Bluebell Railway General Discussion

I do remember as a kid growing up in the village that when the wind was right we could hear the electrics and my dad explained how you could tell when they were on Ouse Valley viaduct, and now and again we saw the 'bloom' from the arcing.

 

Crikey! That's some travel...


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This has brought back another memory, my dad was always acutely aware of sounds, and I realise now it was possibly from the fact that he spent a long time in jungle environments during WW2. One occasion during the winter of 62/63, when we lived near Birch Grove I can vividly recall dad ,my older brother and me outside the back door (freezing cold) listening to planes accelerating and decelerating at Gatwick. Twas a very white countryside then.

Edit: On reflection that was a bit of an anomaly, as I remember a photograph of an H and train running in to Three Bridges that winter and the photographer commenting how the thick snow muffled the sound and the trains seemed to 'ghost'.
Mother nature eh!

 

As a Haywards Heath resident for a while, the trains at HK are perfectly audible in the town, when the wind is in the right direction and traffic noise quiet, such as early Sunday morning, or late evening Golden Arrows.

Robin

 

You did well. The BR5s are usually pretty noisy beasts, but I didn't have such a feast for my ears when I went to the Bluebell during Half Term week to photograph 73082 on the 3.45 ex-Sheffield Park. I was situated on Freshfield Bank and it was a fairly still afternoon. I was therefore expecting to hear plenty of noise as soon as 73082's chime whistle had sounded. However, she was already digging in to the 1 in 75 before I could hear anything which, with six on, was rather a surprise. Still, the light was lovely, Camelot was making clouds of steam and I took what I hope will be a good picture so I'm not complaining at all.

 

That's pretty impressive... I've lived in Haywards Heath a few years now and never heard anything, although I'm in the town centre so there's always background noise. I was woken up early the morning after my stag do by Tangmere going through on the mainline, which, given the late night, was a mixed blessing!


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Interesting! Maybe just because everything else was quiet (no traffic noise)?


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We did live in Queen's Road, so the right side of the town.

Robin

 

At SP, if it is quiet you can normally hear up trains most of the way up Freshfield, but after that they shut off and you can't then hear them again.

Was anyone around yesterday late afternoon? During the shunting to put everything away at the end of the day, at one point B473 and 323 moved south side by side; Birch Grove from platform 1 on to shed; Bluebell from platform 2 to the carriage shed headshunt with the service stock. Most fun from the footplate! Then about an hour later, we had three simultaneous moves: Camelot putting the Rambler stock in the dock; Bluebell putting the GA stock in the shed, and 541 arriving in the platform with the other service train. Not often you get three simultaneous movements at SP! Just another ordinary non-gala weekend

Tom

 

Tom,
Multiple moves need a confident bobby. Some I know can only deal with a single move, not that I blame them. I have seen the aftermath when things went wrong.

 

Well I lived on a hill above Wivelsfield Green as a child in the '60s. I have no recollection of hearing trains at that time but I vividly recall following the passage of trains on a frosty night from the arcing flashes that lit up their progress. To the west we had the Brighton main line and to the south the Keymer Junction - Lewes line crossed Ditchling Common.

Peter James

 

Agreed. I think that was why it was a bit unusual - the signalling allows it, but it was a particular combination of circumstances and timing that allowed simultaneous moves south from both platforms. I'm sure it has happened before, but not when I've been on the footplate.

With the triple move, Camelot was locked in to the loco-yard headshunt to propel the stock back into the dock siding, so that move was under the control of the yard running foreman and guard. We (on Bluebell) were similarly locked in to the carriage yard headshunt (pump house siding) to propel back into the running shed, controlled by the OS and our guard. Which left the station free to accept the service train clear of any conflicts.

It was something of a fluke that all three moves happened at almost the same instant, but the impressive bit of signalling was some fairly smart work to get everyone where they needed to be without delaying the down train. The timetable is quite tight at the end of the day, especially as the GA and WR were running as a combined train, which is longer than the platform; dining trains are generally slow to unload anyway; and the train then had to be shunted from platform 1 to 2 and split in half before berthing. It was certainly one of those nice occasions where everything goes right with quite a large number of people all doing exactly what they had to when they had to, that makes the operating side so rewarding, even on ordinary days.

Tom

 

Conversely we've had quite a few occasions when we've been doing some sort of early / late track maintenance job in the middle of nowhere (all under suitable protection arrangements, i hasten to add) only to clearly hear trains in the distance. Quite unnerving until you realise the sound is carrying from the Brighton mainline!

Jon

 

I must apologise to the delay in replying to Dave for his very comprehensive reply re the LBSCR Directors Saloon, for which i am most grateful and was of considerable interest.

cheers,
julian

 

Thank you for your kind words

 

Robin, I am going to apologise in advance, and I do know what you meant but "We did live in Queen's Road, so the right side of the town" rofl. My memories of Queens Rd was the nail factory at the bottom of the road, a dodgy* Bike/ Reliant dealership opposite the chippy where all us 'skivers' spent our 1/6d (7 1/2p) dinner money.
* One occasion, customers brand new Kawasaki Z1 Motorbike, after first 500 mile service taken for a spin by mechanic 'sans oil' ooops Engine totally seized.
Neighbour bought a 'low milage' Supervan 111 (only fools..) and the front wheel collapsed whilst negotionating the roundabout by the Burrell Arms

 

Following Dav

I took some photos of the work in progress, which complement those taken by David R. These can be seen on my Flickr site and include this view from the south or Shffield Park and of the site.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/extension3363/25478342611/in/album-72157659146847649/

Dave C

 

I grew up on the far side of Wadhurst from the railway and a very fond memory is hearing northbound Hastings units powering up through Snape at night, then it all going quiet as they went into Wadhurst tunnel, then another burst of noise as they exited, before it all went quiet again as they shut off for the station stop.

 

One Christmas eve I stood on the overbridge at Horsted House and heard 92240 leave Sheffield Park, you could work out from the exhaust exactly where she was all the way to HK, and she wasn't working very hard.

 

Very true I used to hear the Bluebell from my old house in Haywards Heath every once in a while but I live on the other side and rarely hear it anymore.