 Hello, thank you for joining me. I've got my new mask on. I'm on a class 465 We're going to Tumbridge Wells to have a look around the town and of course to have a trip on the Spar Valley Railway Now we've just departed High Brooms, which is in the area of Tumbridge Wells It's a station in the northern suburbs of the town We're just about to come to the original site of Tumbridge Wells station. There's pretty not much to see but it would have been somewhere here It was a temporary station opened in 1845 then they built the line through Grove Tunnel in 1846 to the current station So the temporary station would have been around here somewhere We're about to pass through Grove Tunnel and then when we get to Tumbridge Wells station I'll show you a couple of things there. I'm going to walk to the Spar Valley Railway. So this is Wells Tunnel. So We're now Beyond that original temporary terminus. So when we get out here I'll show you how the station is effectively sandwiched between the two tunnels and then We will walk to the Spar Valley Railway My plan is as we go to the Spar Valley Railway We'll try and follow the old track bed now I'm not expecting to be able to walk along it as such and part of it is through a tunnel My plan is that we will See it where we can see it so From what I've seen it looks like there's a public footpath that crosses it There's a couple of roads to cross it. So we'll have a look at that make our way to Tumbridge Wells West. So After Grove Tunnel, which we shall see in a moment the Tumbridge the line through to Tumbridge Wells West and onto Airdrie It's now the Spar Valley Railway It was quite a late closure Tumbridge Wells Please check that you have all of your personal belongings with you when leaving the train This is Tumbridge Wells station I think this is the high street or there is a main road that also goes right over the top of the station So there should be Grove Tunnel should be right in front of us when we come out the station here Right down in front of the train So I could show you the tunnel so And there is Grove Tunnel So just beyond Grove Tunnel was the junction for what is now the Spar Valley Railway So what I'm going to do I'm going to once I've exited the station I'm going to walk up over the tunnel and We'll have a look at the park on top. It's called the Grove Park and then from there We'll work our way down to the other side of the tunnel and on towards the Spar Valley Railway So here we are outside Tumbridge Wells station This is the bridge I was showing you which goes right over the platform Now what we're going to do as I said we're going to go up over the top of the tunnel to the Grove Park So we can see what's above the tunnel before we go down to the other side So the railway runs right under here like this So it's quite a subterranean station And if we get round here we can see Grove Tunnel again just there So I'm going to go up this street up here to the park above Grove Tunnel So here we are in the Grove Park somewhere down below us is the railway line It looks like it could be over the other side of that wall but it's not The tunnel is further that way but it literally runs directly under us like that Now down there obviously is the southern mouth of the tunnel And that's where the junction for the Spar Valley Railway was I've had a look I don't think we can get too close to where the junction was But what we'll do we'll go to the first opportunity Where we can cross the trackbed of that quarter of a mile or so of railway line That hasn't been reopened by the Spar Valley Railway The reason being really is although the trackbed is there Well part of the Strasuper market has been built on it The rest trackbed is there but there just really is nowhere You could terminate a train so hence that's why they terminate at the new Tumbridge Wells West station but we'll have a look when we get there In the meantime we're walking some lovely Georgian houses A lovely form of oak tree here I'm going to walk on up there and we're going to go and try and find The section of the Spar Valley Railway that isn't a heritage line So I just thought I'd come down this road here And ask someone to go and look for the old railway But I thought I wonder if I could see the other end of the tunnel Look what I found, Grove Hill Tunnel Country Portal Now down below there is the railway This fence is the network rail boundary And we're not going to get a brilliant view But you might just be able to see the railway line down there And the tunnel portal So it would have been if all these trees weren't there We might be able to have seen it better But there you are, you can see the railway lines now I'm not going to wait for a train to come The junction would have been there So the line to Spar Valley Railway would have turned off just over there So let's go and find that bit of track bed that led to the Spar Valley Railway So I've just come down through this residential area In my search for the old railway tunnel Found this road here Upper Cumberland Walk And a very bent public footpath sign So this is a public footpath This should cross the railway track bed Which definitely does cross the railway track bed In what form, I'm not sure It looks like it could have been a road I'm assuming there's some houses down here You could effectively drive a car here But when I did my research I sort the other end There's some bollards so you can't drive all the way through So I really am finding this out as I show it to you So somewhere, it should be round here The railway line used to cross I can just see what is possibly a bridge So just up here As you can see you can't drive beyond here There's a bollard so you can drive up there to a house And here we are Here is very obviously the old track bed So it was a bridge, a very very low bridge They were to ever reopen it It'd be one of those bridges where you're almost hitting your head A bit like if you watched my Oxford video When I walked under the railway On that I was almost hitting my head So you can see this is where the railway line would have come across So the junction with the main line is just up there Now that way, a little way, is the tunnel So what we're going to do, we're going to go up onto the road And from the road we try and see if we can see the tunnel or not So I'm going to continue on up there into the residential area So from walking underneath the railway The track bed, we're now going to go over the railway track bed And here we have a very very obvious railway bridge So the line would have gone directly under here Not a lot to see, we're sort of effectively in the treetops Looking down there looks like someone's made it Into part of their garden And on this side, well It doesn't look like there's much use for it Let's have a little look It looks, well You can see this looks very overgrown But just up there is the tunnel So the next road will go right over the top of the tunnel So there probably won't be any evidence of railway on that road So I'm going to go right round to the other side of the tunnel Which should be near to Tumbridge Wells West Station Whether I actually see the mouth, I don't know at this stage It seems a bit of a shame in a way, it's overgrown You sort of think well, from how we crossed it earlier They can make it into a public footpath or a cycleway We could walk directly through the tunnel To Tumbridge Wells West Station But I'm going to have to go round the houses And I'm going to try and find the other end of the tunnel So I've now come down over the hill And here we come to the truck bed again Now if you look there, you can see It's still a bit overgrown I don't know if the camera's going to pick it up But just about there through the trees I can see the tunnel mouth If they cut these trees down, we'd be able to see it a bit better So well, well I went that way Now if we pan around here You can see the main problem for reinstating this track They've built the supermarket right on the track bed But you may just be able to see a little tower there That is Tumbridge Wells West Station The building survives, it's no longer a station But we'll go and have a look round there I can just see, it's pretty hard to show it on camera But there's a fence under here So we can't actually get under the bridge If it wasn't a fence, I'd have gone down into the car park And tried to walk up to the tunnel I don't think it'd make a nice cycle way or path From where we were across to here You never know, maybe that'll happen Maybe one day they'll demolish the supermarket And it'll become a railway again But now let's walk round to Tumbridge Wells West Let's go and find the trains I'll just come along and try to bed a little bit Funny enough, where the platforms were People now get on a bus Because here is the old railway station With its cocktail, that's what we could see From just around there And here's the supermarket Which is currently on the track bed So I'll show you from here Get quite a good view of the old railway station So the platforms that have been here The Spa Valley railway station is just beyond there So we're going to walk over and have a look at that I'm going to take you back out here So we have another look at the station So, yeah, railway on that way Towards the tunnel So it looks like the station The old Tumbridge Wells West station building Is now a restaurant So you can have a meal In the old railway station Which is quite nice I'll let you have a good look And then the Spa Valley railway Is just across from here So this opened in 1865 So 20 odd years after the other railway line Which we came on The line we came on Was London Brighton and South Coast This was South Eastern Chatham Railway So eventually it was all absorbed Under the Southern Railway But it was a separate railway company So the junction between the two companies Would have been back there On the other side of Grove Hill Tunnel So have one more look At Tumbridge Wells West The old Tumbridge Wells West station And then we'll go from The Sainsbury side of the car park As soon as I can get across the road Into the home base Of the car park And this is where the Spa Valley railway is So I'm not going to go in just yet I have booked online Because of the pandemic You currently book online So I've booked a ticket So the station building is the old engine shed So what we'll do fairly soon When the train arrives We'll go in there And we'll have a trip on the Spa Valley railway So here we are in the station ticket office This is where you would of course buy tickets If it wasn't for the pandemic So coming to here This is inside the old engine shed So a couple of things I want to show you They've got a lot of cool model railway American style CNLGB loco And just down there There's Percy in America That's a bit different I'm going to show you through the engine shed I've got some of the loco's Which aren't running today So coming to here This is the engine shed And we have a Terrier locomotive Under overhaul Sutton I think that's probably The boiler of This Terrier locomotive We have this shunter here It looks like an O8 Something tells me it might not be Because I'm not entirely sure Because there are other diesel loco's That look very similar to O8 That aren't actually O8 There we have a Gen T A 3F under overhaul You can just see the number It's got a couple of industrial tank engines here This one fears not to have a boiler At the moment And this loco here Has a rather unflattering name She's called Ugly I wouldn't say she's Ugly But she's called Ugly And I had a trip behind this loco last time I came to this barby railway A couple of years ago So let's go out here to the yard And see what we've got Right here So we've got another shunter We've got class 73 With class 20 And if we go to here We have a class 31 It looks like it's class 33 About to hold a train Now to get on the train We're going to have to walk along then I do remember when I first came We ran up and down here So it's like a disused railway So what I'm going to do now I'm going to go and get on the train So as we now walk along What I said was a disused railway A miniature railway So we're 49.5 miles from somewhere If you want to know where Please comment and tell me Now we're going to go along here Now this is something I wanted to show you here You know I said it used to be A miniature railway If you look in this manhole cover You can see There's some lines Where the little track used to run through So there's a bit of evidence That we are walking along with disused A miniature railway Another thing that I'm using There's a pump truck Always wanted to have a go on one of them So if we walk up here We should hopefully Go around the front and have a look at our loco And board the train So we're just going to queue up And we're going around there In a moment So here is our loco Sakeef park So let's go and have a look Sakeef park is a battle of Britain class bullet pacific loco Same as the west country It's a rebuilt bullet pacific They had the air smooth casing on Such as Tang Mir The city of Wales that you saw earlier So there's Sakeef park In the nameplate So I'm going to go And get on the train Sakeef park is going to be on the rear of the train I'm not actually sure which loco Is going to take us towards Air Ridge But Sakeef park Is going to bring us back here I've just come down this end of the platform The train's not going anywhere yet Because there's no loco I think it's going to be the class 33 That's behind the train now There's some interesting things down here There's got a few tractors And even a steam traction engine in steam And if you look just up there Where the man's crossing beyond him Is a thumper Those trains they used to work Down the upfield line And I do remember seeing them when I was a child I've never had a trip on one So maybe another day we'll come And have a ride on the thumper But now I'm going to wait for our loco To see what's going to take us Down the line towards Air Ridge Going on my trip on the Spa Valley Railway Now as you can see There's another track beside me This isn't a double track heritage railway Like the Great Central That is the network rail line to upfield So for almost a mile The Spa Valley Railway and Network Rail Run parallel like this Over any length And then we'll get to Air Ridge And that's the interchange station So normal times you could actually come here By train to Air Ridge But at the moment you can come like I did To Thumbbridge Wells And it's not a long walk between the two stations So I'm going to continue on Towards Air Ridge enjoying the views Of the countryside of Kent And it's Sussex At our destination Air Ridge Of course here is Right down there under the bridge So we're going to have a look at a minute But it's not the easiest to see And down there Correcting a lot of attention Is our steam locomotives So what I would have done Had they not been redoing the bridge I'd have run over the other side But because they were redoing the bridge To get to the other side I'd have just got all the way out there Round up along the road So There just isn't time, there's only 15 minutes I probably could if I really ran But I'm I'm not going to do it So that would give us a really good view Of the loco If you ever were here you could come here And watch the train arrive and depart If you weren't travelling it would give you quite a good view We do have a very nice Southern region railway station here At Air Ridge So the only way in and out Of the station at the moment Or out this side of the station Is via those steps there See the steam heating is working Which is Always good on a cold day Mr Ferris is seeing all the steam Coming out the carriages And I'll show you what I mean about Our loco First 3063 There she is Under the bridge So they've just put the new Set of steps in So that's why we Can't go to the other side but maybe we'll have another day I'm going to go and get back on the train now And enjoy a steam haul Journey back to Tumbridge World West I really enjoyed my trip on the Sparve Railway Behind Sir Keith Park And behind the Class 33 363 I'm going to leave the railway now I'm going to walk back up past The old Tumbridge World West station To the Pantiles So before we leave Tumbridge Wells I'll show you the Pantiles now Another thing further down the line Is High Rocks Holt The train wasn't stopping there today It was a non-stop food to aerage Because of the pandemic Groom bridge station is open If you want to sit there have a cup of tea and watch trains But the station High Rocks There are these High Rocks which you can go and visit Now I would really like to do that But I'm not going to do it today I'm going to walk And once you've seen the Pantiles The most famous street in Tumbridge Wells We will go up And look for some of these rocks So I'm going to leave the old And the current Tumbridge Wells west station behind us And we're going to head up into the town Well here we are in the Pantiles This is the most famous street In Tumbridge Wells It's a lovely street of shops It was all built in Almost it was built in 1644 It's a place to walk through So now I've walked down from Tumbridge Wells west I'm heading back this way Back towards Tumbridge Wells west station And then from there I'm going to go for a little walk I'm not walking to the High Rocks But I'm going to go and try and find some rocks Because I think it would be a shame Not to see some rocks if you come to Tumbridge Wells So I'm just going to see I'm going to pan around the Pantiles Before I can carry on up to the rocks Well from the built up here I've come up through the common To the rocks Now the rock we're going to go and finish up Is called Toad Rock You'll see why When we get there Look at this, this path It's taken us down Through the rocks Now all along this valley All the way to Erich There's these outcrops of rocks Which are all rather fascinating I'd really like to one day Explore them further There's the High Rocks Which the Sparvheroid does have a station at Which maybe we'll go to in the future There's other ones near Erich And here we have all these rocks here There's various other rocks further along Which the more I see The more I sort of want to explore it But I'll have to leave some of them for another day But I did want to show you This set of rocks here So we've got some rocks in there Which we're going to have a look at in a minute Moment Some rocks there It's a bit weird these rocks How they're like in line With the roots of these houses But we go up here This is, I'm going to show you Some of the most impressive areas Of this bit of rock Which is known as Toad Rock So The rocks go all off over there Here we have some Smaller boulders This area here though The rocks I want to show you now This is going to be quite interesting To try and do for a camera Let's go over to the view first So you get to here You can see There's various rocks There's people Over there climbing on the rocks So we'll go round there We've got to try and make our way to down there So let's go the fun way down So look at that There's a hole in the rock So it can't be rude not to Go through it See if I can get myself through there With a camera It might be as you said And done if I said It's going to be a bit hard Getting out this crack at the end With a camera I haven't done it yet I've just got to get right down And crawl through And there we are So I've just come through That crack in the rocks now Have a look Look at that There's like a boulder Sitting on top of another rock So Let's pack it through here With a camera I'm just going to manage it Go down here It's like being A bit like Dartmoor Or the Peak District You sort of don't expect this Here In Kent And then Down here This should take us down to Where we just looked out From the moment we go I've turned the camera So you can see the view forward But I can't sweep down So Let me have a look There we go I know it's over exposed Looking out Here we go Coming up here Reminds me a bit of Ludd's Church As well Have a look at that video Coming on straight green now See I've just come out That crack in the rocks I mentioned it's called The Toad Rock Well There's your answer That rock there Looks a bit like a big toad Sitting there So You can see there's people Up on top of those rocks I don't know It's very sandy as well Look how sandy it is I feel like I'm walking On the beach now It's a very Very Sort of bizarre Strange landscape I really like it So I do think one day I'm going to have to come here And just Explore the rocks of the area But in the meantime It's made a great day out Had a trip on the Spa Valley Railway Great riding behind The Bullet Pacific's Keith Park Had a lovely walk up Onto the common Seen the pantiles And now we're seeing these rocks Look at this Sort of weird steps I've got to go up there Can't get up there Just about to get up here Finish with A view Well Over the Where we've just been Didn't expect to be Quite rock climbing Like this today And there we go From here we get a rather Good view of The Toad The Toad Rock So from The Toad Rock Hope you enjoyed this video Like I said Do come visit the Spa Valley Railway It's a lovely railway And you can do this walk as well It makes a great day out And it's not too far from London So thank you very much for watching From The Toad Rock Goodbye