Bluebell Railway Giants of Steam 17th-19th October 2025

I have just looked at the timetable on the Bluebell website and it’s not there!

 

It definitely is - the public timetable shows two services terminating at Horsted (2999, A and 32424, D), with the other two (6880, B and 60163, C) having extended dwells.

Some pics from today:

 

The Timetable does show all 4 locos at Horsted Keynes

2999 arrives at Horsted Keynes at 2:25 ( on the 1:50 from East Grinstead). Departs back to East Grinstead at 4:00.
60163 arrives at Horsted Keynes at 3:00 ( on the 2:35 from East Grinstead). Departs to Shefield Park at 3:50
32424 arrives at Horsted Keynes at 2:45 ( on the 2:30 from Sheffield Park. Departs back to Shefield Park at 4:10
6880 arrives at Horsted Keynes at 3:15 ( on the 3:00 from Sheffield Park) Departs to East Grinstead at 3:30.

Therefore from 3:15 to 3:30 all 4 locos were at Horsted Keynes.

 

Yeah, the lineup was cool, but definitely chaos. I’m glad I was up on the hill over an hour before the lineup to secure space, and even then lots of arms, heads and cameras getting stuck out.

One more day to go, iffy weather forecast, guess we’ll see what I get up to. Also dropped my telephoto on the train this evening and broke it…no focus at all, sigh.

But, focusing on the good, I had a great time yesterday and today and have one more day of riding and photographing steam.

Cheers,

Stephen

 

Yes I saw the gaps but nowhere in the timetable or anywhere else on the website does it mention the gathering. How was anyone who doesn’t read Nat Pres in detail all the time supposed to know?

 

The number floating around is that there were 1800 people for the line up - I'm not sure how it was counted, possibly based on having sold 1801 tickets and one very bemused person wandering round Sheffield Park wondering why it was so quiet ...

Tom

 

Certainly sounds like it could be a record breaking event for the railway. I'll be heading down the road for today very soon and looking forward to this one.

 

Glad it's going well for you, apart from the dropped lens.

I hate changing lenses for a number of reasons, one of which is doing what you sadly did. So on my steam loco dedicated Nikon D780 I now have a Nikon 28-300 mm lens permanently attached. That is proving to be a quite superb combination.

Only trouble Stephen, is if I drop it the risk is that I damage both the camera and lens at the same time!

Cheers,

Bryan

 

I am very pleased it's going well and I really hope it will be a record breaking event, especially so far as net income for the Bluebell is concerned.

With that loco line up it is not my sort of event at all, so I've given it a very wide berth, and I really enjoyed S15 30506 at the Mid-Hants yesterday.

But I will keep a look out for the day when 80151 is booked to haul just the four Maunsell coaches and with nothing else attached- and with only suitable headcode route discs on the loco with no added headboard!

It can be quite limiting having such a narrow focus - but it's very much self inflicted and I've learned to manage ok with it.

Bryan

 

Looking at the web cams, still seems quite busy today despite the rain, though quieter than the first two days.

The 6880 / 2999 double header has just left Sheffield Park, about 1 minute late.

Tom

 

When I was planning to attend until the post on here I was unaware of the line up. I had assumed it was just a timetable gap to make up for late running that nearly every gala wherever it is suffers from.
With the crowds there hardly a missed opportunity but strange to make it something for those "in the know"

 

Yes indeed!

 

I wandered lonely as a cloud…..

In fact sadly I didn’t go at all due to my restricted mobility and risk of falling due to the certainty of crowded trains and platforms. Great shame as I need 6880 for haulage. But well done Bluebell and hope it turned in a good profit

Don

 

An astonishing turnout of visitors for the Gala yesterday so much so that it started to take the enjoyment away from the event a little bit for us.

We were having one of those days anyway as we arrived much later than planned due to various delays encountered on our journey from Hampshire.

Arriving at Sheffield Park we were directed to Horsted Keynes as both of the car parks at SP were full. The field at HK was also nearly full by the time we arrived.

The first task of the day was sorting out some lunch so we joined the long queue for the station buffet. The pies were proving very popular. We very much enjoyed our portions of chips and the pies were delicious. Highly recommended.
Next we decided to try and catch the next service to East Grinstead which was hauled by Tornado but we soon changed our minds when it arrived totally full up with little standing room left.
So we remained at HK to browse the stalls before heading up to the photography field to bag a space before the line up took place.
We spent the time waiting watching all of the loco and shunting movements required for the loco lineup.
When the time arrived for the lineup it was very much organised chaos. The crowd control appeared to cause a few problems.
We had intended to catch the service hauled by 6880 straight after the lineup as an earlier announcement on the platform said that passengers would be able to board the trains after getting our pictures. However, we headed back in the direction of the station with plenty of time to spare to try and board the 6880 hauled service only to get stopped with many others as the walk ways were closed again so that people could get pictures without the crowds around the locos. Then 6880 departed while we were stuck in the crowd. There were quite a few other people around us who had intended to join the 6880 service and they were not impressed.
So with our second intended trip of the day scuppered we opted for the service hauled by 2999 out of platform 1.
It was our first experience travelling behind the Saint. She sounded great on the journey to Kingscote where we and many other passengers left the train to catch the service with 6880 heading back to Sheffield Park. We were held at HK for some time as there was a delay with the 32424 & 60163 doubleheader from Sheffield Park. We had originally planned to do a round trip behind 6880 on the last service from SP but further delays at SP meant we had to leave the train at HK as we had to get home and we were a bit fed up by now. We finished the day by watching and listening to 6880 and 2999 bark out of HK with their trains for SP and EG.

It was great to witness the four locos in action and the line up and well done to the Bluebell and locomotive owners for staging the event.
Thanks to everyone involved. A few low res shots from the day below:

2999 Lady of Legend climbs out of Horsted Keynes:


80100 waiting for her place in the restoration queue:


2999 is positioned for the lineup:


60163 moves into her position in the lineup:


The four new builds together:


The crowd in the field:


The "big four" Swamped by the crowds:


2999 pauses at Kingscote:


Double header runs into Horsted Keynes:


6880 pauses at Horsted Keynes with the last round trip of the day:


Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk

 

The Tornado services seemed the busiest with very few spaces left each time it passed, I ended up standing on my brief run from Kingscote to Horsted behind the loco. All the other services had plenty of seating on them.

The 9:45 behind Betton Grange was a great run with the loco making a fantastic noise, even with the TSR's, especially after leaving Horsted towards East Grinstead.

The northbound GWR double header was also some sight, again plenty of noise before arriving (a nice smoke plume could be seen beforehand) and upon departure and with some haste too, as I watched it from the paddock.

Here's a few phone pictures from today, including a rather wet one with the Beachy Head/Tornado double header.

 

It was definitely quieter today - I think around a half to two thirds of yesterday’s visitor number. The booking offices still had very healthy takings though.

It was a very spirited run on the double Westerns up from Sheffield Park to East Grinstead, especially in the Kingscote-East Grinstead section. Safe to say we did not arrive late at East Grinstead!

 

Thanks for putting the photo of 80100 in your presentation.

In amongst all those new builds, such a shame to see a loco of a class so useful to heritage lines just rotting away in the weeds.

At least 80104 might be back on the Swanage Railway fairly soon, and maybe the Mid-Hants will get the one there back in a few years time.

But sadly 80078, for very good reasons I am sure, is only likely to be down at the Spa Valley Railway for the Polar Express this autumn/winter.

As for the crowds at the G.O.S. - get the locos that people really want, and they will flock to the event.

I just hope the haulage etc costs of bringing most of the locos in will still see a nice surplus from the event for the Bluebell.

Oh no, what did I say - a surplus of cash, not of wr locos.

Bryan

 

I'd like to have seen the Kingscote - East Grinstead run. I don't think I've ever seen such gusto on a departure from Horsted Keynes before, or indeed such a large plume of smoke on the approach to the station. Tornado might have drawn the passengers, but for me Betton Grange stole the show, even better than my previous experiences at the GCR and GWSR earlier in the year.

Thanks go to those for coming up with the idea of a New Build Gala. I myself have just turned 34, so it's quite incredible that the combined age of the loco's is just 25! (And Tornado is responsible for 17 of them!, Lady of Legend 6 and Betton Grange and Beachy Head just 1 each).

 

I only wish I was changing lenses! Somehow the whole body/lens slid on me from a coach seat to the floor. Mercifully the lens took all the pain as if it had damaged the body mount I think I’d have been I consolable at it ruining my trip. This is the second time I’ve broken this model of lens. The first one I did drop from altitude changing lenses in 2022… so hopefully when I replace it the 3rd times the charm for a long life!

That said, I’m back in my hotel and dried out, though some of my stuff is still soaked. I’ll get pictures/videos and thoughts together after I’m home Tuesday night late. For now I have a couple more days in England and things to enjoy before my 5 day mini trip ends.

For now though, the end under the lights at Sheffield Park when it was time to brave night driving over here in the rain (my car hire company gave me far more car than I desired in terms of size, dark + Rain from SP to EG this evening was, an adventure!)

Cheers

Stephen

 

It was hard to believe that as what many consider a youngster in this hobby, all the locomotives I was filming were younger than me! Really was a great turnout over the weekend and although the rain on Sunday made filming a lot more challening, it was still a top weekend on the lineside, and a pleasure to meet @SG-Canada at the tunnel too!