⁴ᴷ Southeastern | Class 377 - London Victoria to Ashford International

A trip into Kent on one of the UK's most recognised trains, the Class 377 Electrostar! These units were ex-Thameslink until they were transferred to Southeastern to strengthen their Electrostar fleet. This was a short-formed service consisting of a 4 car Class 377/5, instead of an 8 car 377 or 6 car 465+466 unit. Prior train issues around Herne Hill delayed most services in that direction from Victoria and Blackfriars, meaning that the train arrived at Victoria 16 minutes after its departure time, and we were roughly 30 minutes late for the entirety of the ride into Kent. We did have to stop at St Mary Cray for a long period of time, and you can notice the difference in delay between Bromley South and St Mary Cray, and St Mary Cray to Swanley and so forth. It was even more interesting how we took out 5 stops from the schedule to regain some time (see the POI below) - however it meant a speedy non-stop ride from Maidstone East. Sit back, relax and enjoy the 97 minute ride to Ashford International!

Trip Information:
Train: Class 377/5 (377521)
Formation: 4-car unit - DMOC-MOSL-PTOSL-DMOC
Recorded in car 1 of 4

2N20 08:55 London Victoria to Ashford International (via Maidstone East) calling at:
- Bromley South
- St Mary Cray
- Swanley
- Otford
- Kemsing
- Borough Green & Wrotham
- West Malling
- East Malling
- Barming
- Maidstone East
- Bearsted (Cancelled)
- Hollingbourne (Cancelled)
- Harrietsham (Cancelled)
- Lenham (Cancelled)
- Charing (Cancelled)
- Ashford International

Timeline:
0:00 - 0:08: Intro
0:08 - 24:54: London Victoria - Bromley South
24:54 - 32:25: Bromley South - St Mary Cray
32:25 - 37:15: St Mary Cray - Swanley
37:15 - 45:39: Swanley - Otford
45:39 - 51:14: Otford - Kemsing
51:14 - 56:05: Kemsing - Borough Green & Wrotham
56:05 - 1:02:40: Borough Green & Wrotham - West Malling
1:02:40 - 1:05:55: West Malling - East Malling
1:05:55 - 1:09:56: East Malling - Barming
1:09:56 - 1:15:57: Barming - Maidstone East
1:15:57 - 1:37:16: Maidstone East - Ashford International (see POI for stops missed)
1:37:16 - 1:37:43: Outro

Points of Interest:
1:10 - Parallel to a Southern Class 377/4 working London Victoria - Dorking
2:00 - Passing Victoria Grosvenor Depot - Southern sidings visible
2:51 - Passing over Grosvenor Railway Bridge
3:10 - Diverging from Brighton Mainline
4:02 - Passing over South Western Mainline from London Waterloo
4:54 & 5:25 - Wandsworth Road and Clapham High Street Stations, served by London Overground
7:02 - Brixton Station Flyover
9:43 - Joining lines from London Blackfriars
23:28 - Parallel to a Thameslink Class 700/0 into Bromley South, working West Hampstead Thameslink - Orpington
1:14:25 - Announcement of service cancellation to following stations:
1:20:06 - Bearsted (Cancelled due to late running)
1:20:45 - Harrietsham (Cancelled due to late running)
1:22:13 - Hollingbourne (Cancelled due to late running)
1:26:34 - Lenham (Cancelled due to late running)
1:29:45 - Charing (Cancelled due to late running)

TRIP REVIEW:
Service Punctuality - 3/10
Train Condition - 9/10
Seat Comfort - 8/10
Onboard Service - N/A
Overall Score - 6/10, however the service was delayed due to a freak fault earlier on a service around Herne Hill which caused disruption to many services, therefore this score may not be representative of other trip replications!

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