Bluebell Railway General Discussion

What do you expect from Mr Riddles?
Oh dear we’re having a livery debate about Tampers

 

Nothing wrong with lined black if correctly applied to the right vehicle:



Tom

 

If the Bluebell ever manages a new-build of an LC&DR loco, there will certainly be debates over what colour to paint it. According to Bradley, the Kirtley A-class were originally delivered in the Martley green livery - another option to add to the choices!

 

For @Ploughman to drool over: the tamper was working in the Horsted Keynes down yard yesterday. Apparently it is a new design, and the time on the Bluebell is part of the training and commissioning.

Tom

 

Wrong gauge but I have always thought that the Penrhyn Railway's lining on their black locos is most attractive. I wonder how it would suit a Terrier?!

 

It is indeed, but I'd prefer to see ex-IWC No.11 (a Haven Street gem) put in a stint in the lined 'electric red' (a tad lighter and brighter than the MR livery, from all accounts), which it wore when it first arrived at Newport. Shame there's so little surviving IWC kit to go with it.

Your options would seem talking Blodge into turning both 'ladies' out in their native colours simultaneously (it looked jolly nice on Linda a few years back) or, rather less likely, wangling a new firebox for museum-bound older sibling Charles.

Maybe one for a newly restored SG industrial?

 

Update on train services for the next four weeks:

Statement from Christopher Hunford, Chairman, Bluebell Railway Plc, 3 November 2020

The Bluebell Railway has cancelled all planned services from Thursday 5 November to Wednesday 2 December in line with the new national lockdown restrictions.

I know this will be disappointing news for everyone – our staff, volunteers, members, supporters and customers. The safety and wellbeing of everyone remains of paramount importance.

It is all the more disappointing because this month would have been the start of our new exciting illuminated train service SteamLights and the first of this season’s Santa Specials. Thank you to everyone who has put in so much work to prepare for these events.

We had also planned to run trains in this period for Pie and Mash Lunch, The Blue Belle Luncheon, The Blue Belle Evening Dining and Wealden Rambler Festive Afternoon Tea.

Our customer services team will be contacting all of our affected customers about their bookings. We ask everyone to be patient because they have a large number of customers to contact and are working very hard to achieve this as quickly as possible.

All our catering outlets at our stations will be closed during the lockdown and we won’t be offering a takeaway service.

The well-stocked shop at Sheffield Park station will be shut but it will still be operating online with a range of books, gifts, souvenirs and model railway items.

The Government has said it will look to return to a regional approach at the end of the four-week period depending on the health data. This means we currently plan to run our scheduled services from 3 December onward but this will be kept under review. We will make further announcements to keep staff, volunteers and customers informed when the situation is clearer.

In the meantime, please check our website and official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts for updated information.

Also please follow the Government guidance on staying safe.

Although this second lockdown is undoubtedly a setback, I am sure the same spirit and determination which saw us through the first lockdown will prevail once again. We look forward to working together to see the Railway through this period and reopening as soon as we possibly can.

Thank you for your help, support and continued co-operation.​

 

Infrastructure work continues on the railway - in October (just before the second lockdown) Palmers Cattle Creep was replaced. (The site of this is towards the southern end of Freshfield Bank, about a mile north of Sheffield Park). I haven't seen it absolutely confirmed, but I believe in the same operation another 13 panels (260 yards) of track was relaid - certainly there were thirteen sets of rails laid alongside the line on my last loco turn in early October.

The bridge replacement is covered in the following time-lapse film. Incidentally, the opening shots are inside the OP4 carriage shed, before moving out into the Horsted Keynes down yard. Spot the cameo apperance by the H class with goods wagons!



Tom

 

How much of the track on the SP to HK section is still in need of replacement? I know it was bad a few years ago but there's been a lot of work done on it since.

 

I'd have to go and dig out notes but it is probably somewhere in the region of 1.5 miles still needs doing, in three sections: From Poleay Bridge (immediately north of Sheffield Park) to wherever this work finished a few panels south of Palmers Cattle Creep; from milepost 9 to 9.25 (which is just to the north of Tremains Crossing); and a section immediately south of Horsted Keynes station.

In addition, an amount of the line north of Horsted Keynes has been done in the last few winters; from memory the new track stretches from the station up towards Horsted House Farm Crossing, plus half a mile through the tunnel is all new. Of the plain line, probably somewhere in the region of 6.5 - 7 miles of the 11 mile line has been laid within the last ten years, plus all the points at the entries to stations and most of the plain line through SP, HK and EG stations.

Tom

 

Just looking at the numbers here, that is a seriously impressive achievement by any yardstick. Hats off to the Civils. Another few years should see it done, bearing in mind that KC-EG is pretty much brand new.
However I'm surprised to see how far Poleay Bridge has moved recently. Is it self-isolating?

 

If they could go a little bit further towards Arlington this could be a good stretch to hire in a small engine like kilmersdon or whiston that could do break van rides but without the need of building it all the way back which would be expensive. They could use the old track for this as it wouldn’t have to be as good condition for just a break van to go along

 

Poleay is the one immediately north of SP - it was rebuilt in 2017 and new track laid across it for a couple of panels north; the old track then exists from there, through the )now removed) Ketches halt and up to a few panels south pf Palmers Cattle Creep (the bridge replaced in the video above), after which it is new track all the way to milepost 9.

Edit: Ah, I've just worked out what you mean. I'll edit my initial post.

Tom

 

1) It's Ardingly, not Arlington
2) It's "brake" not "break" van.
3) Going " a little bit further " means bridging the gap formerly occupied by Sherriff Mill Viaduct and while I believe the line obtained some second hand bridge spans for this purpose, it is going to be an expensive and lengthy project which cannot remotely be justified just for brake van rides
4) Why should the Bluebell want to hire in a small tank engine for brake van rides when it is currently working to overhaul one of its own small tank locos? (P Class No. 27) and would like to have another (Fenchurch) ready if at all possible for the 150th anniversary of the introduction of the Terriers?
5) As has been pointed out when you raised the subject of Kilmersdon on another thread, it isn't in working order, so it wouldn't be much use for your proposed shuttles anyway, even as a stopgap while 27's overhaul is completed.

 

That rather depends which railway you're on!

 

Shame really, I rather like the idea of a ‘P’ across the sea,

 

Helps our own locos and operational reliability as well, of course!

Tom

 

Bluebell times issue 14

Information about the latest lockdown and how it affects the Bluebell Railway are in the November issue of The Bluebell Times.

Issue 14 also contains an update on the latest grant money given to the Railway as well as details of how some of the Emergency Appeal funds have been spent.

https://www.bluebell-railway.com/bluebell-times/

In Issue 14:

• A review of the “Off the Rails” event showcasing goods trains and vintage vehicles
• How the locomotive department reached “Peek” performance in its cleaning
• Suggestions for Bluebell-related Christmas presents
• Auction success in obtaining one of the nameplates for ‘Ardingly’ locomotive
• Word Search puzzle about Railway Works
• Down Memory Line and On This Day with tales of yesteryear
• And much, much more.

The Bluebell Times is published monthly on the second Friday of each month. The December issue is due out on Friday 11 December.

Tom

 

The Ardingly story made me wonder if 928 could not run as 917 for a short while when it is running again. I did have a distant relative in the C19 who went to 913. (My dad has a model of 30913 in homage).