In the 1950s, when many families didn’t own a car and foreign holidays were a far-off dream, British Railways ran many through trains on Summer Saturdays from the industrial towns and cities in the Midlands and the North to seaside resorts around the country.

One of these trains was the return 12.13pm Ramsgate to Derby (Friargate) seen here on Saturday 8 August 1959 on the West London Line at Chelsea having just passed over the River Thames. It was scheduled to comprise 10 Eastern Region Corridor coaches, plus in high summer (20 June to 5 September) an additional “loose” corridor second. On this occasion however it appears to be 9 Eastern Region Corridors, mainly Gresley, but including at least one British Railways Mk 1, hauled by two Type 2 Sulzer 1160 hp diesel locos D5009 and D5002 coupled together. It is nearing Kensington (Olympia) where the two diesels will make way for an Eastern Region B1 Class 4-6-0 for the journey north up the Great Central Main Line to Nottingham and Derby.

The southbound working was the 11.35pm (Friday) Derby (Friargate) to Ramsgate, utilising the same rolling stock and the same two diesels south of Kensington. Based at Hither Green, the diesels were working South Eastern Division turns 41 and 42. They were not built for the Southern Region but came from a batch of 15 loaned from the London Midland Region to assist with the Kent Coast Electrification Scheme.

D5000 to D5014 were part of 40 Type 2 diesels (later Class 24) ordered as part of the 1955 Modernisation Scheme. Built at Derby in 1958-9 they arrived at Hither Green during the early part of 1959. The D65xx Class diesels which were designed and built specifically for the Southern Region were delivered between 1960 and 1962. As deliveries progressed the D50xx were returned to the London Midland Region, a process completed by the summer of 1962.

Photo: J. J. Smith [045573]