Bluebell Motive Power

Mm mm good idea line up of 0-4-4, what about Dunrobin 0-4-4T and LSWR 0-4-4T M7 245 with lswr coach?

 

245 would be static only though.

 

Isn't Met1 still due to visit along with Met 353? I thought that was planned when the Bluebell loaned the Mets to the Met150.

 

Does the Bluebell have any air braked carriages?

 

Not sure Calbourne fits the brief as a Giant of Steam anywhere beyond the Isle of Wight!

Could do another Edwardian / Vintage Trains weekend like 2011 with the E4, C, H, Ps and the Captain?

 

I thought the Mets did, but I might be imagining that...

 

Not that I'm aware of. Hence my original comment about needing to "liberate" some of the IoWSR's carriages - preferably the Brighton bogies...

"Doris" (the ex-Brighton Belle Pullman) has air brakes and did once run a special with Birch Grove, but that carriage is now (I believe) off the railway as part of the Doris / Carina swap with the 5-Bel trust.

The Mets are vac-only.

Tom

 

419 from Bo'ness should be ready this year I think.

 

2015 will be pushing it - not official by any means but 2016 is far more likley!

 

Fair enough, thanks for the correction.

 

i cant see that somehow, but is there a box van, or something that you could fit as a translator vehicle, ie uses the air to power a vacuum ejector the idea being that it would be coupled to the chesham set to enable an air braked loco to work the set ?

 

Calbourne would have me looking at making another visit down there, everytime I've been Havenstreet it always seems to be one of the Austerities out .

 

419 is an air brake loco...........

 

Have you asked officially? The transport wouldn't be cheap, but there are very few running days on the IoWSR in November.

 

Pretty sure that's only for the locomotive and it has a method of working vacuum braked stock. The same would go for CR 828 which retains its Westinghouse pump (if it worked).

 

You are right of course. In that sense they are like Birch Grove and Fenchurch.

 

I don't know! All I've seen reported is what was in IRN (and the article in P&C that Dan Hamblin referred to, but which was essentially just a rehash of the IRN article).

I can't imagine that sending carriages over would be cost effective - the transport costs per carriage would likely be more than the maximum possible fare income that each carriage could generate, unless we had them for a reasonably long period. So I suspect the most likely course of action would either be to run with Birch Grove to maintain a vacuum (I'm not an expert on brakes, but I believe that would be possible - we did similar things using Fenchurch when W8 came over); or else I suppose it is conceivable that we could hire some mainline-registered air braked Mark 1s, which I guess would have cheaper transport costs. But all of the above is pure speculation on my part.

Tom

 

The air braked locomotive could only be used as a pilot engine with the vac braked loco as the train engine. With the air brakes connected between the locomotives (ie 02/E4), the air will not operate the vac brake brake on the train as I don't believe that there is an air-vac proportional valve, only a vac-air proportional valve.

 

What would be ideal, of course, would be if someone did the decent thing by Calbourne and painted her in proper Southern Railway livery, then stick her with Birch Grove. Problem solved.