Ashford Depot Open Day, Sunday 24 August 2025
Southeastern’s Exclusive Railway 200 Depot Open Day celebrated 200 years of the passenger railway in the UK; Southeastern opened the doors to their train maintenance depot in Ashford for one very special day. The unique event was hosted by the Southeastern engineering team.
Chris Anthony, Dominic and Therese arrived at Ashford International station on the 8.31am to set up the Kent CRP stand at Ashford Depot in anticipation of a busy day. We were later joined by Gary, Jonathan and Chris Fribbins to provide a fully staffed rota for the event, giving plenty of time for all to take breaks and visit the open day attractions of which there were many.
The day was warm and sunny bringing over 2,700 paying visitors (£25 per ticket) to the unique depot open day. Attractions included walkways around the huge maintenance shed to view trains in various states of repair, with interesting information boards explaining some of the terminology used. Trains included the very special Railway 200 Class 395 ‘Javelin’ train – 395015. Engineers and Southeastern staff were available throughout the site to ask questions and become more informed. Opportunities were available to sit in various train carriages and view a fantastic selection of heritage trains including Clan Line steam engine, MPV (Multi-Purpose Vehicle), Unit 1001 Hastings Diesel ‘Thumper’, Balfour Beatty ‘Tiny Tamper’, Class 73 GBRf locomotive, Class 66 GBRf locomotive and Stepney, the Bluebell engine. There were many stalls, food venders and free fairground rides for the little ones.
The event also incidentally marked 25 years since construction work on the depot started, as it was built to service the new Hitachi Javelin trains for the UK’s first domestic high-speed train service. Like most depots, the railway sites have shrunk over the decades as modern trains require less maintenance and fewer personnel to perform it. However, the Javelin trains needed a new depot, and on 1st June 2005, the government (via the SRA) signed a £250 million contract with Hitachi for 28 new trains and the depot to look after them.
It is estimated the team engaged with around 1000 people between us, giving away 124 Kent CRP logoed bags, hundreds of logoed pencils and pens with our website on and over 100 leaflets promoting walking and cycling routes around our stations. This was a great opportunity to promote community rail and on hearing of our station adoption projects and activities several people said, “I wish you were at our station.” We also promoted our upcoming Railway 200 History and Heritage Day on Sunday 28th September and other future events and activities at and around our 31 stations. One member of the public has already emailed to express an interest in volunteering at Cuxton – maybe there will be more to come!
Today, the bunting is down, and the depot is back to maintaining trains and preparing them for the morning commutes. This event was a great success so with luck, one of Railway 200’s legacies could be more regular open days in the future!
