Bluebell Railway General Discussion

The latest issue of the Bluebell Times is now ready to download.

In this issue:

• Camelot stars at the Severn Valley - and in our Horsted Keynes flower beds!
• 10 Bluebell staff obtain Emergency First Aid qualification
• Bluebell work with Network Rail to monitor unstable earthworks
• Own a piece of Bluebell History as the Sheffield Park Station clock is replaced.
• More donations from the Carriage Shop to the Southern Railway Coach Group and the Bluebell Railway Goods Division
• 2026 Gala Dates revealed

You can read it here: https://www.bluebell-railway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/issue-74.pdf

Tom

 

Identity crisis I see at HK this weekend.

 

I'm not sure that's anything new, the real identity crisis appears to be at the south end of platforms 1/2, where the canopy columns seem to be turning maroon, along with a lot of filming gear piling up.

 

Downton?

 

Thought they were not making any more Downton TV/Films. Intrigued.

 

As far as I can recall, the "Downton" nameboard has been at the end of platforms 1/2 since the beginning of time, well, certainly well before the rebuilding began. I always presumed this was because the railway saw it as a kind of international flag-waver.

 

Apparently it is magnetic, so it comes and goes - I think there was a reason for having it today.

Tom

 

How about a Downton Abbey themed day?

Hugh Bonneville lives nearby and you can have Bates being found in the vicinity of suspicious deaths, a sort of 'Who Didnt Do It'

 

Post on the Bluebell Facebook page says that, due to filming work on the railway, the railway will only be operating between Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes and that Kingscote and East Grinstead stations will be closed tomorrow and Wednesday (14th and 15th October). On Thursday (16th October) full line trains will be running, but will not be stopping at Horsted Keynes and Kingscote.

All the stations will be open again on Friday (17th October) for the first day of Giants of Steam.

 

Oh and Lady Mary walks out of the sleeper as the Coffin Trolley is discreetly moved to her carriage

 

We don’t make an especially big deal of the films made at the railway, at least not in the context of public events (*). I wonder if there are marketing / trademark restrictions on doing so? I guess we could stage an “Edwardian” event but probably not branded as a “Downton” event.

(*) There’s a lot of effort made at a B2B level to showcase what we have done and what we can offer to people in the business - but much less B2C.

Tom

 

I can see why Bluebell would sell itself in that way to businesses. Where consumers are concerned, are there location uses with the same resonance as Heartbeat/Goathland or Railway Children/KWVR?

 

I think what I'm interested in is that if this was a Downton-related piece of filming, which the nameboard suggests, then how does that fit in with the release of "Downton, the Grand Finale" released only just last month?
Unless there's some kind of Christmas spin-off involving tank wagons in the offing?
And yes, I know its all a big secret, but its hardly the Manhatten Project, ffs!

 

As you said in an earlier post, the ‘Downton’ running in board has been there on and off for a number of years now - to my knowledge it’s nothing to do with the current filming. There’s probably an official reason it was installed but what I always say is it helps people make the connection between where they are and Downton. It’s also good publicity .

The film companies often specify they do not want details shared about what is being filmed on the railway until it is announced or has been released. Sometimes even we don’t know what is being filmed - the film companies can use a “working name” whilst filming is ongoing. Certainly that is the case with some of the filming work that has recently taken place.

P.S. The Manhattan Project is not a great example, considering how heavily that was infiltrated by Soviet spies!

 

Exactly my thoughts. Heartbeat and Railway Children were all filmed locally, with the station and railway regularly featuring.



The filming of Downton is pretty scattered in comparison!

 

Very true!

 

Just watching the HK webcam, Beachy Head heading Tornado northbound. Thats a pretty chunky conclusion to the day, and suitably well-attended, too.

 

Somewhat before …



The double header on Friday was definitely fun!

Tom

 

The other big moment today that went without much song: the first passenger departure from platform 1 at Horsted this morning. Discussion amid the crew and other more educated people suggest the first passenger train out of this platform since 1954, it having been predominantly used as a goods loop pre prescribed and having been a stabling road for vehicles such as the carriage shop in more recent years. Would be interesting to know the precise date of the last passenger train out of it.

2999 also departed with a passenger working from this road following the lineup too.

 

I believe that platform 1 ceased to be used, certainly as a through passenger road, as long ago as the remodeling of 1914, when the original canopies were removed, and platform 1 became the"Up siding". The track had been lifted by 1935. That's what the official history says, anyway. So a very, very long time indeed.