they stop at Orpington and give a rare chance to feel them fight up the hill towards Knockholt - the engines normally idled as the train ran into the station at speed, and the engines roared into high revs as it passed through.

Memories of tadpoles too from Tonbridge ... and a fond trip down memory lane a couple of years back on the Waterside Line.

[RichardB]

Maybe it is just me, but "Thumpers" to me were the H and D stock - the Hampshire and Sussex units.  I certainly didn't think the Hastings units were Thumpers - they were Hastings units. 

[grahame]

Maybe it is just me, but "Thumpers" to me were the H and D stock - the Hampshire and Sussex units.  I certainly didn't think the Hastings units were Thumpers - they were Hastings units. 

I suspect that the "Thumpers" name / label may have been applied quite late on (retrospective) to the Hastings units and others - the web site covers other electrodiesels with a big roaring engine within the same vehicle as some of the passenger accommodation.    Northern Ireland units are covered on the "Thumper" web site too.   And I ... wonder ... if class 210 might have some claim to be in the group too?

[eightf48544]

My grandmpthers house in Woolston  backed onto to theportsmouth line between Woolson and Sholing stations. So everything was working hard up to Sholing.

I saw the replacement of the T9s D15s etc with the Standard 4 2-6-0s which in turn we repalced by the Hampshire Thumpers. I was less than impressed.

The longest and slowest? Thumper journey I made was all stations Reading Portsmouth on a sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately they came too late to save the Watercress Line.

Who remebrs the 210 units tha worked in the TV they were nice units abit like a mini HST^▸ (High Speed Train) with only one power car.

[eightonedee]

My memories of the them is from the mid 1960s at Reading West, when the main prize was seeing if you could see a Bulleid pacific on the Pines Express. They were referred to by 10 year-old trains-potters as "Bog Units"!

[Clan Line]

Ah yes, "The Thumper"................if you ever wanted a perfect example of Newton's Third Law this was it. Between runs the engine was normally shut down and restarted just before departure. If you were seated in the same coach as the engine you could feel the whole coach trying to turn in the opposite direction to the engine as it started. It took a few seconds for the coach motion to settle down - you were then just left with the dulcet tones of the engine - and people complain about the noise from the underslung engines on modern DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) !!

[Electric train]

Good old English Electric 4-cylinder type 4SRKT Mark II of 600 bhp (450 kW) at 850 rpm, the smaller brother of the 6 cylinder, 4-stroke, 6KT  used in 08 shunters

[Timmer]

Operated on the Bristol-Portsmouth line in the 1970s making a brief return in the early 1990s with a morning Southampton to Bristol round trip. The only trains you could travel first class following the end of loco hauled services on the Cardiff-Portsmouth line.

[FarWestJohn]

I used to travel from Brookwood to Eastleigh every morning for a while. On changing at Alton it was a Thumper to Eastleigh.  I seem to remember a member of staff at Alton used to come out at 0800 with a radio and the train would start with the radio time pips. Hope my memory serves me right!!

[grahame]

... If you were seated in the same coach as the engine you could feel the whole coach trying to turn in the opposite direction to the engine as it started ...

Did you come across "Lab 4" which could tilt up to six degrees ... a narrow bodies Hastings coach modified to test APT^▸ (Advanced Passenger Train) tilting and stick within the normal loading gauge!

http://www.preservedthumpers.com/all-975386-lab4.html

[smokey]

I'm glad that the reason why there was a "Hastings line gauge" is stated by the Preserved Thumpers web site.

The Tunnels were built "Substandard" (I'd say fraudulently) with only about half the course of bricks that were specified.

When the problem was discovered YEARS later the tunnels were lined with extra (the missing) courses of bricks, which reduced the clearance.

Around 1986 the effected Tunnels were relaid with single lines, thus removing the need for Hastings line gauge.

[Electric train]

Around 1986 the effected Tunnels were relaid with single lines, thus removing the need for Hastings line gauge.

The slab track installed at the time is planned to be dug up and conventional tunnel ballast used,  the concrete is failing, the slab is adversely effecting tunnel drainage. they will obviously remain single line

[grahame]

Around 1986 the effected Tunnels were relaid with single lines, thus removing the need for Hastings line gauge.

The slab track installed at the time is planned to be dug up and conventional tunnel ballast used,  the concrete is failing, the slab is adversely effecting tunnel drainage. they will obviously remain single line

Probably a co-incidence, but the line from Tonbridge to Tunbridge Wells is closed until 20th Feb because of problems with embankments at High Brooms.   And probably two separate closures?

[smokey]

I like the Hastings Unit, certainly built with lovely polish wood and comfortable seats, my last ride (late 1990's?) on a preserved Hastings unit was up to Barnstaple. Anyone know the date?

The Footsteps at the external doors always gave away the narrow body build.

Talking of building BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) Southern had plans around 1960 to build full width DEMUs^▸ (Diesel Electric Multiple Unit) of the same design as the Hasting line sets to work London Waterloo to Exeter and on to Bideford, Bude, Illfracombe, Padstow and Plymouth.

Shame BR Western ever took control of the ex LSWR^▸ (London South Western Railway) lines west of Exeter.