Bluebell Railway Terrier Gala: 29th - 31st July 2022

There was a decent sized grass fire on the west side of the cutting in the afternoon after 30541 left with the 1447 to EG, near where the cottages are. Credit to the staff, they got on top of it and it was just smouldering when the fire engine arrived. From the station announcements there were a few other fires today that delayed things, at least one on Freshfield bank.

 

4/5 lineside fires in all today

 

That was the Freshfield Bank fire, the HK one was put out by several buckets of water from the station, the crew of Poplar whacking it with shovels, some water from the refreshment stalls on the paddock field and (eventually) East Sussex fire brigade.

The Q seems to be the guilty party on both occasions, though.

 

And the bus broke down. Damn, did Lemony Snicket organise this event? Because its a serious of unfortunate events and its not even in the throes of Saturday and Sunday running. Hopefully their luck improves.

 

I had intended to visit today (Saturday) but due to industrial action planned, decided it would be better to go on Friday despite the railfare being considerably more. I managed to get to EG in time for the first working at 10.15 and it was soon apparent that there were disgruntled due to the Hall being failed. I felt this to be harsh since no HR can predict engines being pulled for reasons beyond their control.

I am seemingly more pragmatic & relaxed about such things and a good day started with 30541 to SP. Most of the train decamped at Kingscote to throng to the visiting Terriers already in situ.

I was in the first compartment behind Poplar & W11 leaving SP at 12.30 and despite the disappointing failure of the former, felt somewhat relieved that it was failed in the platform at HK allowing the other trains to pass in both directions. Had the train been failed elsewhere things could have been far worse.

Railway Galas need to be planned well in advance and expectations that things shouldn't go wrong can sometimes in my opinion, overtake the reality. **** Happens and the test of a good HR is how situations are managed in the heat of the moment. I came away thinking that both Terrier crews and station staff at HK did exceptionally well, especially as it didn't seem a clear cut decision at first to not continue.

The only sound / experience I can say was that W11 seemed to be suffering from one safety valve that needed fettling and constantly blowing off, whilst there seemed to be a 'slipping' when braking into HK? The train had successfully stopped and restarted en-route between SP & HK to recover a crew members hat that had been lost on an earlier working.

I have no personal criticism of the Bluebell Railway and I enjoyed my day in the sunshine - only Thameslink who struggle to maintain their service at the best of times

Rail replacement bus home was another story to be told elsewhere!

 

Hope nothing else breaks down before we visit tomorrow

 

The PTI page has been updated and the Maunsell coaches are behind 65 and W11, see https://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pti/index.html
1336 the droplight is one of the best coaches on the railway.

 

Yes I was on that train.The hold up was no more than 5/6 mims ,whats a pep pipe,do you mean a slackiing hose that most locos carries for damping the coal dust down.
Any how two photo's attached ,one of the pair about to leave Kingscote with the 11.05,there was a bit of primming when leaving from the leading loco ,second loco free wheeling.I photo'ed that on black and white ,so I will have to waite until l procces the film to see the results of that photo'.The other photo ,the pair arriving at HK with the 12.30 from SP.The train terminated there.

 

Yes - slacking pipe, slacker pipe, pep pipe all seem to get used somewhat interchangeably for the same thing. I assume the etymology of "slacking" pipe is related to slaking

Tom

 

My hunch is some kind of regional variation in usage, so that observation is interesting. I’ve heard all terms used, but on the Bluebell “pep pipe” seems to be the predominant term.

Tom

 

Suggest you discuss this with someone with experience of handling a small boilered locomotive. They need to be kept on the boil even at the expense of some steam loss. W11performs very well.

 

W11's safety valves lifted light at around 130ish and according to the IOW reps, wouldn't stop until the pressure went below 100. I didn't fancy letting it get that low but as irritating as it was, her steaming capabilities weren't diminished admittedly on a light load. This aside, she was an utter delight to work on.

 

The day started for me with an early morning photo with W11 plus Birdcage and Hundred Seater ( was originally due to be Popular and pregrouping goods) where the first run past just South of HK had the best exhaust ( see https://www.national-preservation.c...eneral-discussion.39323/page-273#post-2755096) before the tempatures started to rise before 8am!
After the Charter I headed home , then walked to East Grinstead station to catch the first departure South behind the Q.The Front Cairrage behind the loco was
London Brighton & South Coast Railway Bogie First No. 142, (SR No. 7598)l and with no addtional charge for first class at Gala, I had a very comfortable ride down to Sheffield Park where I had breakfast . After visiting the Project 27 stand, the shop and the loco shed I realised that I had missed my planned train, but the stock behind the next train, to be hauled by the 01 and W11, included Maunsell Droplight Open Third No. 1336 my favourite coach on the line. All the windows were open, which was appreciated on the run up to Kingscote. A quick change to the train hauled by the Q this time I found a seat in Southern Railway Bulleid Open Third No. 1464 down to Horsted Keynes for Pint and an icecream. While i was there realised I had lost my camera ( probably left it on the train since it would not fit in my rucksack after my recent purchases ), after speaking to one of the statin staff ( who checked it had no been handed in at HK), I was advised to take the next train to Sheffield Park. One of the station staff had found it and stored it in the station house. After some further refreshment I headed back to East Grinatead behind the 80151 in a mark 1 1st class compartment. On arrival I had just walked past the loco and heard someone call , and on walking back it was Ian Wright who said " so you are not going to say hello then" .After having a brief chat I headed home. A very enjoyable if some what eventful day.

 

Some photos taken using my phones camera .

 

"Can we have all four together in the shed?"
"Yes - yes we can!"
Poplar was shunted under cover last night and an opportunity to have four terriers together was too good to miss.

 

Just goes to show, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
I throughly enjoyed myself yesterday, despite the hiccups, first time behind 65 and 80151, nice to see some older and newer coaches run side by side and generally revisiting my favourite Southern railway.

 

I've had plenty of experance of non pop savety valves.All of our engines of were 160lb. After the once a year boiler exam/ test, and then re assemblying of the safety valves, we could get them to start blowing of at 150 to fully at 160 .After weeks and months went by ,they would get down to start blowing off at about 130 on one valve.This was anoying at meal breaks.So we would take it in turns to go out and give the valve a tap with a hammer to shut them up.