Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Some pictures from the railway yesterday. Camelot has the Christmas lights on already I see!

 

Great pics of Cheltenham here, gotta say looks great in the Bluebell scenery. I'd imagine crew resident to the railway will have been taking notes how best to operate the loco along the line seeing as, all being well, it won't be much longer before Stowe's overhaul is completed.

 

The first pan shot is a cracker David. I get the impression this extended swap of 30925 and 80151 has been well received on the two lines and it's certainly providing us with plenty of great shots of them in new environments.

Regards,

Dan

 

4MT 75027 was sent to Goodwood House for the weekend. Must have been quite the extravagant birthday do at that price tag. Still, that's one way for a 'dead' loco to earn it's keep...

 

She looks nice and scrubbed up enough to be operable at a glance! Any idea where she is in the Bluebell's overhaul queue?

 

£5m?? Makes you want to know whose birthday it was. Someone who hasn't got to worry about inflation, for sure.

 

Great photo of 30925. Just wondering if there could be a chance in the future of further loco swaps for a short period of time.

 

Sure I read that it's next overhaul will require major firebox work, pretty much par for the course now for the BR standards judging by other recent ones completed.

Got a soft spot for 75027 as it was the first loco I ever drove, before driving a car in fact. Long term ambition to build a 3 1/2" gauge version of it to LBSC's design but with detail improvements.

Regards,

Dan

 

I reluctantly watched The Larkins last night on ITV, a remake of the excellent Darling Buds of May. I say reluctantly as I watched the first episode a few weeks ago which was quite frankly terrible. Dull and not even funny.
Anyway a railway was set to be featured in last night's episode as the local branch line was due to be closed as it wasn't making any money and Pa Larkin wanted to "save it". Horsted Keynes Station featured quite a few times. Then a train was featured. First it was heard entering the station and the resident expert "trainspotter" identified it as a "BR 5, BR1B tender". Blimey, I thought, the program makers have actually been advised by the Bluebell and will be using 73082...... Then we were shown the train being hauled by Q Class 30541 The trainspotter wasn't much of a trainspotter then.
Oh, and the reason the Line wasn't making any money was that the station master was pocketing most of the takings from the ticket office. Oh dear.
Still at least the Bluebell will get some good PR from the broadcast.

Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk

 

I admire your tenacity for wasting an hour of your life watching such nonsense. Remakes of classic series are almost always awful

 

There’s a focus on volunteering in November’s issue of The Bluebell Times, along with news of progress on the Jewel in the Crown appeal.

In this issue:

• The Jewel in the Crown appeal is off to a strong start – but there is still time to see your donation doubled
• A young 9F Club member raises money for the appeal – by selling lemonade
• Bluebell volunteer Chris Cooper is awarded a lifetime achievement award by the National Transport Trust, after more than sixty years dedication to the Railway
• How volunteering in our museum led to a second career as a community rail line officer
• The Heritage Skills Centre is signed off for use — and the carriage trimming team are first to move in
• A photo retrospective from our hugely popular ‘Giants of Steam’ event
• Local signal box name boards on display in the museum
• An alien presence in SteamWorks!
• And much, much more

The Bluebell Times is published monthly on the second Friday of every month. The next issue is due out on Friday 10 December.

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

Tom

 

Yes you are right remakes if any classic be it dramas, film, opera and ballet are all total rubbish, I wouldn't waste time watching them, especially modern remakes of operas and ballets, why don' t they leave them alone and produce them as they were written in the first place!

 

I have seen many different opera productions, “traditional” and otherwise, good and bad of both. I’ll just observe that the best single productions I’ve ever seen were Jonathan Miller’s productions of Verdi’s“Rigoletto” (written 1850ish, set 17th century, updated to 1950s little Italy) and G&S “Mikado” (updated to 1920s scenario).

 

...... and this week's winner of the prestigious NP "Thread Drift of the Week Award" goes to:

 

I saw on the Bluebell's social media pages yesterday that, the Bluebell's Muesum has acquired a nameplate and plaque from Baltic Tank no. 333 Remembrance.

 

The name plate and plaque are those carried in SR days, as here:



I wonder if this is a very recent acquisition: I didn’t get it as a “museum morsel” for the latest issue of The Bluebell Times! The photos on social media show them resting on a platform seat so clearly not yet mounted and on display.

Tom

 

This is what the post on the Bluebell Facebook page says "The Bluebell Railway Museum has recently acquired both the original nameplate and plaque. They will both be on display in the Museum at Sheffield Park."

 

Wow. Worth taking a trip to SP just to see them on display. I had no idea they still existed.
Cheeky I know, but just had to put up this stunning header photograph from the latest Bluebell Times. Taken by Dave Bowles, it shows Clan Line and Cheltenham on shed during "Giants":
At first glance, I thought it was a painting:

 

I’m lucky to have a small group of photographers - of whom Dave Bowles is one, and David Cable is another - who send me photos each month, so I am often spoilt for choice for the header photo. I believe that one came from a Jon Bowers photo charter one evening during “Giants”; I used another one from the same event inside. (Which itself could have made the cover, but that cover slot has a slightly non-normal aspect ratio and the slight crop was better with Dave Bowles’ photo.

It’s also nice having the museum team onside to provide ready access to archive photos. I figure I’ve got 7 years of “On this day” without duplicating a date: if we do that we’ll end up publishing about 250 high quality archive photos.

Tom

 

Just with regards clan line - I think I speak for the committee and the society when I say how grateful we all are to the bluebell and its wonderful volunteers and employees. The last few years have been difficult for all but our trips to the bluebell really are special and much treasured.