Bluebell Northern Extension - so what's occurring then?

Well I'd say that's slightly less than half a traction engine/roller, but pretty interesting nonetheless! Thanks for the detective work chaps...

 

Not at all Dan. I'd clean forgotten about it. I suspect I would have remembered "half a traction engine" but that was slightly less impressive. I wonder what claims the Steam railway article made about the find?

Just to prove work continues despite the snow, here are John Sandys' latest photos. NEP Photo Update, Mon, 21/01/13 - a set on Flickr

Worth remembering that the cutting is wider at the top (d'oh!) so the further down they dig, the quicker the remaining pile will disappear, as there is less volume to remove for a given height. So what you see of the remains of the land bridge is really very little compared to what it was a few days ago. The pictures also make clear by how the diggers are stretching just how useful it was to keep the land bridge in place for as long as possible.

Tom

 

I wonder if the last of the waste to be removed will indeed be beyond the "stretch" of the diggers? One appears to be reaching upwards, while another somehow reaches down. They do look though to be near the limit of their reach.
Maybe the relatively small final amount of waste will be loaded for rail removal from the immediate area, or perhaps trucked out up the access road if it is presently passable.?

 

The Bluebell latest news has some more pictures from John Sandys. The diggers can now be photographed from both Imberhorne Lane Bridge and the occupation bridge at the other end of the cutting. This suggests that the amount of waste left must be relatively small.

 

Yes it was those images I has seen, and to the untrained eye both the lower and upper diggers appeared to be stretching to the limit of their reach in their efforts to move the last of the infill to the pile on top of the cutting.
Maybe the last bit just gets spead along the formation: The "summit" !!

 

The answer to my question posed above is that the remaining waste is to be moved by rail, and to that end the Bluebell have announced that they are hiring in class 33 No. 33103 to take the pressure off their class 08 shunter. This loco will assist with both waste removal and the movement to the site of men and materials.

 

A good opportunity for the BB to earn some extra revenue......have a few 33 running days:thumb:

 

In push pull mode with 3417.:thumb:

 

That would be good!
A lot of people won't pay the 30 quid they charged for on round trip on the ED in 2009 though.

 

Possible I suppose. When the ED did a charter, the income was sufficient to pay for all the fuel used during its whole stay, so I guess there is a market.

Is the VEP allowed on the mainline while carrying passengers? If so, could imagine a charter from wherever it is based to Sheffield Park, with the 33 taking it the last bit. After all, if you want to run the VEP with the 33, you have got to pay the track access charges to bring the VEP in anyway, so may as well have some passengers on it...

Tom

 

I thought the Bluebell doesn't allow diesel. :nono:

 

The 4VEP is not fitted with GSMR and AFAIK, TPWS and OTMR equipment so would not be able to work on the national network on its own. Also I believe it is not fitted with central door locking so not able to convey passengers either. Seems its delivery would need to be as an ECS move unfortunately.

 

Has the Hastings Green Goddess been retrofitted with central door locking as that is allowed on the mainline.

 

The policy as far as I know is that all public trains (whether pre-booked, like the GAs and the Santas, or "turn up on spec" like the regular service trains) will always be steam hauled.

If a group of like-minded people want to club together to hire a train privately, then they can and they'd be allowed any available and suitable motive power. Why anyone would want to do that is beyond me, but effectively it is a private hire.

For regular passengers, if you turn up for any service published in the timetable - either on-spec or pre-booked - you can guarantee it will be steam hauled. I don't think any other railway can guarantee that.

All donations towards the maintenance and running costs of steam-powered "plant" gratefully received so we don't need to hire in a diesel!

Tom

 

Thanks Shaggy.

OT I know, but realistically, the VEP is never going to have a role at the Bluebell. But it is a significant set of vehicles and has, to this point in its life, been well looked after. So I hope some suitable deal can be done to transfer it, even at nominal cost, to a more suitable custodian.

Tom

 

Yes it has

 

Just to kill any speculation about running the class 33 and the VEP in push / pull mode, a post on the Bluebell Yahoo group suggests it isn't technically feasible. So while it could run as normal loco hauled train, there doesn't seem to be a lot of point when we have plenty of other coaches.

Also, the class 33 is ETH only, so any train it pulled couldn't be heated.

Tom

 

I'm sure anyone wanting to travel behind 33103 wouldn't be put off with a cold train. But the coaching stock could always be preheated by a steam loco? I know most diesel cranks would put up with a cold coach if this is the only reason for not running a passenger train with 33103.

 

It would probably be a very cold train: post 646 indicates why 33103 has been hired in: Grampus wagons are not heated - either steam or ETH! The Bluebell and its contactors have achieved magnificently against the apalling weather during 2012 and need to generate income from investment going back to the mid-1980s as soon as possible.

As children, we were taught that pudding was conditional on having eaten greens first. In the future, I have no doubt that a 33 powered train could be worked through to the Bluebell, but in all honesty, there are are more important issues for the Bluebell to deal with between now and the end of March, when I believe the extension will be open for traffic. As supporters of the Heritage railway/preservation movement, it is worth remembering the bigger picture when speculating what we would like to see/photograph/ride behind.

David