201001 Thrash (+ Bonus) | Bluebell | 2025/09/06

Hastings 6S DEMU, Class 201 Thumper, 201001, mostly known as "Hastings Unit 1001" providing thrash at the Bluebell Railway diesel gala. The noisy entertainment being provided from each power car's English Electric 4SRKT Mark II diesel engine. This unit is typically seen on mainline railtours and such very difficult to film these days due to H&S restrictions, therefore I considered this a rare chance to record the thumping from outside the train.

Most of the footage was filmed behind power car 60000 on the evening uphill run from Sheffield Park to East Grinstead, with an average gradient of 1 in 75. There is also a bit of footage going downhill behind power car 60116.

Gradient captions were originally added using the railway's gradient profile for reference available here: https://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bl... - however while editing the captions I discovered that the gradient signposts leaving Horsted Keynes (was 1 in 63, now 1 in 75) and Kingscote (was 1 in 75, now 1 in 100) have been replaced (at some point after 2017) and DO NOT match with this graph - I can only presume either because either the track was re-laid or the original measurements were wrong. Therefore, I have used the trackside posts to verify the new actual gradients. Any captions with an asterisk * I was unable to verify the accuracy since I could not see the trackside signage to confirm that this gradient was still valid.

BONUS: Several sound recordings of power car 60000's compressor recharging air for the brake system, from inside and outside the train.

Timestamps:
00:00 Sheffield Park to East Grinstead with power car 60000
16:32 Departure from Horsted Keynes with power car 60116
18:00 BONUS - Compressor sounds recorded from power car 60000