On Saturday 24th November 2012 Hastings Diesels ran their 56th railtour entilted A Canterbury Trail which was a ramble around the Railways of Kent.

The railtour started from Hastings at 0705 and ran to Tonbridge, calling at selected stations to pick up. After Tonbridge the tour called at Bromley South, then to be slightly different, it ran to the recently rebuilt London Blackfriars as our London pick up point, via Beckenham Junction and Herne Hill.

After a short break at Blackfriars we headed off to Rochester, via Nunhead, Lewisham, and Sidcup. From Rochester the tour visited the Sheerness branch. After leaving Sheerness we made our way to Canterbury East. The route from Canterbury East took us via Dover and Folkestone to Ashford. After reversal here we then took the line to Appledore and the Dungeness branch. It has been over seven years since the Hastings Unit last visited this line.

Our return from Dungeness entails another reversal at Ashford before making tracks for Canterbury West to pick up. A short recess at Ramsgate station occured while the water tanks were refilled. After that it was time to head for the Capital via the North Kent coast to call at Rochester, climbing Sole Street bank and taking one of the loops up to Chislehurst. We then travelled via Lewisham and Nunhead onto Blackfriars. From there we retraced our way home calling at the same stops as the outward run arriving into Hastings a few minutes early at 2215.

For more information on Hastings Diesels please visit http://www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk

For the other pictures from this weekend please click on http://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/International/2012