Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Just thought I'd write a few notes about my visit to the Bluebell last week - the first time I've been there since the mid-1990s...

I visit preserved railways with the mindset of 30% railway enthusiast, 70% member of the general public. What I found was that the carriages were clean inside and out, the visible staff (with one notable exception - read on) were mainly in uniform and were friendly and helpful, the tea from the buffet at HK was perfectly drinkable (which is not always the case on preserved railways) and the food in the Bessemer Arms was good but not over-priced. With my gricer's hat on, it was good to be able to see the work going on in the carriage shed at HK and, on the elephant van, I was reminded quite what a glorious colour freshly-painted BR carmine is!

Yes, there is some visible 'linear semi-scrapyard' stock at HK. But it has to go somewhere and credit to the Bluebell for working hard to get as much of it under cover as it can. The plethora of sheds and other buildings does mean that both HK and SP have completely lost their authentic ambience as 'wayside country stations'. However, I appreciate that it's a really difficult balancing act and am always mindful that - as discussed at length here - preserved railways can never actually replicate the rose-tinted 'old days'. By necessity, preserved railways can never be any more 'authentic' than any other glass-case museum and those with an interest in railways have to accept that.

If you want that 'wayside station' experience, do as I did and exit a northbound train at Kingscote and spend 40 minutes on the platform listening to the birds singing, then catch the same train back. Although you will try and have to filter out the traffic noise. There is no escape from 2017!

OK, now the 'could do better' part...

1. Not once at any point during the day was my ticket checked. There were a lot of platform staff on duty at all stations, but even when leaving the platform at SP as I departed (with three members of staff by the platform exit), nobody asked to see my ticket. I had decided to treat myself and was honest enough to shell out a fair whack for an all-line rover with first class upgrade. I could have bought a third class single from SP to HK and nobody would have been any the wiser.

2. The web site describes Kingscote as having a 'refreshment room'. It's not - it's a tea shack. Again the tea was fine, but it's not 'a refreshment room'.

3. While it was nice to get up close and personal with the out of service locos at SP, it would be nice to have some sort of viewing gallery so you could see the locos in the other shed.

4. Please tell me that something is being done with the remains of what used to resemble a Yankee Tank at HK? What a shame...

5. At HK Platform 1 is The Carriage Shop. In contrast to the smartly-uniformed staff everywhere else, this was manned by a rather fierce-looking individual in dirty shorts and a tatty shirt who, when he hadn't retreated to his lair, was fond of sitting on a platform seat with his legs wide open, regularly bellowing across to people on the other platforms. Now I know that every preserved line has its 'characters', but this particular individual completely put me off going into The Carriage Shop.... and, therefore, spending any money in it.
I appreciate that volunteer management can be a delicate affair, but the contrast to the other staff couldn't have been greater. You can't have one rule for one and one for another. All staff in a public-facing role should surely both look and behave the part?

 

One more thing... I know we live in an era of litigation-happy, ambulance-chasing solicitors... but is it really necessary for tannoy announcements to be made at SP and HK for people to 'keep clear of the platform edge' every single time any vehicle moves through the platform?

It's not Network Rail with non-stop trains approaching at up to 125mph. Locos are travelling at slow speed and they're all equipped with whistles. For me this was the one intrusive bit of 'Health & Safety gone mad' that really grated throughout the day.

 

In response to these 2, it's not really physically feasible to put a viewing area in the workshop, there just isn't space. In the warmer times of years, the main door is open most of the time anyway so the shed can be viewed. I don't see how a gantry could work as there is an overhead crane which covers most of the shed, and an kind of gallery/viewing gantry would get in the way. It is a workshop at the end of the day! Its mostly full of Stowe and 80151s boilers and the frames of 80151 at the moment. The main stuf of locomotives is in the engine shed, which can be viewed (albeit in poor "authentic" lighting conditions...).

The Yankee tank is intended to be displayed in the shed as part of the ASH project http://www.bluebell-railway-museum.co.uk/ash.htm on a rolling road, so I would presume that some kind of restoration will take place.

 

What a couple of spot on postings!

I would be a little more forgiving about the proliferation of new structures. Something has to give in coping with the present day use. However, the trains themselves are a little bit too "main linish" to me for a supposed rural branch line.

Where I agree 100% with @DisusedBranch is about the loudspeaker addiction. Don't talk at people through a microphone, talk with them as you check the doors are properly closed!

PH

 

In fairness, Paul, I did say that the proliferation of new structures is unavoidable and I do sympathise. Kingscote is pretty much as 'unspoiled' as it's possible for a branch line station to be in this day and age and I did spend a happy 40 minutes dreaming imaginary dreams of the sights and sounds of 70-odd years ago that I was born a little too late to witness!

Many of the 'stand back' loudspeaker announcements were for approaching trains or locos's running round and were, in my view, completely unnecessary.

Although the Standard 5 on the 'Victorian rake' for the first train of the day did look a little incongruous, the 70% 'normal' in me appreciates that the majority of punters just want to 'ride on steam train', so the trains themselves actually concern me the least when it comes to the visitor experience.

 

There's been a diagramming change on Sundays when the lunchtime Golden Arrow (GA) runs.

Previously, the A engine (which hauls the vintage set) ran three round trips and the GA engine 1.5. However, you needed a pilot engine to do a shunt release of the first down arrival of the A service, since the GA set blocks the platform if it has also run on Saturday night (which it generally does).

So the loco diagrams have been altered, with the GA engine doing the first A service. The A engine goes off shed later and waits at the north end of the station in platform 1,north of the GA set. When the down A service arrives, the A engine takes it out on its second trip, and the GA engine then takes the lunchtime GA which follows. Doing that has the effect of removing the need for the pilot engine doing a shunt-release, which over the course of a year saves perhaps 30 - 40 engine days - both from a boiler cycle and volunteer-days point of view. However, it does mean when the GA duty is a large engine and the vintage set happens to be the four wheelers, the effect is a bit incongruous - it is less obvious when the A duty involves the Maunsells / SR set. Ideally we would run two medium and one large engine on a Sunday, but at the moment that isn't always possible at the moment as there are only two nominally available medium engines. Hence sometimes seeing the Std 5 on a Victorian set if that happens to be how the loco and carriage rosters align.

Tom

 

You would be surprised how many "90% normals" can tell if the train they are in is fairly authentic "branch line" or not. They cannot see what sort of locomotive is at the head end whilst they are travelling though.

Paul H

 

It generally becomes clear with the inevitable "Daddy, daddy I can't wait..... I need to go now". Tying a knot in it was, of course, part of the authentic branch line exprience!

 

The announcements to stand clear of the platform edge whenever a train / loco is about to pass alongside any part of either platform are specifically part of the formal training and assessment of platform staff by the railway, and I believe are mentioned in the Bluebells Official 'Safety Management System' (that all railways must have if they wish to stay open as per ROGS legislation). Personally I do feel there is a great deal of crying wolf about this and rather than making people safe it actually does the opposite as people come to ignore the announcements as being pointless - even when they are genuinely needed, but it has been made clear that the official view must prevail. The only exception seems to be Kingscote (possibly only because it lacks a P.A. system - though numbers on the platforms tend to be low anyway).

Granted not every Heritage railway takes this approch though however the ORR will still expect the "Platform / Train Interface Hazzards" (or whatever else they call it these day) to be addressed in some manor in all railways SMSs

Thus given the society we live in today and the legislative / legal burden of proof under ROGS (i.e. that a railway has adopted what the regulatory authorities consider 'best practice' - even if I and other folk on here don't agree with their definition of 'best practice') I can see why the Bluebell have gone down the route they have. After all if you mandate something is done every time regardless of need, then should the worst occur, then all bases are covered.

I would also observe that its all very well saying focus on people personally, that rather assumes you have enough volunteers available in the first place. At times where staffing is tight, using the P.A. to highlight risks, is I would say an unfortunate necessity from time to time.

 

I think you have answered (and countered) your own point. Not everywhere does it. Neither is it done universally on Network Rail. Unlikely that any of these are being at all careless. It reminds me of supermarkets where in branch A there is a continual babble of staff announcements whereas branch B manages without any at all. Loudspeakers are addictive and the habit needs to be kicked if it starts to develop.

PH

 

A personal view is that signage, and announcements, are an area that we don't universally get right

Tom

 

It sometimes happens that a risk control measure turns out in practice to be ineffective or even counter-productive. It would seem desirable to make a proper assessment of the net effect of frequent announcements on people's behaviour.

 

Crowded platforms can become a potential risk. The NYMR has had a couple of near misses in this respect and does generally put out a tannoy announcement at Pickering. Although not really heritage I prefer this to a person standing on a footbridge and bellowing orders to people to keep away from the platform edge, which I observed recently.

 

A terse announcement on the website: "Due to unforeseen circumstances the Railway will be entirely closed to the public on 11 October."

Emergency engineering work? An unexpected filming job? A royal visit?

 

If a royal visit, it depends on exactly who the visitor is. By no means do they always involve closing the railway.

PH

 

Filming job I think I read somewhere.

Kind regards,

Dan

 

At least they've given adequate notice about said unforeseen circumstances...

Tom

 

The website (.co.uk) has now been altered to say:

"Due to filming taking place the Railway will be entirely closed to the public for the day on 11 October.
No trains were scheduled to run that day in any case."

Steve B

 

If P/way floats your boat (or even if it doesn't), this is well worth watching- Its a seriously impressive production by the railway: