Bluebell Railway 65th Birthday Gala - 8 / 9/ 10 August 2025

I did note the breakfast service seemed popular both days considering it left at 8:40am. I was checking on Car 54 throughout yesterday and today, and that also seemed to be popular, especially on Friday afternoon.

 

I did notice some having breakfast on the 08:40 yesterday including a gentleman in a tee shirt. Bluebell standards are dropping what no jacket and tie?

 

I visited this excellent event yesterday with my Dad and Sister.
We arrived a bit later than expected due to the quicker route to the railway I found on google not being that much quicker in the end due to a traffic jam on the motorway.
We arrived around mid day and luckily found a space in the main car park. First port of call was The Bessemer Arms for lunch where the Steak and Guinness pie was proving a big hit with visitors. I also ordered this and I can confirm it was delicious!
After lunch we caught a service with No.65 to Horsted Keynes. She seemed to have steaming problems on the first part of the run. Not sure if she was priming a little but there was a lot of moisture coming back from the loco. For the second half of the journey she recovered and was in much better form. We spent most of the afternoon at Horsted Keynes watching the constant activity provided by the very impressive timetable. It was great to see the station acting as a busy junction once again. In between the trains we browsed the stalls. I bought a nice t-shirt from the 92240 stall and my Sister purchased a 92240 Teddy Bear in a bag (who came up with that I wonder?).
To finish the day we decided to get some mileage in behind 34059 as we had never travelled behind her before. We travelled on the delayed 3.45 service and enjoyed a cracking run to East Grinstead and back to Sheffield Park.
Thank you to everyone involved in organising and operating this superb Gala. I had expected it to be a bit busier than it was as the ticket prices were great value for money. I guess a lot of people have gone away on holidays.
Below are some shots from a most enjoyable time spent on the Railway.
Three eras:


Celebrating 70 years:


Double Standards:


Bulleid Pullman:


Beachy Head:


Class 73 in the naughty siding:


Fenchurch between duties:

 

Should have been thrown off

After volunteering the last two days I arrived early again today to see a crowd of about 30 people formed around the Pullman Cars on the 9:00 - a really popular service it seems. Perhaps this will be done again at a future event.

 

Had a good day today for my first visit to the line this year (I did plan to go to the Branch Line event but was ill just before) . The Cavalcade proved very popular with a large crowd gathered when I arrived behind 34059 (which was nicely decked out in full Golden Arrow regalia for the day). The way the timetable worked I managed to get behind all the steam locos (getting the 33 would have proved a bit difficult time wise, but as someone who doesn't have much interest in Diesels it didn't matter too much). Although time slipped a bit after the Cavalcade, the frequency of services made it feel very busy at Horsted, as were visitor numbers by mid day with capacity getting filler well (I stood traveling behind 32424).

Here's a few pictures from my phone (I filmed the 2 run pasts going northbound, hence the picture taken as they headed Southbound on the first one).

 

I think a massive kudos goes to the entire operating department TBH for keeping one of the most complex timetables in the railway's history (and probably up there with any ever run by any heritage railway) almost bang on schedule on both the days I was there (yesterday and today), the only minor slippage seemed to come after the cavalcade but frankly that was no big surprise given the logistical complexity of that in and of itself!

The best I could do of that was this, more photos to follow over the next few days once I've sorted them out.

 

A very enjoyable second jaunt this year from Cheltenham to West Sussex yesterday, went by train this time which went very smoothly.
Interesting timetable which worked very well, not having too many sets swapping engines was actually brilliant for a making sure one got a ride on each set as well as each loco. The two Pullmans doing cream teas etc. were an absolute treat, highlight of the day to be able to ride in one of those, absolutely exquisite.

For me it was great to go to an event where all the Bluebell toys were out of the box, particularly all the stunning carriages, like @SebWelsh I didn't need any visitors! So a very big well done to all involved in organising and running the event. But not for Tom for running away to New Zealand when he heard I might be coming!

 

Featuring at least one shot of every locomotive, before the Cavalcade Spectacular at the end, what a sight!

 

By my calculation we had 28 carriages in use over the weekend:

• The 4 Victorian four wheelers (LCDR / LBSC)
• The 4 Metropolitans
• The LNWR Obo
• The 2 pre-grouping SR bogie carriages (SECR 100 seater / LBSC 1st)
• The 4 SR Maunsells
• 2 Pullmans
• A Bulleid open 3rd
• 10 Mark 1s

That's most of the nominally operational pre-nationalisation carriages - I think of the railway's operational carriages, probably only one Pullman, the LSWR brake, the GNR Directors' Saloon and one of the Bulleids, along with a handful of Mark 1s, were operational but not used. Add in all 6 steam locomotives running, and you can see that putting on such an event is a major logistical exercise in planning maintenance cycles such that everything coincides as available all at once. You have to start planning maintenance cycles months in advance to achieve that.

Setting the world to rights twice in one year might have been too much!

Glad you enjoyed it.

Tom

 

I think the timetable was probably written by someone who used to do the same job planning the timetable for the South Western Mainline out of Waterloo! (I once had a very interesting conversation with him about how you did that ...) So he knows a bit about timetables He is a particular fan of what you might call the "double-ended service", with the northern and southern ends of the line being run somewhat independently with all the action centred at Horsted Keynes.

I think one of the strengths of our gala timetables is that the timetable planner - who is also a guard and Operating Superintendent at other times - has a really clear idea of just how long particular shunting moves will take, and therefore what the art of the possible is. Quite often I've been to other railways and looked at planned shunt moves (involving loco swaps, putting trains in and out of sidings etc) and thought to myself "you aren't going to manage that in the time available". And lo and behold, by the end of the day the timings are in chaos. My experience is that that is rare at the Bluebell - you might get delays because of something untoward, but it is very rare that a timetable fails simply because insufficient time has been allowed for a move that looks great on paper but is impossible to carry out in the time available. That includes such complexity at various times as joining and splitting trains, attaching and detaching locos, running a brake van round a goods train (we routinely only use one so it has to swap ends) etc - the timetables always allow a realistic time for such moves, not an optimistic "if everything happen perfectly" time.

Tom

 

An excellent approach. I could only spend one day at the gala but should have liked two. One to travel up and down and the other just loitering at Horsted Keynes.

 

What a great event to mark 65 years, and lovely weather for it too! Attended on the Sunday, not for any particular reason (), and was great to see plenty of people out on the trains and at stations. Hats off to the loco crews, station staff and organisers for a smooth running day! Here's some coverage of the days event...now to look forward to 2030 and the Platinum anniversary celebrations!

 

I’ve had a day to recover from the event (having driven back home last night) and read through everyone else’s thoughts and opinions on what I think was one of the best Bluebell galas in quite a few years! I spent two days on the platforms at Sheffield Park, and the last day mostly in and around Horsted Keynes, although I did venture north and south a few times.

The event seemed very busy all three days, no doubt helped by the very generous ticket prices. The event was ticketed as a regular service day, meaning deals such as Kids for a Quid were available. We had quite a few people turning up at SP without any idea there was an event on, and walking away afterwards having really enjoyed their day out.

The two Pullman Breakfast services I was on the platform for seemed quite busy considering the departure time from SP of 8:40am. Even after that service departed lots of people were still going for breakfast in the Bessemer, so another popular item there. Car 54 in the Platform 2 Dock was also busy both days I was at SP, particularly on the Friday (no doubt aided by our frequent tannoy announcements!).

The Stepney photoshoot was very well received by everyone at SP, and I believe the cover for one of the railway magazines was shot on the Friday afternoon lineup in the platforms. We made several tannoy announcements prior to each lineup, and so many people were interested and went to take photos. It was a very good way to include Stepney in the celebrations.

There was strong interest by a number of people into the variety of coaching stock, which at the southern end on the Friday/Saturday was Sets C (2 Mk1s + Bulleid + OBO), D (Mets) and F (100 Seater + Brighton Bogie First + 4 Wheelers). One gentleman from Germany who was interested in our engine fleet out of service was amazed when I told him the Mets were built in the 1890s and 1900s - he was convinced they were replicas!

The timetable was one of the best there has been at an event for a long time. The fact that 6 completely different sets could run simultaneously and maintain a 45 minute frequency was quite impressive. It really showed off Horsted Keynes as the impressive station that it is, with most points during the day having at least two trains in the station. There always seemed to be something going on, and the half hour wait to continue north or south seemed to disappear very quickly!

As Tom said upthread, this timetable was written by someone who used to do the same for SWT, so having that level of experience was without a doubt one of the main factors in this event being such a success. Not that many people would notice, but there were some small chunks of recovery time at Sheffield Park, Horsted Keynes and East Grinstead, and that along with the right time railway policy that was enforced meant the latest we ran at the south end on Friday/Saturday was 4 1/2 mins - and that was because the crew was picking up their essential bacon butties! Late running after the cavalcade was to be expected, and 15 mins being the latest for the whole weekend was not bad at all.

The cavalcade was undoubtedly the highlight of the event. It’s such an impressive sight to see seven engines passing through, and I felt it just summarised everything Bluebell in one go.

Overall, fantastic event and it’s going to feel like a long 5 or 10 year wait for the next one!

 

Finally got round to sorting my stuff out, a selection of photos below with more at https://railwaygalleries.smugmug.com/Bluebellphotosets/65th-Anniversary-Gala-August-2025










Video also now up