Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Handy, nobody wants confusion.

Hope you have got your Sou' Wester handy too....!

 

That's a good looking engine!

 

The adverts say Specsavers will come to you if you can’t get to them.

 

Many of us would agree, but not everyone thought so when the Saints first appeared.

 

Did they run out of cash when they got to the cab and tender?

 

The irony is that despite the cab being about three inches deep, from a quick inspection on Sunday it still looks like you have the normal GWR thing of the coal being situated in a different county from the firebox. Gonna be getting my steps in on Sunday, I think!

Tom

 

Pre-specsavers?

 

I thought that particular accolade went to Gresley's W1, where it looked like you could hold a party in the cab...

 

No thats Hereford Signal Box

 

32424 now vice 2999 this weekend

 

Looks like you have a newer ride now! Just announced on Facebook:

Edit: I was beaten to it!

 

Damn! Three trips on the Atlantic ...

(Actually, I was looking forward to the Saint in the interests of variety).

Tom

 

Speaking as someone who is not the biggest fan of all things Swindon (9017 is ours now), I have to say the bark on 2999 is one of the best around

 

Off to the beer festival tomorrow, I would have gone today with the best weather but the daytime music isn't on till tomorrow.

Squeaky bum connections to get the first Bluebell service from East Grinstead at 1015.

I couldn't bring myself to get any earlier train than the 0649 from Nottingham to St. Pancras, which gives me 8 minutes from the EMR platforms to Thameslink - which is fine if the EMR service is on time, but it's often a few minutes late.

Then it's a 4 minute connection at East Croydon - which isn't as bad as it sounds, since the Southern service to East Grinstead should be on the same platform - P6 - as my Thameslink service, so as long as they're in the right sequence and not re-platformed it'll be fine.

I'm resigned to there being a 50/50 chance it'll go wrong though, but that's OK, if so I'll get the 1130 Bluebell service instead - and the bar opens at EG at 1100.

Looking forward to seeing The Magpies perform in the afternoon at Sheffield Park!

 

Please do provide updates on that incredible journey!

And good luck with it too.

Bryan

 

Just hope London is not like yesterday. TL on diversions and avoiding London Bridge due to failed trains. Points failure on the SN side of Victoria. Elizabeth Line in total melt down West of Padd in the evening due OHLE issues ,and even a PHBT way off near Hastings seemed to be screwing SE services to Ore.
A day for NR to forget.

 

SN- South Norwood? PHBT? I've absolutely no idea. Plain English is always good.

 

SN - Southern
PHBT - Person Hit By Train

 

Well, the planned journey went pear shaped very early on, the Nottingham to London service was 8 minutes late into St. Pancras which blew out all the connections.

Luckily, I wasn't on it!

With the sparse bus services I arrived at Nottingham station half an hour early at 0620, and there was a one-off (due to engineering works) 0622 to Grantham, so I went that way, changed onto a Newcastle to London service and ended up at Kings Cross 20 minutes ahead of schedule, so it was all plain sailing to the Bluebell and I got the first train from East Grinstead to Sheffield Park.

A fun day out, nice sunshine earlier, some showers later. On the 'B' set hauled by "Beachy Head", noticed the 'A' set was hauled by 33108. The Magpies were a great rock covers band, and as I had my brolly I could sit outside at the end of the engine shed (only seats available!). Went up and down to Kingscote to sample the cider and crepes, and tried four or five different ciders at Sheffield park. Everything seemed well organised, the token system worked very neatly for the cider because it was all priced at half or a whole sheet of tokens (£2.50 or £5) which seemed very reasonable.

Unfortunately it went ***s up on the way back; the Bluebell got me back to East Grinstead on time, but when I arrived there there were no Southern services due to a tree on the line.

Ended up on a tedious bus to to Three Bridges, got home OK but a bit late. But there does seem to be a bit of a curse on the East Grinstead branch when I visit, last time the electrics blew on the way back and I ended up on a bus!

BTW There are some serious TSRs (temporary speed restrictions) on the Bluebell, all factored into the timetable of course, but a lot of 5-10 mph running. I saw the embankment monitoring equipment which has been discussed elsewhere.

Beachy head was "barking" nicely (I think that the right term, it's a very distinctive sound!)

 

Slight thread deviation for which I apologise. Were you advised to go that way by staff, or did you choose it yourself?
According to the almost incomprehensible Routeing Guide Grantham is an accepted route, but the fares seem higher. Of course if you had booked an advance then it would not be valid that way. I assume you had no problems with revenue inspectors or gateline staff?