Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Led to believe not even charity shops want video cassettes these day’s.

 

Your a star Tom, thank you very much!

 

One near me certainly doesn’t


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Why not? There's a small matter of the Environmental Protection Act and supporting legislation.

 

I'd like to ride in that rake, but the weather forecast for this weekend is unappealing. How often are those vehicles likely to be running over the rest of the season?

 

Quite often - usually the second set is vintage vehicles, so either that set or Maunsells with the birdcage, hundred seater and Brighton first

David R

 

During the week, a second row of coaches has moved into OP4 and a third line of track now extends the length of the new shed

David R

 

Can anyone say what these vehicles are?

 

Haven't got a clue at the moment - some are recovered bodies of 4 wheelers, I'l see if I can get some idea when I'm next down on Sunday

David R

 

Keep eye on this page -http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pti/index.html.
They are likely to be ruuning on the branch line weekend 18th -20th May.

 

It is also just possible that 2 of the Mets may be back in service for that weekend following door lock renewal and mechanical overhaul

David R

 

The nearest vehicle is 676 - - a Brighton 4 wheel brake third (body only) - identical to 949 currently undergoing restoration in the shed.
The next bogie vehicle I don't know
The bogie vehicle after that is 1050 - the SR reconstructed South Eastern 100 seater which could form the middle carriage of a birdcage set and the final bogie vehicle is 1060 - a Birdcage Brake third - the two 4 wheel vehicles at the very far end I don't know.

Hopefully all will be revealed when the tarpaulins are removed in due course

David R

 

Out on the Maintenance ("E") Road, we see that Pullman Car 54's body has been lowered back down onto it's underframe and the North End headstock has been replaced. Renewal of some of the woodwork is also evident. Work on this vehicle is progressing quite rapidly thanks to the small dedicated team working on it.

The first of the Mets to have it's door locks replaced is now also in the maintenance road for attention to it's brake gear, the second of these vehicles is inside having it's door locks replaced. I believe it is hoped that 2 of the Mets may be back in service for Branch Line weekend - there is also the matter of them appearing in Steam on the Met again

David R

 

A video and a few photos from my visit to the railway yesterday are below. The Mad Hatter's Tea Party appeared to be drawing the crowds - not seen so many people at Kingscote since it was the northern terminus. In fact, the 12:15 from Sheffield Park was pretty much full leaving Horsted Keynes, but was mostly empty on departure from Kingscote! Locos and stock were all gleaming as usual, and it was good to see some spirited runs from all of them, especially the H Class, which was doing its rocket impression yesterday with some very fast starts to catch up the 30 minutes lost in the middle of the day because of a passenger being taken ill at HK. As another note, the Up Yard is looking increasingly empty now, not just because of the filling of the second road of the OP4 shed, but also because the demonstration goods set had been formed up and moved to the Ardingly spur for today's runs.

 

Good to see CAR 54 is making a long awaited return to service. Is there a plan for the others in which ones next to have attention

 

Car 54 is being partially funded by a grant from the DfT, which I think is time limited, and is making progress.

Of the other vehicles under restoration, I think 5768 (Bulleid corridor composite from 1947) is likely to be the next to be outshopped. There are also two LBSCR four wheelers that are well on the way to being in service: 949 (Brake 3rd from 1881) and 328 (five compartment 3rd) from 1891. Completion of those two will give an interim six coach rake of four wheelers - part LBSCR, part LCDR. (The four operational four wheelers were all in traffic today). There is also the Camelot Society's van 2531 undergoing restoration.

Looking round the C&W today, two of the Mets were undergoing repairs - I think there is a desire to get them back running, initially as a two coach set if nothing else - and all three Maunsells were in the workshop or the undercover maintenance road.

Tom

 

Looking round the C&W today, two of the Mets were undergoing repairs - I think there is a desire to get them back running, initially as a two coach set if nothing else - and all three Maunsells were in the workshop or the undercover maintenance road.

Tom


I was hoping to hear of Maunsell 3687, the Hastings Brake 3rd, approach completion!

Roger H

 

Actually... A friend of mine who is an art teacher used to dismantle them and knit the tape into some rather snazzy little handbags/clutch bags.

At one point not only could you not give the tapes away, you couldn't even give the machines away.

Pity really, because from what I have seen, good-quality VHS cassettes are looking to be longer-lasting than home-recorded DVDs so those who transferred their collections of recordings onto DVDs at home and subsequently binned the tapes may be disappointed in the future.

 

Sadly I can imagine the day when people look back and say that about coal!

Not wishing to diminish the point about the particularly unhealthy emissions from burning plastic, here is a link to a fact sheet. http://www.wecf.eu/cms/download/2004-2005/homeburning_plastics.pdf

 

I think the railway needs to raise the profile of 3687. There are some remedial works to do to the structure but inside the majority of the interior woodwork is complete. A commitment, some focussed fundraising and mobilising a volunteer team could get this finished pretty quickly if their was the will to do it. Its a really interesting vehicle and would be an asset to the pre-nationalisation fleet at the Bluebell.