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Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Jamessquared, Feb 16, 2013.

  1. paulhitch

    paulhitch Guest

    These seats are more comfortable than any Pullman, yet alone any Mark 1.

    PH
     
  2. Copper-capped

    Copper-capped Part of the furniture

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    Thanks for those updates Tom. An excellent snapshot of your railway. :)
     
  3. Grashopper

    Grashopper Member

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    Regarding storage, I think one option which may be possible but overlooked, is having a non-rail connected storage/museum facility on the Woodpax industrial estate adjacent to SP. Given locomotives can be out of traffic for 10 years or more, this would not present too much of an issue regarding needing to move things too often. Its not like transporters don't make fairly regular visits to the Bluebell, so could possibly be used for vehicle transfers.
     
  4. Ploughman

    Ploughman Part of the furniture

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  5. glen77

    glen77 New Member

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    The Bluebell seems to announce it's visitors, particularly for Giants of Steam or the Autumn gala as its now advertised, much later than other railways, any particular reason for this do you know?
     
  6. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    It's always a tricky one - we've seen before that if you announce visitors early, circumstances can intervene so that they end up non available and you have to substitute. So you can announce early, and run the risk you don't deliver what you promised, or announce late with greater reliability, but not give potential visitors to the railway much time to make their decision.

    For the Autumn Gala this year, I know a couple of locos were being looked at; however, that was a while ago and I don't know if they are still in the frame. I'm in the early stages of pulling together the notes for the next Loco Department report for Bluebell News, so I'll see if there is some definite news to include.

    Tom
     
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  7. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    I asked around - they are are made in-house to our own design.

    Tom
     
  8. jafcreasey

    jafcreasey New Member

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    Apologies if discussed previously, I’ve just noticed in the new Steam Dreams brochure (Page 26) that B1 61306 'Mayflower' will be operating an Oxford/Worcester excursion on October, 27th originating from SP at 08:00.
     
  9. nine elms fan

    nine elms fan Part of the furniture

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    Oooh that sounds good.
     
  10. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    For anyone visiting the railway this weekend and into the early part of next week, revised timetables are in operation as follows:

    https://www.bluebell-railway.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/25th-29th-May-new-timetable.pdf

    GWR 813 will be hauling the "B" service and 30541 the "A" service. 263 and 65 will be handing Wealden Ramblers and Golden Arrows, including double-headed combined WR/GA on Sunday (not shown in those timetables, but running for anyone who wants to photograph!)

    Tom
     
  11. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    From the e-newsletter:

    Go "Behind the Scenes" at Horsted Keynes

    As part of the Railway's ongoing plans to develop the visitor attractions at Horsted Keynes, the Carriage & Wagon Department will be running Behind the Scenes tours of the carriage works every Saturday at 2 p.m. starting on 26 May, 2018, and running until the end of September (except on Model Railway Weekend, 23 June).​

    This is an opportunity to see ongoing restoration work to our historic collection of carriages and wagons in areas that are not normally open to the public.​

    This is also an opportunity for visitors who wouldn't normally get off at Horsted Keynes to make their acquaintance (or re-acquaintance) with what is probably the largest station on a Heritage Railway in the British Isles. The opportunity fits in well with the strategy of offering much more than just a train ride and ensuring that visitors can make a whole day (or more) of it at the Railway.​

    The tour is timed so that visitors can eat lunch at Sheffield Park or East Grinstead and then hop on the 1:30 p.m. from Sheffield Park or the 1:15 p.m. from East Grinstead to Horsted Keynes to see what's going on in the workshops.​

    The tours are free, although donations towards the Maunsell Restaurant Car are always very welcome! We look forward to seeing you in the C&W works!​
     
  12. glen77

    glen77 New Member

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    Any idea when the June loco roster will be up?
    Also do we know what the arrangements are for the model railway weekend? - I presume the loco shed won't be ready in time to provide access to the yard at SP where there's normally a lot of layouts and things
     
  13. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    Haven’t see any details of the model railway weekend yet - I’ll look out for them.

    The running shed is closed but there is a back door entrance to the workshop, so it would still be possible to use the space; or maybe more likely have the entrance gates to the yard open as an alternative route to through the shed.

    Tom
    .
     
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  14. glen77

    glen77 New Member

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    Didn't cross my mind, thanks for the swift reply as ever
     
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  15. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    There’s a timetable for the model railway weekend here:

    https://www.bluebell-railway.com/wp...Model-Railway-Weekend-23rd-24th-June-2018.pdf

    Interestingly, it is a three train timetable, rather than previous years where we ran a normal two train service with addition of a SP - HK shuttle. I suspect we aren’t doing that this time because it relied on having two small engines to top and tail (“Baxter” and “Bluebell”) and Baxter is still away at Didcot. Also looks like there will be some attractions at Kingscote.

    https://www.bluebell-railway.com/whats_on/model-railway-weekend/

    Tom
     
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  16. glen77

    glen77 New Member

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    Yeah, found the timetable the other day, will definitely be down. Any idea if the S15 will be back in service in time, pretty clear that Camelot won't be?
     
  17. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    Yes, the S15 will return to traffic in a couple of weeks when 541 comes out for washout.

    Tom
     
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  18. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    It's up now ... http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/loco_roster.html

    Note that "DG" on June 17 is a demonstration goods (with the Q class); I assume the normal sorts of timings, i.e. running light to Horsted, then a round trip to Kingscote and Sheffield Park and back to Horsted, before returning LE to take the afternoon Wealden Rambler.

    Tom
     
  19. SomewhereintheSouthEast

    SomewhereintheSouthEast New Member

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    would anyone know what the condition of the Great Western brake van is currently?
     
  20. glen77

    glen77 New Member

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    Looked like someone was giving it a new coat of paint at Horsted Keynes when I was last down, don't recall it being ran for at the very least 10 years though
     

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