Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Are these not cases when the alleged offender does not possess a valid railcard, rather than having forgotten or mislaid it?

 

Quite. I'd be wary of taking anything from RF as gospel anyway, a lot on there would have passengers locked up for the tiniest infringement of the UK's ridiculous ticketing system.

 

Going off at a tangent for a moment, I’ve not seen anything regarding progress on the Std 2 Tank conversion project for a long time. I’m pretty sure it’s based at the Bluebell? Maybe Beachy Head has taken up the resources?

 

Different groups, so no competition for resources.

Mechanically a lot is done, the frames are extended, tanks have been constructed, a lot of the cab / bunker structure is constructed. The boiler recently moved to Sheffield Park for assessment prior to a decision about the best route for overhaul.

Tom

 

Thanks Tom, are there regular updates anywhere, eg FB please?

 

The group aren’t on Facebook AFAIK. They publish a newsletter about twice per year which is uploaded to the Bluebell website - see https://www.bluebell-railway.com/trust-project/br-standard-class-2-tank-84030/ (scroll down for the newsletters). I put stuff in Bluebell Times and Bluebell News if they send stuff to me.

Tom

 

The biggest issue is passengers without tickets, majority of stations are unstaffed outside morning rush hour, some people will take a chance if not going into London.I seen revenue protection most frequently late afternoon/ early evening and the last time they caught at least two people in my carriage.

 

Funnily enough I think the disputes and fares forums are the only worthwhile parts on there. Plus as you know virtually nobody gets locked up. What is more likely and proposed sentencing rule changes ticketless travel will be a bigger offence than the like of burglary or shoplifting due to TOC's initiating their own prosecutions.

TOC's now seem to class forgetting as not possessing a ticket, although I guess I can understand why. And of course you are only allowed to forget once a year.

Sorry for the thread drift, I have been thinking of a thread on the General chat, especially now we have GBR regarding the differences and actions of some TOC's who to me sail close to the legal wind, as has been shown before.

 

Only just seen this thread but @The Gricing Owl the 01 is substituting for Archie today (and most likely tomorrow). Archie has to cool down before attention to something

 

Result!

(I am rostered on Archie tomorrow, a swap round is welcome!)

Tom

 

Thanks for that. After yet another late night on my SR steam memoirs I wasn't planning to go to the Bluebell until later today. That gave me the chance to check the webcams and see what was running today, so I picked up that 34059 wasn't out. Always possible of course, and I fully accept the caveats in any information about loco workings.

Thanks again.

Bryan

 

Nooooooooo. . . . . . I'll put in an emergency request for 34053 to be sent over from the Spa Valley Railway especially to make your weekend for you Tom.

Bryan

 

80151 = A
32424 = B (with the Maunsells)
65 = GA

Tom

 

Well, I really hope you enjoy 31065 Tom. It is a loco I like a lot - having seen it on 10 June 1961 at Tonbridge in a you-know-what livery and with an honourable layer of work-a-day grime.

Bryan

 

What happened today, anyone?

 

I understand the O1 failed.

 

Much rearrangement of the timetable happened!

The plan was 80151 (incl me!) on the A turn (three round trips); 32424 on the B (two round trips); 65 on the Arrow (1.5 trips).

The reality: 32424 ran as planned.

80151 did the first A trip as planned. When we got back at 12:20, No 65 was declared a failure. So we shunted the A set to the carriage shed and then took the Arrow, departing about 25 late, but running the whole 1.5 trips.

Meanwhile, the gronk split off three carriages from the A set, and ran the second A trip.

When we on 80151 got back with the Arrow after the half trip, we hooked off at the inner home and ran straight onto the three coach A set in platform 2. The gronk then pulled the Arrow in, and we ran the final A trip.

By the end of the day, we were about 15 down, but had run 3.5 trips in the day on 80151. The gronk did all the shunting at the end of the day, including reassembling the A set.

End result was four out of five public trips ran with steam, and the Arrow had steam throughout, with just the middle A trip being diesel hauled.

Tom

 

Isn't the O1 failing one of the signs of a coming apocalypse? Usually seems to be hugely reliable.

 

Generally, though I guess she is allowed the occasional off day!

When I was starting out as a cleaner, the two certainties in life were that whatever else happened, 80151 and 65 would run. And by and large, now I am an older and greyer fireman, both are still true! It's impossible to overstate just how much those two locos have been stalwarts of the twenty-first century Bluebell.

Tom

 

From memory, I only recalled the last time the O1 failed and that was about two years ago. Always like that engine.