 Hello, thank you for joining me. That's a Dustbin, and I'm on a Dustbin. I'm on a class 321. The reason these trains are known as class 321 is because I'm not going to try and do it because I always stick my middle finger up, but because of the game show 321, where Ted Rogers, some of you used to go 321, and the booby prize was a Dustbin. So these trains have always been known as Dustbins. Today we're going to Southend, Victoria. And when we get to Southend, Victoria, we're going to walk along to the seafront, and we're going to go and enjoy a trip on the Southend Pier Railway, because I want to see the trains they've got before they get replaced. So soon we'll be arriving at Southend. Let's go and find a Pier Railway. So we've arrived at Southend, Victoria. There's the Dustbin we came on. I was actually sitting in the unit in front of that one. That one's a refurbished unit. I was in an unreferbished unit, so we came from that way. That's looking towards London. There's the Old Tumor Walks. And here are the trains that are replacing them. This is a Class 720. So there's 720 sitting here. These have 5 carriages. They're built by Bombardier in Derby. So 3 to 1s are 4 carriages. These have 5 carriages. So here we have 720. We've got number 538 and 537. So I came here today because I want to do the Pier trains before they get replaced, but I also wanted to do the 3 to 1s before these takeover completely. Now if you're wondering what that growling sound you can hear, there's something very very exciting sitting here in Platform 4. It's got a Class 37. It's giving the leaf clearing trains. I was really quite delighted when we arrived at the station and I thought that's it in here. So this is 37425. I'll just go around here, past this amputation in hoarding. See, it's in the regional railway delivery. So this is the livery that existed in the 90s when they were local trains. This one is called Concrete Bob. So that was Bill Macalpinian was known as Concrete Bob. 37425. Growning away. And these unusual looking wagons here, these are the leaf clearing wagons. So in there is the water which is pushed onto the track. There's a high pressure jet and then that's how they blast the leaves off the railway. It's sitting here on the other end. It's 37422. So this train has to go up and down a lot of lines that would rarely see local haul trains. So seeing a local haul train here is pretty unique. So it'll be going up to Clackton, it'll go to Walton on the Nays, possibly to Southminster, all over the East Anglin River. And look at that. It never seems quite such a juxtaposition of old and new. You've got the vintage class 37 and the brand new class 720. What I'm going to do now, I'm going to go on out the station and walk down to the seafront to find the South End Pier Railway. I've walked on through South End Town Centre. That's looking up towards London on the coast of the Feme Park, which is now towards London. There is a funicular railway. I'm not sure if it's running today, but I've just come along the cliff top a bit from the pier. So what we're going to do once we get down the bottom. The reason I've taken you this way is because, as I said, I wanted to show you the funicular railway, which is just here. Now, unfortunately it's not running today. It's also known as the Cliff Lift. You can see it's carried. So what we'll do, we'll walk down these steps there and we'll have a look at it as we go. So this funicular railway opened on the August Bank holiday in 1912. It's gauges four foot six inches, so very slightly narrower than the British Railway gauge of four foot eight and a half inches, but inside there's a counter balancing track, which is 21 inches. Look up there. There is the funicular carriage. Now what I'm thinking we might be able to do, if we go underneath it here, the path runs underneath. So if we stand here, I don't know how easy it is to show you, but basically there is the smaller track, the 21 inch gauge track, which carries the counterweight and then the carriage itself runs on top of that. So there's the funicular carriage. So that will take us down there. So it's a bit of a shame it's not running today, but good reason to come back. Of course we will be coming back to self-end in the next year or two for two reasons. One, the trains they're currently using on the pier railway are due to be replaced. We'll talk more about trains when we get there. The other reason I would like to come back here is there is a railway museum there, which has all the former trains or some of the former trains of the pier railway, but due to the coronavirus it is closed at the moment, which is understandable, but it's not the underworld. We can come back and we can do that museum in the future and hopefully we'll come back on the day when the funicular railway is running. So we will come back to do the new trains when they're running. From here we get a better view. You can see up to the funicular railway. So the other track I said about is actually inside. You can't really see it from here. So when the passengers get to the bottom, they would go out through that door there and probably come down these steps onto the promenade. So I'm going to now walk along there and go and find the pier railway. I'll give you another look up at the cliff railway. So I've just come along the promenade from the cliff railway. The pier is just here behind this fence. Here is the theme park with all its roller coasters and various wheels and bumper cars, etc. So this pier, it's the longest pleasure pier in the world. The first pier opened here in around 1830. It's been gradually extended. It's now about just over 7,000 feet long, 2,000 meters long. So probably about a mile long. It obviously takes us right out into the sea. So if we look, I'm just going to show you over the fence before I put my mask on and go in, you can see that's where we're going to get on the train in that building and we're literally going to go out to sea on a train. I've just bought my ticket for a ride on the south end pier railway. What I'm going to do, I'm going to ride one way and walk the other. They have got two trains, but it looks like the other one. So John Beckerman, which is just here, isn't out today. So as I've got no chance of riding both trains, I'll ride one and I'll walk back and be able to see the railway as we go. Had they both been out, I would have bought the return ticket and I'd have gone out on one and come back on the other. So I've just got to wait for the train to arrive. They'll pull in on this platform here and then we'll board and we'll have a ride out to sea on a train. So here we are. We're on the platforms, two trains. This one's not out today. This one's to John Beckerman. We're going on to the William Hay Gates. The platforms you can see, they are local, all trains. This is local to John Beckerman. This is local to William Hay Gates. These were built in 1986 by Seven Lamb. They're due to be replaced by new trains, which I believe they're going to be built by Seven Lamb. That must be a track there. It goes into a depot. So we've got to go on that train. We'd have a ride on that track. We're going to be going down there and then we'll go out onto the pier out to sea. They're a bit like miniature HSTs, except there's only a power car at one end. But I think they're really cool. I think it's the same in a way they're being replaced. But they've worked courses. They've worked so hard all their life that retirement is due. I'd like to think they preserve some. As I said, there is a museum. It's not open at the moment. So probably maybe one of the locos and couches will end up in there. So we'll come back and do the museum in the future. But right now I'm looking forward to a local trip out to sea. And the track, by the way, is free-foot. So same gauge as the Isle of Man and quite a lot of the narrow-gauge railways in the Republic of Ireland. So here we are inside the carriage. To the seats facing in, when you walk in, you've got a little vestibule area here. There's a compartment there. And then there's another compartment here. I think we're going to go to it. It's a bit tunnel-like, although we're not actually in a tunnel. We're actually on like a bike. When we walk back, we'll be walking above us. So as we leave, there's John Benjamin. There's the other track. So I'd like to, one, have a ride on that track as well. So I've done both of them. If we look out here, you can just see the rollercoaster at the edge of Ireland. One that goes upside down about three times. We're going out now. There's these big doors. Oh, there's another rollercoaster. That's interesting. One, eight, three, five. The tide seems to come in now. We're just going to help. So that's where we're going to walk that walk. The single track. So when we come back, we'll be up there. We're going to go on this side to get a fairly good view out. Just out along our bend. We'll see where it is. We're about to see it and I'll show you. There is the train go. I'm just going to show you the railway station. So it's a single track. That's the end station. You can see that girder there. Passing loop. Halfway along. So on the busy days, they can run two trains. Well, if it's south end on sea, then certainly this is the sea. But other people say it's Tuber and S in Essex, which is just over in the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. That's another debate. So in a way, we could be south end on Thames, but here's the station. So let's just see what there is to see here. Because I've never been down here before, so it's all new to me as I show you. I mean, we have come here out of season. A few little beach huts. Maybe they sell ice creams and stuff. But it's the same south end pier station. So that's quite amusing, even though the station is actually just over there. I'll just walk right down to the very end and see what else we can see. So there's a lifeboat right down the end. I'll go and see that one. Quite interesting. I feel strange it being so far now. To see it well, because I've never been this far out to see, not on the boat, because this is the longest pier there is. So the train ride must be around a mile long. And, you know, it's a very different railway to what I've been on before. Never been on any railway. Quite like that. I've seen, if you go and look at this video now, me at Blackpool, I've shown you the disused tram lines in Blackpool Pier, but that wasn't the one that came up here to go fishing. Obviously it's a very good place to fish. Been right above the water. So when we get round to here, we've pretty much come to, well, the end. It's quite big though. It's a funny period. It's very long and thin. And then you've got this really big area at the end. And then that's the lifeboat station. So we'll keep going. We'll have a look up there. And then I'm going to walk back, back to land. Very long, straight walk. Hopefully we'll see a train as we get along. There's a crazy gulf. Must be the only crazy gulf we've ever seen in the sea. So what does it say? It says visit a lifeboat. That looks interesting. As I said, I'm not entirely sure if we can. It looks like we might be able to go up onto this balcony and see the view. So we'll certainly do that. When I went up to the walk, that was quite a completely different way of seeing the water. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to leave this part of the video here. And then I am going to begin my walk back, back to land. Right the way to land. I'm now directly below where I was a moment ago. I thought I'd come have a look at the lifeboat. So I've got one here and there's another one there. Now, I really don't know too much about lifeboats other than fairly self-experimentary. They go out to sea and save lives for those who are in trouble. It is a charity. So this is where the lifeboats for the South End area are based. It's quite nice. You can come and see them. I'll just show you. There's a model here. A moment ago, we were up there. We've now come down. We're now inside. Sorry, can't see it. We were up there. We've now come down. We're inside here. And then the rest of the pier is over here. But it's not on the model. So once I get back outside, we'll start walking back to land. It's a land. It really feels a bit strange along here because it just feels like you walk and walk and walk. And it's further away than it looks. I think that's what that structure's for. But if you want to comment and confirm, I'd be very pleased to hear from you. Now, this is the half. A train would come along that way. So I've now got, well, I've just back on land. But as you can see, we're not quite. We are still over the sea. There's the railway line there. You can see the two tracks. So the station we got on the train is down below us here. The museum I've said about is under the pier somewhere under the pier here. But as I said, it's not open. But we'll come back in the future and do that. So there we have the view. Looking out to see it is its longest pier in the world. It's also the longest in England. The second longest is Southport, but unfortunately that closed. Another one of the longest piers I've been on that has a railway is Ride on the Isle of Wight. Underground trains go right out onto the pier. I'm hearing a train coming back now. Interestingly, this used to be electric, and now it's diesel. The trains they have before, more tram-like trains, then they have more metro-like trains. And now they've got the current 7-lamb diesel trains, which are also due to be replaced. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to finish the video here. I'm just going to go for a walk along the seafront. Thank you very much for watching. Please do feel free to like, subscribe, comment, and from South End Pier, goodbye.