Bluebell Railway General Discussion

I know the 9F is on the goods and set B tomorrow, what locos are on set A and the Rambler?

Sent from my SM-A166B using Tapatalk

 

Saturday

34059 - Set A / evening GA
92134 - Goods / set B
73082 - WR

Sunday

92134 - Set A
80151 - Set B
34059 - GA

Tom

 

The other tanker out in the open; both are confirmed to be running in the goods train tomorrow.

AM812 is in a 1940s Air Ministry colour scheme, which was reproduced after careful archaeology on the layers of paint uncovered as the vehicle was stripped - see https://www.bluebell-railway.com/1942-built-tanker-wagon-restored-to-original-wartime-livery/

4497 was built in 1930 and is in what I believe would have been its original livery.



Photo source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1702605658531137&set=g.601609619939850

Tom

 

Off to a late start - problems with set A so the 10.30 off the Park is now Bulleid on Set B, which is the vintage stock! Quite an unusual pairing, but possibly means if Set A is fixed, it'll be a 9F on Bulleids and Mk1s which should look quite smart.

 

11:45 ex-Sheffield Park and the 12:45 ex-East Grinstead has been cancelled

 

Apparently the handbrake was stuck on - clearly they didn’t have enough people around it trying to get it off

 

Latest upload on the channel from yesterday’s running with the 9F, also 80151 now facing North, if anyone is interested.

Was very good to see a 9F operational on the railway again, hopefully a good glimpse into the future when our own 9F eventually returns from her slumber:

 

After the recent RAIB report, can you blame them?

Noel

 

A few C&W questions to those in the know, please. First, Seeing the considerable work going into returning the LMS BGZ to its original condition, what are the eventual plans for it?

Nextly, does anyone know what has happened to progress reports for the 1305 gang? There's been nothing posted since 02/09 now, which seems rather precipitous, given the regularity of their updates up to that point.

And lastly, given the apparently convergent progress on 949 and 328, is there any plan to launch these 2 carriages into traffic together, or would that be counterproductive, re. heritage awards, etc?

 

I can answer (I think) one of those. AIUI the BGZ was owned by a late Bluebell and SRPS stalwart, Jock McKay. When he died, he left it to the SRPS in his will; it is due to return to Bo'ness, but is first having all the modifications made when it was converted to a scullery vehicle removed, which was a condition of the original conversion.

Tom

 

I suspect a fault in the carriage rather than previous guard having had too many shredded wheat for breakfast!

I was on the 9F on Sunday. The offending carriage was 3rd in a rake of five. So before the 10:30 departure, we remarshalled that set to make it the fifth (most southernly) vehicle. Departed 10:30 as planned, and when we got to Horsted Keynes, 'Skippy" the bush sentinel removed it from the train, after which we carried on northwards. I spotted it in the C&W yard being worked on later in the day.

When we got back to Sheffield Park after our first trip, we did some more shunting to fetch 1503, the LNWR Obo, from the carriage shed and put that on the back of the train to increase the capacity. There were a couple of carriages reserved for Fox & Edwards on that middle trip, so the extra space was needed. We did our second and third trips as normal; then - because those carriages were due on a photo charter this week and the Obo wasn't needed - we shunted it away at the end of the day.

When we finally got back on shed, we discovered an Ivatt tank had been delivered and the loco part of No. 65 was being loaded to go away - by time I'd washed up and had something to eat, the lorry with No. 65 had departed.

So all in all a busy day. I must admit I quite liked 92134; for what we do, a lot more comfortable than a Bulleid. Apart from a five minute late arrival at East Grinstead on our first trip (due to the time taken to extract 21246 at Horsted) we ran pretty well to time; we were ready to leave East Grinstead on time on that trip. I think there was some smart work from the signalman at Sheffield Park to keep things moving; for example, between our 2nd and 3rd trips, we went into the yard to take coal so the loco had some for the early morning photo charter. There's only 25 minutes for that, and I noticed the signalman already had the road pulled off for the arriving Arrow once we were inside the Platform 2 starter after running round, before we had even got out to couple up.

Tom

 

Being a simple Yorkshire lad, I'm a bit confused by your antics at the start of the day. Presumably, the coach with the stuck handbrake was a brake van. If that was then detached at Horsted Keynes was there a second brake in the set for the guard to dump all his stuff and get comfortable in or did the poor chap have to slum it with the hoi polloi until getting back to the Park?? If there was a second brake, is that usual on a 5 coach set?
I think 92134 is a pleasant loco to spend the day on. Some drivers don't like it because it is too easy to give it a large lungful of steam when approaching your stock to couple up and, by the time the steam brake has been applied and warmed up the pipes and brake cylinders, you have attempted to go further than you really want to. The trick is to get the brake system warmed up before you need it.

 

As originally marshalled, there were two brake vehicles, so we knocked one out but still had a second in the consist.

I don’t do carriage marshalling, so can’t say what’s usual! The second set in use yesterday was the combined Mets / 4 wheelers and there is a brake vehicle in each “half” of that set.

Tom

 

Cheers, Tom

 

It’s not standard practice on the ‘A’ Set, which is normally formed of 5 Mk1s. The last two-three weeks have had different formations as the set has a few coaches taken out for the six monthly exam, so it was just luck that there was a second brake in the set. The LNWR Observation Car is now a ‘hot spare’ in case more capacity is needed, and that coach can be used as a brake, though it’s not ideal in a longer set.

As Tom said above, the ‘B’ Set running this weekend was formed of the Mets and 4 wheeler stock, so it’s much more common on this set to have multiple brakes. Generally these are marshalled at either end of the set, so the guard will (should) end change.

 

Thanks to @Jamessquared & @WorkingPressure225 for their comprehensive response.

 

The Goods Division posted this short video of teh Goods Train on Saturday behind the 9F

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/vi...48598302770860/&show_text=false&width=560&t=0

Not sure if that will be generally visible or not.

Tom