Bluebell Motive Power

So with that certain sympathy with the livery purists you will agree I'm sure, that as almost all the Bluebell's fleet of Mk1's are indeed painted in the 'wrong livery' then as all but a handful were never allocated to the Southern Region during the steam era and are therefore being adorned with BR(S) green they are in themselves incorrect/inauthentic/wrong?

After all if you are going to paint them why not choose BR Maroon or Blue Grey as this will satisfy historical/purist viewpoint...

 

Personally speaking, I think it's a bit of a shame that the Bulleids get a little lost being painted in the same livery as the rest of the Mk1s. although I understand that most of them are not old enough to authentically cary an SR livery....

James.

 

Which means that the average uninformed visitor won't realise they're any different from the BR coaches. As has been pointed out above, total authenticity is unachievable anyway, and different liveries would emphasize the different generations of rolling stock.

 

Any news on the Q ( being a loco and thus Motive Power as per thread title )??
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PS, I think 30541 will look very nice on a rake of Blood and Custard stock

 

After such a long wait to see it in action, I think it will look very nice on any rake of stock!

 

The dome cover was still off when I booked on for duty in the morning; the cover was back on when we came back on shed so I took this as a good sign.

 

Thank you Grashopper. Can you use your magic Kung-Fu powers to make 34051 go??

 

Don't forget Bulleid coaches can be painted in to blood and custard. One way for them to stand out from green MK1s.

 

Was lucky with a moving cloud to get this photo of 592 in action yesterday - a few days after re-entering service.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davestubbings/17280278862/

 

I would have thought the ill fated plum and custard livery from very early BR would go down a right treat

 

541 is in traffic as of today.

 

Good to see. Some photos from John Sandys here (also 263 on the Obo special and the nearly completed canopy at EG - which I still haven't seen for myself!)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bluebellrailway/17301804745/in/set-72157652232865351

Tom

 

Was thrilled to end up at the Bluebell for 30541's return today. I'd pencilled in this trip when I first saw 30541 and 323 on the roster for Tuesday as I haven't seen either working for many years. When the roster changed to 847/263, I stuck with the plan anyway but wasn't quite as excited. So seeing 30541 come over the bridge into East Grinstead this morning prompted an audible 'ooooh' noise.

The loco looks fantastic (goes well with those blood & custard coaches... when fresh and clean I do think that's the best Mk1 livery), and performed beautifully today, sounding very crisp on the final run up to EG this afternoon. One of my most enjoyable steam trips on the Bluebell since getting back into the scene three years ago (the first diesel gala remains my Bluebell highlight both for novelty value and the racket from the Crompton up the hills). The stock was very well turned-up inside as well, was impressed with that. Excellent day and definitely a fan of the Q.

 

That is good news.

 

Couple of photos and short video of the Q yesterday...



https://www.flickr.com/photos/alts1985/sets/72157647921843163/

 

30541 now (temporarily) withdrawn form service with leaking stays......

 

re Q class 541 that's not good news.

perhaps whilst the stays are being attended to someone could have a look at the setting of the piston valves - the beats sound distictly 'off' to me, and not how i remember the loco sounding when last in service.

cheers,
julian

 

I bet it was pulled up too tight. (I've no sound on this pooter) The valve events are decent at 40% It was never very good when it last ran.
It's a goods engine.
Quite a few people drive engines on heritage railways notched up too far.
We don't go fast enough.
Russ.

 

Just to confirm the views of those who think we don't work our engines hard enough:

DSCF0353 by Keith Duke, on Flickr

(Not my photo).

It was actually a shunt move at the end of the day on Sunday to position the four wheelers for the Baxter specials later in the evening. A report of the trips, which were to raise money for the overhaul of SECR P class No. 27 is here: http://wainrightsfinestsecr27.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/another-successful-event-for-project-27.html and plenty more photos via the Bluebell What's New page.

Tom

 

A Bulleid Society update with progress on the back head fittings on Sir Archie:

http://www.bulleidsociety.org/News/Latest_News.html

And the latest on the Atlantic: https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/brighton-atlantic.20980/page-14#post-1157187

And on P class 27, with the cylinders now removed from the frames: http://wainrightsfinestsecr27.blogspot.co.uk

Tom