If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

Bluebell Southern at War Weekend

Discussion in 'Galas and Events' started by poser500, May 7, 2009.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. poser500

    poser500 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2009
    Messages:
    66
    Likes Received:
    1
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    West Hoathly
    9th & 10th May. Sir Archibald Sinclair in steam both days if you have not seen it yet or would like to see it again.

    full details on

    http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/blueb ... 9/saw.html

    Regards,

    Dave G.
     
  2. Fireline

    Fireline Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2008
    Messages:
    1,179
    Likes Received:
    1,075
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Looks good. Just a pity your Yank Tank isn't serviceable. When was she last in ticket?
     
  3. poser500

    poser500 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2009
    Messages:
    66
    Likes Received:
    1
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    West Hoathly
    Must have been around 1983 or 1984 that it's ticket ran out.
     
  4. 68077

    68077 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2008
    Messages:
    107
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Bus Driver (unfortunately)!
    Location:
    Heathfield, East Sussex
    noplans in the short term to restore it then does it need alot of work.
     
  5. Fireline

    Fireline Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2008
    Messages:
    1,179
    Likes Received:
    1,075
    Gender:
    Male
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    You ought to hold a gala to mark it's 25th year out of service!
    :smt002
     
  6. 46118

    46118 Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2005
    Messages:
    4,043
    Likes Received:
    212
    I was shocked and stunned to click on the link from the Bluebell website and see the sequence of pictures of the re-enactors playing out the capture and execution by a gunshot of a "spy".
    This typifies the worst of these so called "war weekends", and reinforces my resolve to steer well clear of these events wherever they are held.

    Disgraceful, and I am surprised at the Bluebell webmaster for posting the pictures

    46118
     
  7. davycrocket

    davycrocket Member

    Joined:
    Nov 3, 2006
    Messages:
    279
    Likes Received:
    0
    It's definatly one sexy beast! Thirty odd years of hard graft to get it running again - what a sense of reward to get it running!
     
  8. MParker873

    MParker873 New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2008
    Messages:
    196
    Likes Received:
    1
    Occupation:
    Engineer
    Location:
    Horsham
    I had a ride behind "Sir Arch" on Saturday. I made a change, I have been taking photos of it in just about every location imagineable over the last few weeks and it was good to put my feet up and enjoy the ride for once. A good day and I got some good shots of the Dakota as well
     
  9. Columbine

    Columbine Member

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2008
    Messages:
    266
    Likes Received:
    0
    Doesn't surprise me in the least, these war-weekends have always been flakey as are the people who take part in them. The very idea of railways profiting from re-enacting the deaths, injuries and the pain of the 45 million or people who died in the Second World War is offensive to me. Like you I avoid them like the plague.

    Regards
     
  10. Axe

    Axe Member

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2008
    Messages:
    523
    Likes Received:
    85
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired (Electronics Engineer)
    Location:
    Epsom, Surrey.
    There will always be the odd few who will oppose anything. But nonetheless, Wartime Events are very popular and well-attended nostalgic occasions. If not, why do many heritage steam railways include them in their annual calendars?

    Chris
     
  11. ilvaporista

    ilvaporista Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2006
    Messages:
    4,240
    Likes Received:
    5,291
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    C.Eng
    Location:
    On the 45th!
    I think that the missing word is profitable. And as we have seen there are people who will sell anything to make money. I know that there are many argumnets for and against. For war weekends alone realistically it's a case of live and let live, after all you have another 51 weekends to visit the railway if you do not agree.

    As for the content, personally I think that acting out a shooting is a serious step in the wrong direction.
     
  12. davidarnold

    davidarnold Member

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2006
    Messages:
    436
    Likes Received:
    392
    Just to update you, Axe (Chris), I complained as you advised by email to the Bluebell management about the staged incident on Monday am. I even copied a link to the thread that discussed it at some length until it was hijacked by some immature type making personal comments and who got the thread locked.

    Upshot is that as of today Tuesday evening 48 hours later I still havent had the courtesy of a reply.
     
  13. PiliPili

    PiliPili New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2009
    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    1
    While I agree with you about the 'spy' incident on Saturday, I do feel you're being a little hard on the organisers. I would expect that they had no idea this was going to happen either, and it was not repeated again during the weekend, suggesting that they were not happy either.

    The organisers are all volunteers, with full-time jobs taking their time during the day. If you sent the email to the railway on Monday morning, then 36 hours later on Tuesday evening, it may still not have been received by the individual organisers. They will then want to discuss amongst themselves before replying.

    I would be impressed with a 36 hour response from most companies these days...

    Pil
     
  14. Columbine

    Columbine Member

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2008
    Messages:
    266
    Likes Received:
    0
    I wouldn't expect a reply from the Bluebell on any topic excepting membership subs payment, the management of the railway simply don't communicate at all.

    I can understand the railway being sensitive about this matter, but why was the image depicting this event posted on the website? I notice that it has since been removed.

    Incidentally, the piece on the Battle Of Britain Flight's Dakota on the Bluebell's website has a number of errors in it, but that is very much off topic!

    Regards

    Regards
     
  15. Spamcan81

    Spamcan81 Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Aug 25, 2007
    Messages:
    35,121
    Likes Received:
    20,773
    Occupation:
    Training moles
    Location:
    The back of beyond
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    In that case you better complain to the MoD as the Bluebell has copied the details verbatim from the BBMF website. I'd be interested to know which details you consider to be incorrect.
     
  16. davidarnold

    davidarnold Member

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2006
    Messages:
    436
    Likes Received:
    392
    Pil[/quote]

    I wouldn't expect a reply from the Bluebell on any topic excepting membership subs payment, the management of the railway simply don't communicate at all.

    I can understand the railway being sensitive about this matter, but why was the image depicting this event posted on the website? I notice that it has since been removed.


    Regards

    Regards[/quote]

    Um the item is still linked to the website, second line down

    http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/blueb ... s_new.html

    and the link works and all pictures are up, including Sam Peckinpah style slow mo shots of execution, very stlyish.

    No contact from Bluebell and after 60 hours they must now be aware, so one can only draw the conclusion that they condone the incident and will repeat it next year.
     
  17. PiliPili

    PiliPili New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2009
    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    1
    The quote you use above isn't from me at all, so I won't comment on that.

    As I said in my earlier post however, 'The Bluebell' is a large group of volunteers. The fact that the webmaster may not see an issue with the content on his website does not mean 'They condone the incident.' On the contrary, the fact it was not repeated on the Sunday is evidence for the opposite.

    Contrary to what many on this group say about the Bluebell 'management', I have always found them friendly and helpful when replying to specific queries by email. Your letter to them will take some time to reply to in an official manner. Please remember that they are doing this in their own time after work.

    Pil
     
  18. Columbine

    Columbine Member

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2008
    Messages:
    266
    Likes Received:
    0
    Yes, the item is still there, I wasn't looking in the right place. To be perfectly honest it's difficult to know what to say. This event (both the 'execution' and the 'Southern At War' itself) has clearly got out of control, but whether the railway will disown this 'execution' is very much in the lap of the gods. By the fact that the photos of the incident remain on the website I can only assume that Richard Salmon at least condones this matter.

    Regards
     
  19. arthur maunsell

    arthur maunsell Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2008
    Messages:
    1,047
    Likes Received:
    140
    Location:
    by the fire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    perhaps we should institute a "what were they thinking?" award
     
  20. jonpbowers

    jonpbowers New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2005
    Messages:
    182
    Likes Received:
    24
    Can't comment on the "shooting" itself as I wasn't there at the time and have only seen the website coverage the same as everyone else. I did however arrive back at Horsted from the northern extension shortly after this took place, and happened to be talking to the volunteer who was acting the part of the spy. At this point one of the "Home Guard" re-enactors came up and they agreed that the spy capture scene had somehow got out of hand (again, I don't know how / why as I wasn't there!). They were very much aware of the fact it was taken too far and could have upset people, and both agreed that the whole epsiode would need to be toned down / more carefully planned if it was repeated in future.

    As for the comments about not getting replies from management etc, as has been mentioned by others already please don't forget that the people who organise and run these events are volunteers, so they may not even be aware of the existence of this thread as yet. Hope the above paragraph is useful though and goes some way to re-assuring you that even those directly involved thought this had gone a bit too far.

    Regards,
    Jon
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page