Bluebell Railway Giants of Steam, 28th-30th October 2016.

Well, I'm one who will be looking forward to seeing it. Perhaps not a "giant", but still a decent-sized powerful loco. Also not too inappropriate - at least one 8F has worked through Haywards Heath and 48624 was assembled by the Southern Railway (I use the word carefully - I met the owner while at Swanage who was adamant that the SR didn't build it, but assembled it from parts provided from elsewhere!)

So the Bluebell is rather belatedly taking part in the takeover of the Southern by the LMS:- 45699, 46115 and 6201 on the main line and 43106, 46100, 53809 and 48624 at the Swanage and Mid Hants galas, with 44871 and 45407 still to visit for December.

 

Just because something is a goods locomotive doesn't mean it's "not a Giant". Nobody's even looked at a 9F and gone "bah, ruddy tiny that".

 

I'm tempted to suggest that anyone who considers an S15 as anything other than "giant" should try slicing the fire out first thing in the morning!

Tom

 

Would like to see the 8F but work commitments mean I can't get down to the Bluebell unfortunately

 

Shame about that. She certainly sounded good at Swanage. On the Bluebell, the trains will be as long if not longer and the gradients as steep if not (especially between KC and EG) a bit steeper. so anyone who likes noisy engines won't be disappointed.

 

8F now been confirmed on the Facebooks.

So that's LMS, LNER and SR. The three best members of the Big 4 all in one place.

 

With a week to go, has a timetable for the event been published yet?

 

Facebook event says it's being worked on, might have had to do some late re-jigging with the no-show of Crommers.

 

I am a big fan of the Britannia's and a little disappointed that 70013 won't be attending but I am really excited about the change to the locomotive line up. The 8F will be a cop for me and a nice bonus as I was unable to venture to the Swanage Gala. The Bluebell now have a really great line up for this event. If it's as good as last years excellent Gala I will be very happy indeed!
One question I do have: will the trains be formed of longer sets this year as they were mainly standing room only for the A4 visit last year?

 

Unlikely to be longer than 6 in length as that's the length of Sheffield Park platform (for now).

 

AFAIK, it is going to be four six coach sets: one all Mark 1s; one a mix of Mark 1s / Bulleids; one Maunsells / Edwardian bogie carriages; one comprising two Pullmans; the Obo and three Mark 1s. Plus I believe at times the goods set. As @A1X says, six coaches is really the comfortable limit at Sheffield Park - if you run with seven, it puts the engine of a train waiting to depart in advance of the starting signal, which then complicates signalling in of an arriving train.

Tom

 

Thank you both for your replies. Much appreciated.

 

A pity about 70013 but really looking forward to seeing both 48624 and 8572. I don't think I've been behind an 8F before.

Really looking forward to this gala. I'm a bit gutted I can't get to the MHR Gala but definitely going to go to this one

 

Ouch!!

As for the 8F, why not renumber it to 48760? That particular 8F hauled passenger trains over the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway on the final weekend before the line closed to passenger services. <BJ>

 

To be fair, noting that 48624 has SR / Ashford provenance probably has more resonance over in Sussex than (re)-creating some bit of S&D history. Renumberings for galas and photo charters are not unknown, but most of the ones I've seen have tended to be re-creating something that has specific relevance on the Bluebell, for example the somewhat regular renumbering of Standard 4s as 80154.

Tom

 

Really looking forward to my first visit to both the Mid Hants and Bluebell, what line-ups they've got!

 

Timetables just been released!!

 

Just to note that the carriage listings on the timetables are ordered south - north as written; for example set B (the SR livery set) has the Maunsells at the south end and the pre-grouping carriages at the north end.

Tom

 

8572 + tender heading South on the M11 this morning