Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Appears to have just come out this morning.

Tom

 

Looked at my inbox and one has arrived this morning.

 

6989 appears to have been renumbered as part of its Hogwarts Express filming duties...

To 5977 [sic].

https://press.wbd.com/us/media-rele...-television-series?language_content_entity=en

 

I wonder what the name of the loco will be as it is taking on a new identity and not Hogwarts Castle again.......

Hufflepuff Manor, Gryffindor Grange, Slytherin Hall.................

 

I saw the image earlier but wondered if it was a reused picture of 5972, given Warwick Davis was in the Film series and I hadn't noticed the 7 instead of the 2.

Bit strange not to retain its 6989 number like 5972 did though.

 

If anyone needs the connection between the Bluebell and NR at East Grinstead, is available on Tuesday when the Hastings unit returns home.

**THE 1066 RETURN**

We have now received confirmed timings from our industry partners for Tuesday's charter these are as follows:

East Grinstead(Bluebell) 1100
Sheffield Park 1200
East Grinstead(Mainline) 1336 Arr 1340 Dep
London Victoria 1451 Arr 1518 Dep
Hastings 1741

Fares are as follows and are payable onboard on the day:

To/From East Grinstead/Sheffield Park:£20.00

Bluebell/East Grinstead to London Victoria £40.00

Bluebell/East Grinstead to Hastings £40.00
London Victoria to Hastings £40.00

A reminder that this charter is not pre-bookable and is payable onboard on the day. Journeys from London are only available subject to space aboard the train. We welcome cash and all major debit and credit cards aboard with contactless payment being preferable.

For any further enquiries please do not hesitate to contact us via the page or via our help phone number.

 

According to a post on the Friends of Wightwick Hall Facebook page, when it returns to the Bluebell it will be numbered back to 6989 / Wightwick Hall - I think there are licensing reasons that it can't be presented in Harry Potter identity outside a licensed Harry Potter event. So I assume the renumbering for the film is related to that.

Tom

 

I think it's because the Harry Spotters will pick up on the fact they've used a modified Hall rather than an original version, so renumbering it at least gives the impression they've used the correct loco.

 

How much overlap is there between Harry Potter fans and people who can tell a Hall and a Modified Hall apart?

 

About the same as GWR fans who can differentiate between a Nimbus 2000 and a Nimbus 2001…

 

This would be similar to the situation with 5972. It only ran with Hogwarts Castle nameplates (outside of filming duties) a handful of times - usually for charity railtours.

 

Or because its a Warner Brothers "operation" and they make sure nobody gets s free ride.
Think photographers at KX having film removed from their cameras.

 

Footage from the Diesel Gala:

 

Really looking forward to my visit tomorrow. My eight-year old (who is bizarrely into modern traction) is really excited about going on Gordon Petit and the thumper.

A couple of questions...

How likely is the car park at Sheffield Park to get full? Trying to work out what time to arrive (we are aiming to get the 0920 4VEP).

Also will Steamworks be open? The interactive stuff in there might prove useful during the gaps in services...

 

SteamWorks should be open - I've never known it to be closed when there is a service running.

For car parking - there is an overflow car park the other side of the A275 if the main one is full, and normally an attendant at the entrance who will direct you straight there if required rather than drive round in circles in the main car park only to find it full. Allow yourself a few minutes extra to walk to the station if you park there. It normally stays open until 30 minutes after the arrival of the last train of the day.

The main car park is the long thin grey strip marked P on this aerial view. The overflow is the field surrounded by dry trees with obvious dusty tyre tracks on the other side of the road - as you can see it is larger than the main car park, so I can't see parking being any problem.



Tom

 

Had a really good time today, both my son and I loved it.

The 4VEP brought back so many memories - my first time on a slamdoor EMU in at least 21 years. Now I fully appreciate how the steam generation feel when they go on their first steam train decades after 1968! Full credit to the SETG team for the job they have done. I would have loved to have spent more money at the stall but I was under strict instructions from the missus...

Well done to the Bluebell and I hope they've made a good profit from this. I must also add that the museum at Sheffield Park and Steamworks were very useful at giving a young child breaks between trains. Interactive and you could right up against the locos. I must also thank the volunteer in the signal box - he had the patience of a saint explaining things to my lad.

I thought having the Hastings Unit (excellent train BTW) and 'Gordon Pettit' running shuttle services was an excellent idea. Suddenly getting off a 4VEP that was running late and rushing through a large crowd in an underpass to get to an already crowded DMU that was about to leave, really did capture the essence of commuting at Clapham Junction back in the day!

My only question is why 'Thunderer' and 'The Bluebell Railway' didn't come out to play until the afternoon?

 

50008 and 73133 was simply because that was the timetable arrangements for the day. - In any case 50008 had failed at East Grinstead and was uncoupled from the set at Kingscote leaving the 73 to drag the train back to SP without swapping over with the 25.

The 73 has rescued the 50 this evening and is being dragged back to SP as I type.

 

I believe it’s to do with crewing and how the locos were allocated to the services, as there were effectively 2 sets between 4 engines.

 

I quite like the idea that there is essentially one guy (and it would be a guy, let's be honest) in the Warner brothers setup who's using the entire filming of both the films and now the TV series to wind up GWR fans by using the wrong engine for the identity. I hope next time they run a King and disguise it as "Malfoy Manor"!