Bluebell Railway General Discussion

I think there might be a tweak Tom, I think the visiting Austerity was 'Northiam' rather than 'Sapper'.

 

"Leander" is on there. (35 in the gala visitor list).

I believe "Sapper" and "Northiam" are different names for the same loco, but checking a photo I've just found, looks like it was carrying "Northiam" nameplates when it visited the Bluebell.

I really should do a version 2 of that list ...

Tom

 

I did have another quick look and found 5690 so adjusted my post. I know that the KESR has an Austerity called Sapper on loan as well as Northiam but not too sure of the history of either loco.

Did Blue Circle run when it was based on the railway prior to being sold?

 

Looks like it did …

(Compiling these lists is a minefield - guess I should add 1964 for it as well).



Tom

 

Ah ok thank you.

 

Many thanks Tom, very helpful.

 

On Earl of Berkeley, I believe it spent a couple of years at Didcot especially about the time of GWR 150.

 

Did it steam there? Might explain why I’ve got rather patchy data with an isolated year in 1989, since it is based on mileage run at the Bluebell.

Tom

 

https://flic.kr/p/2jcwWed

https://flic.kr/p/dGyq9A

Looks like it arrived in 1984 and left in 1989. Seems it had a bit of work done on it as well while it was there.

https://flic.kr/p/dGt1Uk

 

http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pic2/gwr/dukedog.html

Aug 84 to Jun 89.

Operational Jul 82 to autumn 83 then may 86 to autumn 89

Repairs to firebox and new tyres whilst at Didcot

 

OK, that makes more sense as to why I have mileage data at the Bluebell for 82-83 and then ‘89.

Tom

 

Percy visitor was RSH 7058 “Olwen” for several years around the mid 2000’s.

 

That leads to a question how do Bluebell keep an account of steaming hours when the locos are visiting elsewhere ? I assume it would be useful info for the loco maintenance staff ?

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B

By getting the hirer to fill out report cards.

 

As @21B says, when a loco goes away, the host railway will complete daily records just in the same way that we do with locos visiting us.

In the time that I have been compiling the loco reports for Bluebell News, I've always tried to note both the mileage done by visitors to the Bluebell each year, and the mileage done by Bluebell locos while out on hire. ("Fenchurch" will have racked up a fair few in 2023). My original source of "what ran when" came from a spreadsheet of annual miles I inherited, but I suspect the processes may have been different in the past. For example, "Maude" doesn't explicitly appear on my original list, but there is an entry of 383 miles in 1999 for "visitors", at least some of which I suspect was "Maude" which was present for a filming contract that year. (From photos, it looks like it also ran on a goods train during Giants of Steam that year).

Up to 1968 it looks like the annual mileages weren't accurately recorded, or at least weren't available to whoever originally compiled the spreadsheet I had - instead, there is a suspiciously round figure for annual mileage which has been split equally across all the locos in traffic for that year. From 1969 onwards, the specific mileage records were available for each loco and therefore for the whole year. Of course, it is only really in the last 20 years or so that such records would be on a spreadsheet, so compiling them from source records before that date would be a considerable labour now.

It's on my to-do list to get it all into a properly laid out spreadsheet for my benefit!

If I could wave a magic wand over other bits of the railway, I'd be interested in seeing equivalent records for carriages, i.e. the annual mileages done by each carriage each year. (There are probably maintenance subtleties in that field I don't understand, for example, how you categorise a bogie swap). For a long time it has been my understanding that the highest mileage vehicle on the railway was the LNWR Obo No. 1503, but it has recently been overtaken by one of the wheelchair-accessible saloons, which run pretty much every day - but it would be nice to see the figures to confirm.

Tom

 

Thanks Tom, interesting to understand some of the behind the scenes work.

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Interesting posts from James to the power of 2 as usual. The look back at visiting locos has coincided with me trawling through my database of all my UK steam loco runs since 1960.

In which I see that my first visit to the Bluebell looks to have been on 13 June 1965, which gave me a run behind 30583 and 3217 from Sheffield Park to Horsted Keynes, and just 30583 on the return.

Runs that could hardly be different from my trips the previous week when 35005 on 12 cars with Nine Elms crew 'Sooty' Saunders driving and fireman Dave 'dropgrate' Wilson (who I am still in touch with) put in a stupendous perfomance on the 17.30 ex Waterloo.

But, quickly back to the Bluebell. Tom, re 30583. I think I have read here that the Atlantic tank is due for an overhaul to start soon? If so, will there be a time when it is moving from the shed to the location of its overhaul, when it will be possible to photo the loco outside in its current, and for me the correct livery with the correct number of 30583. That should really read Am I Alone for me from what I read here! But I only ever record SR locos with their BR SR numbers and much prefer to photo them when they are carrying those. Or do such movements have to fit inside a tight timescale at the same time as other locos are able to be be moved around, thus making it impossible to give a date when it could happen - which of course I fully understand and accept.

 

With regard 488 and 96

First thing to say is the obvious - they can't move until Beachy Head emerges from Atlantic House.

As I understand the plan, the current idea is that Beachy Head and its tender will be extracted using a lorry rather than a crane. To do so requires a degree of clearance in the yard and for the pits to be either completely - or at least substantially - filled with piling and boarded over. Because that has an operational impact, I think the idea would be for the pits to be blocked for as short a period as possible - hence my feeling (but this is a guess, not confirmation) is that the aim would be to move Beachy Head out of, and 488 and 96 in to, Atlantic House during the same sequence of lorry moves.

As for when, I don't know but I suspect some time in the next few months. Almost certainly it will be a mid week day, quite likely a day when there is no other service running (so no worry about needing to keep pits clear for loco preparation etc).

Incidentally, when 96 and 488 are gone from the loco shed, I believe the intention is to bring "Sharpthorn" and the North London Tank down to Sheffield Park for static display.

Tom

 

Thanks Tom. Undertaking those moves when the railway is shut to all but those working on such as the moves sounds like a good idea.