Ramsgate 375s

[50002Superb]

Living “Up North”, well The Midlands, I find that these units are the hardest to chase down despite spending many hours on places like London Bridge and, to a lesser extent, Victoria.

Are there specific diagrams and routes that I should be looking at?

I don’t need any of the 375/9s.

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

 

[NSE]

I’m pretty sure they’re used interchangeably across all SE 375 routes. The /3’s are probably the hardest to track down, and they may be attached to certain diagrams to ensure 12 and 8 coach trains run instead of 11 and 7. That said, identifying anything with 11 & 7 will always guarantee you a /3, as will the Medway Valley and Sheerness branches.

One good thing about Kent is that due to its circular nature, a ticket to Ramsgate or Dover from London (or beyond) would give you access to the full length of the South Eastern and Chatham mainlines and you’d be able to travel past Ashford Depot, Ramsgate Depot, Gillingham Depot, Grove Park Depot and all sorts of stabling points such as Tonbridge, Folkestone, Dover and Victoria, where you might be able to get some from the sidings.

 

[50002Superb]

So the /3s are three car. Therefore if a consist has 11 or 7 cars it is likely to include a /3?

Is there a way of identifying which are 11 or 7 cars? I can’t see this detail on RTT.

 

[Express380]

So the /3s are three car. Therefore if a consist has 11 or 7 cars it is likely to include a /3?

Is there a way of identifying which are 11 or 7 cars? I can’t see this detail on RTT.

https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/freedom-of-information

This is the most useful source I can think to show this has all Southeastern unit dagrams Monday-Sunday so you can plan your route around this it's a long read and good luck!

 

[50002Superb]

Also, just to be clear.

The Medway Valley Line runs from Paddock Wood to Strood?

It looks to me like there are four diagrams that work this line on a weekday.

 

[brad465]

Hastings and SEML Dover/Ramsgate services are guaranteed 375s if you're after the other 4 car subclasses as well (Ramsgate/Dover Chatham mainline services normally are weekdays, but 377/5s can turn up, especially during engineering works, while 465s appear on Sundays). The Medway Valley line and Sheerness branch guarantee 375/3s as already mentioned, and as the peak sees 6 units diagrammed across those two lines, that's 60% of that subclass that can be located.

Also, National Rail have started mapping out the train diagram layout on its website and reveals how many coaches form each service. It doesn't say the class but this will be the best way to identify specific lengths on the day, so you know ahead of time where to go when. It is possible to distinguish between Networkers (465/466), Electrostars (375/377) and 376s/707s, but not specific sub-classes.

 

[NSE]

So the /3s are three car. Therefore if a consist has 11 or 7 cars it is likely to include a /3?

Is there a way of identifying which are 11 or 7 cars? I can’t see this detail on RTT.

Yes, sorry, /3’s are three car. Unlike Southern, there are no 5 car units. Therefore if you come across a 7 or 11 formation, it has to include a /3 somewhere. As for identifying, I don’t know, but I see Express380 has published a link which should help.

Also, just to be clear.

The Medway Valley Line runs from Paddock Wood to Strood?

It looks to me like there are four diagrams that work this line on a weekday.

Yes it does.

 

[Stephen42]

Also, just to be clear.

The Medway Valley Line runs from Paddock Wood to Strood?

It looks to me like there are four diagrams that work this line on a weekday.

The Strood end has direct trains to Sittingbourne for the Sheerness branch as well so could tick off the 5-6 trains within a few hours.

The 4-car ones are on the mainline routes, you could consider going towards the middle of the route as it will be quicker for all the trains circulating to pass you. Sevenoaks and Bromley South are the first stations where nearly all trains stop plus a direct train between them so potential to do one after the other. There aren't any good vantage points where the mainlines cross, only three bridges a fair distance apart. Southeastern put their train layouts on Darwin, which is viewable on National Rail Enquiries, it doesn't provide the unit numbers and they don't send formation data to Realtimetrains.

 

[50002Superb]

The Sheerness branch appears to run from Sheerness on Sea to Sittingbourne and from what I can see has two units diagrammed in the week?

Hastings and SEML Dover/Ramsgate services are guaranteed 375s if you're after the other 4 car subclasses as well (Ramsgate/Dover Chatham mainline services normally are weekdays, but 377/5s can turn up, especially during engineering works, while 465s appear on Sundays). The Medway Valley line and Sheerness branch guarantee 375/3s as already mentioned, and as the peak sees 6 units diagrammed across those two lines, that's 60% of that subclass that can be located.

Also, National Rail have started mapping out the train diagram layout on its website and reveals how many coaches form each service. It doesn't say the class but this will be the best way to identify specific lengths on the day, so you know ahead of time where to go when. It is possible to distinguish between Networkers (465/466), Electrostars (375/377) and 376s/707s, but not specific sub-classes.

Is this on the Trainline App or elsewhere?

The Strood end has direct trains to Sittingbourne for the Sheerness branch as well so could tick off the 5-6 trains within a few hours.

The 4-car ones are on the mainline routes, you could consider going towards the middle of the route as it will be quicker for all the trains circulating to pass you. Sevenoaks and Bromley South are the first stations where nearly all trains stop plus a direct train between them so potential to do one after the other. There aren't any good vantage points where the mainlines cross, only three bridges a fair distance apart. Southeastern put their train layouts on Darwin, which is viewable on National Rail Enquiries, it doesn't provide the unit numbers and they don't send formation data to Realtimetrains.

It looks like 90 minutes on Strood and 30 minutes on Sittingbourne will cover both branches.

 

[Siemens Staines]

Is this on the Trainline App or elsewhere?

The number of coaches on each train is on Darwin Console in brackets.

Rail - Darwin Console

Enter Ashford, Ramsgate or your station of choice

 

[50002Superb]

https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/freedom-of-information

This is the most useful source I can think to show this has all Southeastern unit dagrams Monday-Sunday so you can plan your route around this it's a long read and good luck!

Thanks for this.

I think the gist I get from this is that over the course of a day I need to spread my time between:

Ashford International
London Bridge
Strood
Sittingbourne

If I do the above I should see most of those working around the network.

Coming from the Midlands, I think the best thing to do would be into St Pancras then a Javelin to Ashford International, working back to London Bridge from there and try to be at London Bridge to cover the evening rush hour.

The number of coaches on each train is on Darwin Console in brackets.

Rail - Darwin Console

Enter Ashford, Ramsgate or your station of choice

Thanks for this, I’d not seen it before.

 

[Express380]

Thanks for this.

I think the gist I get from this is that over the course of a day I need to spread my time between:

Ashford International
London Bridge
Strood
Sittingbourne

If I do the above I should see most of those working around the network.

Coming from the Midlands, I think the best thing to do would be into St Pancras then a Javelin to Ashford International, working back to London Bridge from there and try to be at London Bridge to cover the evening rush hour.

No problem

London Bridge is for sure a good option being all the extras that run in the peak although I would personally go to New Cross to see the units on a reduced number of lines for ease of photos, the other locations should get a good bulk load too hope it goes well for you!