34067 Tangmere cruises thru Brixton. Down White Cliffs Circular Special. 22-Dec-2011.MOV

Southern Railway Battle of Britain Class No: 34067 Tangmere cruises south through Brixton (BRX) at the head of the Steam Dreams Down White Cliffs Circular Special railtour from London-Victoria to Canterbury-West and return. Today seemed pretty straight-forward and Tangmere passed me on-time. What was unusual, was to see a steam special passing BRX on the Down line. Tangmere was hauling only the 6th and final steam special of 2011 to pass through BRX on the Down-line.
BRX station has a nice curve from West to South and the bridge you can see, with trains on it, is the South London Line between Clapham High Street and Denmark Hill. South Eastern trains from Victoria to Dartford and Gillingham use the bridge as well as Southern trains from Victoria to London Bridge. I did not pan today because the sun was out, and low in the sky and behind me, so any pan shot would have been poor quality.
Trivia time. Today was the 20th and final Down Steam Special Tangmere has hauled in the London area this year. It's first run was back on 30th March 2011 when it ran from London to Hastings. This was the 2nd and final White Cliffs Special that Steam Dreams had put on in 2011. The first was also hauled by Tangmere back on the 13th May 2011.Today's train was the last steam special this year, South of the River. On present plans I will not see Tangmere again until mid-March 2012.
BRX is on the South-Eastern Bromley South main-line. It is the first station on the line after Victoria. From BRX Tangmere will turn off the Bromley South Main-line at Herne Hill and take the First Capital Connect commuter line to Wimbledon as far as Streatham. After Streatham station, Tangmere will reach Streatham North Junction where it will turn West to South onto the Southern Brighton main-line at Streatham Common. Tangmere will then continue South on the Southern main-line leaving London at Coulsdon South.
BRX has a two platform lay-out. Platform 1 is the Up line. There are 8 trains per hour either passing or calling there outside of peak hours, all bound for London-Victoria. Four of the eight trains call at Brixton. Platform 2, which I stood on and Tangmere ran past, is the Down-line. There are four stopping trains per hour, all bound for Orpington. There are four fast trains per hour that do not call at BRX.

BRX was opened by the London, Chatham & Dover Railway as a station on its commuter line to Herne Hill in August 1862.

Hope you enjoy and please give me your feedback. I wish all my viewers and subscribers a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• 34067
• Tangmere
• cruises
• thru
• Brixton
• Down
• White
• Cliffs
• Circular
• Special
• 22
• Dec
• 2011

[SatNavDan]

Good one, Barry. Only thing that would've made that clip would be to remove that Class 37 from the end and replace those red carriages with green ones. Then it'd be a true Southern Region express.

[bkendlerA4]

@SatNavDan Hiya Dan, I know what you mean but, after what happened on 11-Nov at Walmer I prefer that Tangmere has the insurance of a back-up diesel. As for the coaches I do often think that West Coast Railways doesn't give a lot of thought to how their coaching sets look. They often are a motley collection of colours. Barry

[TheSteamchest]

Hi Barry another great clip,you look as though you had the station to yourself .Thanks for shraing.All the best for 2012. Dave.

[bkendlerA4]

@TheSteamchest Thanks Dave, A South-Eastern commuter train was running just ahead of 34067 so Brixton was pretty empty. Have a great 2012. Barry

[robmasterman]

Another great catch Barry....all the best for 2012...Bob

[bkendlerA4]

@robmasterman Hiya Rob, Thanks for the comment. Glad you liked the film. have a great 2012. Barry

[bkendlerA4]

@southofthethames Hi. I like BRX. I'll have a look at your homepage. Barry

[southofthethames]

Brixton is my favourite location for Tangmere, I've taken a dozen photos here. This video has made me dig out 3 of those pics, so now my youtube home page is made up of Tangmere at Brixton photos!

Have a great Christmas.

[bkendlerA4]

@khankadet Hiya Chris, Thanks for the comment. Much appreciated coming from you, as you make brilliant steam video's. Thanks and there are more to come Merry Christmas Barry

[khankadet]

Have a great Christmas Barry. Thanks for all the great videos - more next year please. Chris