Bluebell Railway Giants of Steam 31 October 2015 - 1 November 2015

Updated event leaflet, including further details of available on-train catering, what's open at each station and the timetable for the Brighton / Lewes / SP vintage bus service.

Timetable is unchanged; I still haven't seen details of loco workings (presumably being reworked as we speak) but it still says double heading for Saturday, though whether there is just a straight swap of duties Bittern for Britannia I don't know.

http://www.bluebell-railway.me.uk/events/2015/gos_outline_2015.pdf

Tom

 

Hi,
In a previous reply you said 80100 would not be on display, is there any chance of someone showing me her.
just i need her to cr0ss off my list.

many thanks
yrm.

 

Best to ask when you get there, I'm not sure it is reasonable to ask Tom to facilitate such a request

 

oh ok

 

Up and until a few months ago it was on display in the dock siding at SP; I think now it is in the Carriage Shed, which is completely out of bounds to visitors. It may well move back on display in the future.

I seem to recall that there is a small viewing window from the museum into the shed; it might be visible from there, I'm not sure. I might be wrong about that.

Please bear in mind at the gala that there will be almost constant movement at the south end of the station, including in and out of the carriage shed, for much of the day, which makes access doubly difficult.

As you are "young" railway man, I'm sure that you will have plenty of opportunities to see her in the future: locos do periodically move around and a loco that was hidden for a while suddenly comes into full view.

Tom

 

Calling all photographers!

This coming Saturday evening there will be a short photographic shoot at Horsted Keynes station as part of the Giants of Steam gala.

This will feature (subject to availability on the day) Q Class No.30541 and a goods train. Photography will be undertaken from a specially cordoned off section of the station platforms, with the train posed under flood-lights. Entry to this cordoned off area will be by payment of a fee of £10 per person (payable on the day).

Anyone wishing to take part should please assemble outside the buffet on platforms 3 and 4 at Horsted Keynes from 5:15pm onwards. Photography will start at approx 5:40pm, continuing for approx 30 minutes (excluding a pause half-way through to allow 2 service trains to pass through the station).

 

From the Bluebell Facebook page:

Full Timetable details now available for £1 from Bluebell stations, or phone 01825 720800 or email info@bluebell-railway.co.uk to have them e-mailed to you in advance (still for £1).

Apparently the goods train (see also Jon Bowers' post above) will consist of 15 vehicles.

Tom

 

I suppose its wishful thinking to wonder if one of these is the 45 ton steam crane thats tucked up in the yard at Horsted Keynes? Would be nice to see though...

 

Easily enough coaches for the mets and four wheelers to not be used. 4 Special Saloons in service, 3 Maunsells, 4 Bullieds, 13 mk1's. 24 Coaches that could all be used without any need for vintage non corridor connector stock to be used over the weekend.
Would personally like to see something along the lines of:
16210,1838,1464,1482,2526,43909

Christine,Fingall,4757,4941,16012,35207

25769,5034,4824,1674,34556,3064

4279,25728,1336,1309,6686,1503

 

43909 won't be in use over the weekend

 

I would highly doubt it, there's plenty of vintage wagons in the Bluebell fleet without wheeling that out.

 

Congratulations to the Bluebell for resuscitating this event in such style. Went over in the afternoon. 73082 sounded in great form. I travelled SP-KC behind her and she made it seem so easy. The two guest engines were clearly popular - I spotted people standing on the 3PM ex-SP with Bittern on the front. Cheltenham looked and sounded good with six SR coaches behind the tender. Enjoyed a good run from KC back to Horsted Keynes.

Add to that some SUNSHINE this afternoon (yes, at last!) and so many attractions to see and I found my afternoon went by a bit too quickly. Fascinating tour of the C&W. Regrettably not enough time to see Beachy Head at SP. A great day nonetheless. Thanks to Jon Bowers for organising the night shoot of 30541 by the singal box at Horsted. It rounded off a good day on a good note.

Warning to anyone thinking of going by car tomorrow - it could be very foggy. I got home about 7.30 PM and it was getting a bit dense in places even then. It's supposed to be pretty bad tomorrow morning.

 

I was also there today and had a great time overall:

The Great.

Trains were pretty much on time with all passenger locos behaving themselves and a great variety of stock behind them.
The carriage works tour was great, as was being able to get into the workshops at Sheffield Park.
Volunteers all friendly and helpful and working very hard.
Running in the dark was great fun and very atmospheric, especially on Halloween.

Areas For Improvement:

Holey overcrowded trains Batman. Every train I took from when I got there at 10 till 4 had many, many people having to stand. Didn't help that Bittern was hauling 6 passenger carriages, of which 3 were 1st class (or pay a supplement in the case of the observation coach) so just 3 coaches on Bittern's last weekend in steam. Perhaps if we get a loco coming from the mainline again, they could bring a rake of Mk1s with them.
With Horsted Keynes being such a hub of events, catering really needs to looked at. Burger van or similar in the picnic area would alleviate the 40 person long queue for the refreshments room.
The H class was in use as station pilot, but all I saw it do was move between two roads by the engine shed. Might be better used for break van rides/driver for a £10 (which I'm sure was at previous Bluebell events)/cab visits in one of the dock sidings.
Charging a quid for an A4 print out with the timetable on felt like a bit of a rip off, with the online version including far more info on proceedings, what was on at each station, a little on each loco etc. Think these should be really included with an all line rover tickets in future events.

All in all, a few niggles but a wonderful way to spend a Saturday.

 

View attachment 16214

Thanks to Jon Bowers for organising the nightshoot.

 

Also a warning that tomorrow is the London to Brighton veteran car run, which may impact anyone coming in from points west of the A23.

And to the guy asking about 80100, it was in the sidings in Horsted up yard, visible from the path across to the picnic field but covered over in a tarp.

 

Had a great day out at this event which I attended with my father.
The best bits:
- A couple of trips (EG to SP & HK to EG) behind the superbly turned out Standard Five. Sounds very nice! The trip from HK to EG (4.50 from HK) was rather special as we travelled through the twilight with mist rolling in around the surrounding countryside. Very atmospheric for Halloween.
- Also had a lively trip with the Q from SP to HK. Blimey, she goes well for a freight loco.
- Excellent food at SP.
- Also good to see so many people attending the event. We arrived by train which was a very popular choice with many others....
The not so good points:
- The choice of rolling stock formations was clearly not ideal for the amount of people travelling. Four carriages behind the Q were absolutely packed on the trip we were on. Then loads of people from the A4 service tried to board even though they were told that the train was full.
- Paying £1 for a couple of bits of paper was a bit annoying as we thought we would get a booklet.

But overall a very enjoyable experience made even better with the great weather. I hope that the Bluebell does well with this event. Thanks to all involved for putting the event on and we will certainly be back for future Galas.

 

Yeah, I'd agree with lots of the above. Bittern was a great last minute stand in for Britannia, loads of fun. I did think if they'd marshalled the Pullmans at the north of its set then at least could have looked a bit more natural-looked a little odd with Bullieds next to the tender! Having said that, somebody obviously pulled out all the stops to get it there at the last minute and it was probably too late to worry about such niceties.

Cheltenham on its own on the 3:45 ex SP was a bit special. Maybe all in my mind but seemed to be the fastest trip up Freshfield I can remember! Camelot looked like it had some get-up-and-go about it too.

Splendid work organising the weather, whoever was responsible.

Bit of a shame that the car park field at HK was boggy, I got turned away at the gate and had to park on the road. Nobody's fault though. Heard it was much the same at SP.

Trains were rammed-I couldn't get a seat anywhere behind Bittern going to SP, first place I could stand was the penultimate door! That and the car-parking issue seem to bode well for the popularity of the event (and hopefully the takings too).

Didn't even bother with the catering in the end, queues were hefty! Great idea above to put a burger van in the picnic field.

Loved seeing the line so busy!

Atlantic is coming on a treat.

I do agree that it's a bit tight not to give a timetable out when purchasing a ticket. I'm all for charging for timetables for the day for anybody who isn't paying for a ticket, but to be charged £20 and then still having to try to guess what time the trains are leaving from HK was a bit of a shame. (I was determined not to break a tenner!)

Despite dozens of trips to the Bluebell that was my first Giants experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it...


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You'd think people hadn't seen an A4 on the Bluebell before!


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Glad Bittern was on the first train this morning.Arrived SP at 0900 and queued until 0930 to buy a ticket so missing the 0915.No opportunity to purchase a timetable as they had run out and were trying to get some more.
Either the event was more popular than expected or let down by poor planning for the numbers attending.
A member of staff walking down the queue with £20 rover tickets cash only would have been a quick way of halving the queue.
Plenty of lively running enjoyed especially from 73082 and nice for connections to be held everywhere after previous branchlike weekend experiences.

 

Very glad to see this event back on the calendar. Trains seemed busy all day with Bittern's first round trip of the day looking more like a Monday morning commuter train it was that crowded!

The weather in the afternoon was superb too - here are a few photos from a very enjoyable day:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/davestubbings/