Bluebell Railway General Discussion

I see that elsewhere Mr Philpott is still mentioning the black mesh on the banks of the extension. It will take a long time for the greenery to establish itself particularly as the banks are a mixture of subsoil, rock, clay and waste which hardly encourage plant growth even in a more hotizontal environment. Those of you who know the north M25 will know that they used lots of this stuff in the cuttings there when they widened it. Three years later growth is still only thin and patchy and I would predict based on the growth response of the stuff on the Motorway that it could be 5 to 7 years before any substantial plant growth occurs in the EG extension cutting. If it becomes an issue with the visitors it might be worth experimenting with spraying a small section with a slurry mix to see if that encourages nature a little.

 

Two little green uns on the full Bluebell 10 June 2013

The early start to a mainline tour the next day dictated a night in London, so we came early and whisked down to East Grinstead by Southern Electric and had a round trip on the Bluebell line, which now connects directly. We had two bright little SECR engines, 0-6-0T No 178 of 1909 and 0-4-4T No 263 of 1915. Earthworks were continuing through the former Imberhorne cutting and a spoil train headed by a Class 33 was sharing the line with us. A genteel ride on a well-kept railway through luscious scenery - the perfect trailer to something completely different the next day.

12 photos are at http://pjhtransportpix.zenfolio.com/p235205115

Peter, back in Manchester on a rainy afternoon
http://pjhtransportpix.zenfolio.com

 

I have an idea but not sure of the possibility or likelyhood of it happening.

When Tornado comes down on 10th September with that Steam Dreams railtour is there the possibility of her running the tour with the Blue Belle headboard that was used on the railtours in the 1960's. I believe that the last through tour to carry that headboard was the Scottish Belle with 123 and 120 on 15th September 1963 (the last through ran as the Brighton Blue Belle on the closing day of the Ardingly Branch in October 1963) so the railtour Tornado's doing will be running just a fews short of the 50th Anniversary of the last tour using that headboard.

One problem though is whenever Tornado hauls a Steam Dreams tour she carries a Cathedrals Express headboard above the smokebox and I'm not sure if the Blue Belle headboard would fit on the lamp irons on the bufferbeam.

Just an idea that I think would be nice to see on the tour. Not sure if anyone agrees with me.

 

Might be possible to do a quick swapsie in the siding at Grinny? That way while it's out in public it's got the tour company standard headboard but when it comes onto the Bluebell it's carrying the more appropriate one.

 

... is this coming weekend, 22/23 June.

Timetable is a three train timetable, with our normal weekend service departure times, but in addition an extra train interpolated leaving SP at 10:20 and then running in the spare path.

Motive power should be:

1638 on the 09:45 / 12:15 / 2:45 / 5:15 ex SP
323 on the 10:20 / 12:50 / 3:20 ex SP
178 and 263 on the 11:00 / 1:30 / 4:00 ex SP

In addition, Stepney will be running brake van rides at HK.

Don't know what the coaching stock will be, but assume Mets, 4 wheelers, birdcages, Obos and LSWR brake thirds will be to the fore. If I had to take a stab, I'd assume Maunsells and SR pre-grouping stock behind 1638; Mets and 4 wheelers behind 178/263 and maybe Obo + LSWR coach behind 323, but I could be wildly wrong.

More details of the additional attractions, which inlcude a vintage fairground, here:

http://www.bluebell-railway.com/event/edwardian-weekend/

Tom

 

Edwardian weekend is Sat 22 and Sun 23, not 21/22.
GN saloon will be out both days for PUBLIC use 1st Class of course. Go along and have ride.
No idea which set or times I'm afraid.

 

Thanks - edited!

Tom

 

From the News from the Bluebell email : -

Railway Shows Healthy Income in First Third


The first four months of 2013 show income significantly ahead of the Railway's budget as of the end of April, according to a report Finance Director David Foale gave to the Bluebell Railway PLC Board of Directors at the end of May.

In the light of this report, the Board agreed to allocate some of the likely surplus. It was decided that the boiler from No. 73082 can be sent for repair; further platform cover can be planned at East Grinstead; West Hoathly Tunnel can be "winter proofed" by lining the really wet areas to prevent icing; and a replacement coaling device can be leased.

At the same meeting, Commercial Director Tim Baker and Retail Director Russell Pearce reported that the period since the East Grinstead opening has been busy, with revenue from all sources running ahead of plans.

Among the good news, the Directors noted that visitor numbers are up 23% on the same period in 2012; the Travel Centre at East Grinstead is attracting additional revenue and acting as a third ticket window; Sheffield Park and Garden has seen a trade increase; both the catering and the shop are trading ahead of budget; and the new Grinsteade Shop and Buffet is trading more heavily than expected.

 

Good to hear that. Long may the success continue.

 

Well I'm sat at home and have heard what I am guessing are whistle's from the Bluebell which is strange as I don't normally hear it at home and there is only Tangmere coming back later at Haywards Heath. At one point the whistle was so loud it sounded like there was another steamer through Haywards Heath.

 

There were a number of steam rollers and traction engines out on a road run today heading in your direction so it was probably one of them you heard.

 

Might well have been. Was quite nice. Normally I end up hearing Gatwick Express Class 442's (which I hate) wizzing through than anything else and that includes the Southern and FCC trains.

 

I had the same thing, but with the added bonus of an argument with my dad who was staying over. He swore blind he was woken up at about 8:00 by a steam engine-I assured him he was wrong... Had to eat humble pie later on!

 

Not really related, but my uncle also stayed last night, leaving early to get to London. Passed Tangmere at East Croydon, Bittern to York, and saw Sutherland leaving there too on a Scarborough trip! Not bad for a day in 2013... If only there was a Western loco out too he could have managed the big four in a day!

 

Photos and video from the model weekend...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alts1985/sets/72157632784810904/

 

Some interesting passenger numbers in Bluebell News:

Total travel:
1 January - 31 May 2012: 38,393
1 January - 31 May 2013: 53,577

When interpreting those figures, bear in mind that the 2012 numbers are SP - KC; 2013 numbers include SP - KC only until the end of March (and that period was also very quiet), so the "East Grinstead" effect is really only in April and May. Even allowing for that, it's a pretty staggering increase.

Also, for the C&W nerds, there were figures for the carriage mileage run for the 2000 - 2010 decade. Carriage 1503 - the LNWR Observation Car - ran 80,416 miles in those ten years. Is there a pre-grouping carriage anywhere else that runs a bigger mileage?

Tom

 

GN3087 sees a lot of use on the NYMR, but I don't think anyone keeps a record of mileage.

 

The Isle of Wight bogie stock in a typical season does between 10,000 and 12,000 miles. 2416 and 6349 were ever present during the period 2000-2010 so will have easily done 100,000 miles plus.

The passenger figures are impressive I am guessing something in the order of a 50% increase.

 

I wondered if those coaches might be up there - wasn't sure if your shorter round trip and fewer days in operation would none-the-less get compensated by the fact that the bogie stock sees very heavy use on days when you are running.

It'll be interesting to see how the figures stack up now we are open to EG. Between 2006 and 2012,we apparently reduced annual carriage mileages by about 50,000 per year, from 170,000 to 120,000. This was partly as a result of cancelling one half-trip at each end of the day (the old 11:17am down from HK / 4:47pm up from SP); and partly by cutting the core set from 5 to 4 vehicles. But now we are open to EG, we haven't let up from needing two six coach-equivalent sets each day at weekends, plus the daily mileages are bigger (7 round trips of 22 miles on the new weekend timetable, vs 6 round trips of 18 miles on the old timetable). So I'd expect the carriage mileages to go up sharply. Certainly the Mets, which have the combination of high capacity and low tare weight, are getting a pretty thorough running!

Carriage 5034, which is the wheelchair accessible Mark 1, ran something like 169,000 miles in ten years, because it was needed on pretty well every day of operation - which shows the desperate need to get more wheelchair accessible carriages into service.

Tom