Bluebell Railway General Discussion

That door largely closed in the 90s, and it’s noticeable how their numbers have fallen since even where they were used.


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Agreed. I don't think there are any available now from main line TOCs and probably less than 150 in the hands of preservationists

 

As a side, how far way is the possibly of getting the proposed SE trio-set together?

 

I think that complete structural overhauls of a Mk.2 would be much more demanding than a Mk.1 where you can simply chop out and replace sections of structure - since the Mk.2 has "a semi-integral construction". Many of the Mk.2 coaches in preservation are ex-GatEx, replaced by more modern stock 20 years ago.
We had one Mk.2 on the Bluebell, between 1990 and 1996, intended for a sleeping car conversion, but was sold on to the Mid Hants, without being used on the Bluebell. There it has been used for sleeping accommodation until 2019, but is now apparently in line for scrapping.
http://www.cs.rhrp.org.uk/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=1581

 

No indeed, but since we have no coded welders on our books in C&W - we have to hire them in for the most critical work, and they are getting harder to find.

The only carriage we have running with a wooden solebar (which is fitch-plated) is the GN Saloon.
The ex-SR CCT/PMV/BY underframes we use on our 4-wheel Victorian carriages require no welding - we've replaced headstocks etc, but these are rivetet, not welded. New Solebars (which we will require for some of the ex-van underframes for future 4-wheel restorations) will similarly be rivited. If we use timber then we'd probably use GlueLam, as the IoW have. The problem there is not lead-time but cost.

In terms of other "carriage length pieces", maybe you're thinking of bottom sides? These are jointed from 2-3 pieces (as they were in SR days). Lead time is not a problem - the timber for the replacement bottom-sides for the SR Restauarant Car has been in stock on the Bluebell for nearly three years, having been surplus from the rebuilding of the Cutty Sark. I went down to the timber merchant in Bristol and selected the baulks of teak we'd need.

 

If the group who restored the Met coaches (all 4 completed in 15 years) hadn't been told by management they couldn't start a new project when they finished the Mets, then you might have had one now, since Birdcage 1061 was the likely next project. Several volunteers left the railway at a result.
Looking forward, we've a good few years concentrating on getting a complete Maunsell set and complete Bulleid set together before looking at more vehicles to complete a Birdcage Trio set.

 

No sooner do I write that than I hear that it's likely that the H will in fact be given a new cylinder block as part of its current overhaul...

 

Hardly surprising



































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Well that's disappointing to hear. Why did the management then say that, surely more people working on carriages is a good thing?

 

Is building wooden underframes for future 4-wheel restorations a possibility then? I have no idea on the cost difference but I’d be interested to hear more about the GlueLam…


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Can't say an enormous amount amount about the material. The IOWSR has produced a booklet about carriage 10 and its restoration

 

Basic info is on their website. See https://glulambeams.co.uk

 

Ooh bugger! Why not keep a successful team together to work on something?

 

No, we were considering it for 6-wheel coaches. The only capacity we have in the short term to do, for example, the three SER 6-wheelers, is to contract out the main part of the restoration (as per the Knotty train https://knottycoachtrust.org.uk/ ), but the costs look quite daunting, at between 250k and 330k per coach, depending on how much we finish off in house. We are reverting to plan A, which was to eventually do them in house as volunteers, using ex-SR Van underframes, as per the three ex-LCDR and LBSCR carriages.

 

Are we talking about Mk1s? There surely are a lot more than 150 in the hands of preservationists.

 

Early Mk2s, the non air con fitted ones. West Coast have got a few in mainline use, and a few dozen are scattered preserved lines as runners. A lot have been scrapped though since being preserved.

 

Ok yes in that case, definitely less than 150. Several lines have used them in the past, but they have largely fallen out of favour. Mid Hants being a prime example.

 

The information is all there in the VCT carriage survey. The figure of ca. 150 early (2a-c) Mk2s came from a post of mine, I think, and is not definitive as I gave up counting at around 80 or so but could see there were still a lot to go. I think the figure for passenger carrying Mk 1s is in the order of about 900.

 

Wasn’t this a previous GMs plan of buying and then scrapping when past use?
There’s an obvious flaw in that plan…