Good News from the Bluebell

Are there any up to date photos of the new platform, or has that all come to a halt over winter ?

 

Bad weather has stopped the brickies from building the platform front as planned. Not sure on the timetable for EG now. P Way Dept have a lot on their plate with the tunnel track renewal at the end of Feb/March.

 

A link has been provided from Derek Haywood on the Bluebell e-mail group with photos taken of B473 from the 24th. So she's looking good for this w/e's relaunch into traffic, hopefully!ray2:

http://train.fotopic.net/p63053312.html

 

I like the attempts to sabotage the photters, but you can still tell she looks gorgeous. Just to let you know David as you're doing PTS too, B473 and 78019 are rostered for the 6th

 

Well atleast they haven't put Pre-Grouping headcodes discs on it,,, yet lol But seriously, yes the E4 does look really good in olive green and hopefully she'll be paired with just the 3 Maunsell carriages this Saturday.

ReTS, I have heard from a source that the 6th Feb course has been rearranged and will be held on 13th and 21st of March and those of us who enquired about the 6th Feb course will be contacted this week.

 

That's peculiar, when my Dad rang the office last week to confirm it was the both of us on the course it seemed that everything was still good for the 6th. (I think this was Wednesday or Thursday)

On a separate note, the Bluebell Yahoo group suggest the Fairburn will arrive on Wednesday

 

That's what we thought when our source told us that the PTS course wasn't going to happen on the 6th Feb. We haven't yet heard from the Bluebell but we'll definately go to the office first thing this Saturday and enquire to make sure we know exactly what is happening.

 

I got my receipt through the post today still saying the 6th, although I'm assuming it was posted last week so something may have changed like you said since then

 

Stop Press - B473 Launch - Saturday 30th January
Our newly overhauled LBSCR E4-class loco will be relaunched into service on Saturday, with a ceremony at 2pm at Horsted Keynes.

The special train that afternoon will be formed of four coaches in matching Southern Railway livery, and is principally intended for the volunteers and staff who have worked on the project, and our invited guests. However, 80 seats in ex-SECR carriage No.1098 will be available to the public on a first-come - first-served basis. The train will leave Horsted Keynes at 2.45pm for a round trip of the line, and tickets (at normal all-line return fare) can be booked by ringing our Sales and Information office on 01825 720800.

The special train will then leave Sheffield Park at 3.30 for Kingscote, leaving there at 4.30, returning to Horsted Keynes at 4.45 and then back to Sheffield Park. A special evening train for all working members (i.e. Volunteers and Staff) will also run.

B473 will also haul these matching coaches in public service on Sunday 31st January. Timetable service 2 will be in operation for the public services.

 

For those wanting an update on extension progress, here's one from October to January http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/ext/extprog.html

 

Thanks Matt. It's not a cliche, a picture really is worth 100 words. IIRC, the spoil from the south end of the tip went to the HK junction picnic area; what's going to happen to this lot?

 

The spoil at HK has been levelled off and grass has been growing on it, I believe the plan is to turn it into a picnic area or similar. There have been murmurings of putting a turntable there, I doubt that'll happen though.

Edit. To quote you, a picture speaking a thousand words, here's picture of what happened to the spoil from the south end of the tip

 

Thanks for the new pic Matt. I guess we're looking along the Ardingly branch, and that's the "main" line to Sheffield Park over on the left. That picnic area might be a good and safe place for "steamy" photos in future, if we could catch locos before they shut off to coast into HK, or indeed while starting a southbound run.
So have you heard anything of the destination of the 1000-ton spoil trains from East Grinstead?

 

Yes, this is a brake van ride down the Ardingly Spur. I can see it being a very good place for photting, if you put a big-ish lens on you could get a head-on shot with the power still on as it comes around the curve. As for the spoil trains, the answer may be back somewhere in this thread, Buckinghamshire springs to mind. They'll probably use a GBRF 73 named The Bluebell Railway, the original one named so in the 80s has since been scrapped.

Edit. It's going to Calvert, Buckinghamshire

 

Calvert in Bucks has been mentioned as the destination of the spoil.

 

My Dad phoned the office today and the Feb. 6th PTS course is still going ahead as it's fully booked. But the office has lost our details and cannot book us on the 6th Feb course and they've had to put us down for the 13th March course instead. They have however in return agreed to extend our Lineside Pass tickets to cover the Branch Line w/e as they were due to expire on the 7th Feb.

 

Looking at Wiki, unloading at Calvert won't be a problem if thats where its to go. Impressive facility

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Calvert_Railway_Station_2.jpg

 

The Fairburn has landed. And it's facing south, I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing http://train.fotopic.net/p63117914.html

 

Maybe not quite so many south facing opportunities but it makes a change from the norm. Treemains, site of Freshfield Halt and recovering from the TSR near the foot of Freshfield Bank are all positions worth doing.

 

Assuming that 178 is completed in time and 78019 is delivered facing north, then we'll have an exact 50:50 split of north/south facing locos which should give more variety for photos. I also notice that 9017 isn't intended to run, is this because 6 locos is enough or is she in for maintenance or annual boiler exam or something? Standby loco maybe?