Bluebell Railway 2013 Special Events

Just looked at the Bluebell website which is now listing events during 2013 and includes the welcome return of the Giants of Steam event in October.

January

•Weekends in January: Timetabled steam-hauled and steam-heated trains
•26 & 27 January: Full Afternoon Tea on board our Lounge Car service.

February

•16-24 February: Kids for a Quid - Special Half Term Offer.

•Sunday 24 February: Participate in the Northern Extension Track Trek - sponsored walk over the extension trackbed to help raise the money still required to complete work on the extension to East Grinstead.

•Also in February:
◦Weekends in February, plus Half Term: Timetabled steam-hauled and steam-heated trains ◦2, 3, 9, 10, 23 & 24 February: Full Afternoon Tea on board our Lounge Car service.
◦14 February: Valentines Special - Golden Arrow Pullman luxury evening dining train.
◦14 & 16 February: Valentines Special - Full Afternoon Tea on our Lounge Car service.
◦15 February: Murder Mystery evening on the Golden Arrow Pullman.

March

•23-24 March: Start of the East Grinstead Opening Festival with Visiting locos, including No.70000 "Britannia" - NB this date is provisional and as noted above, is dependent on good weather enabling the work required to be completed in time. The festival will last for two whole weeks, with a variety of different attractions each day.
•Also in March:
◦9 & 10 March: Mother's day - Enjoy a delicious Full Afternoon Tea on board our Lounge Car service.
◦22 March: Murder Mystery evening on the Golden Arrow Pullman.
◦16, 29, 30 & 31 March: Full Afternoon Tea on board our Lounge Car service.

April

•Saturday 27 April: Toy and Rail Collectors Fair - Our spring one-day railwayana event.
•Also in April:
◦1, 20 & 27 April: Full Afternoon Tea on board our Lounge Car service.
◦5 April: Rail Ale evening. Enjoy a steam hauled train ride, evening supper and live jazz; a range of Real Ales available at Sheffield Park, Horsted Keynes and on board the train.
◦19 April: Murder Mystery evening on the Golden Arrow Pullman.
◦26 April: Fish & Chip Evening Supper Special.

May

•11 & 12 May: Southern at War Weekend - Turning back the clock to the days of the Second World War

•Also in May:
◦10 May: Murder Mystery evening on the Golden Arrow Pullman.
◦17 May: Fish & Chip Evening Supper Special.
◦3, 6, 10, 25 & 27 May: Full Afternoon Tea on board our Lounge Car service.
◦31 May: Rail Ale evening. Enjoy a steam hauled train ride, evening supper and live jazz; a range of Real Ales available at Sheffield Park, Horsted Keynes and on board the train.

June

•22 & 23 June: Edwardian Fair and Trains Weekend - New for 2013.

•29 & 30 June: Model Railway Weekend - After dipping our toes in the water last year with a low-key event, which was very well received, in 2013 a bigger model show can be planned with confidence!
•Also in June:
◦7 June: Murder Mystery evening on the Golden Arrow Pullman.
◦14, 21 & 28 June: Fish & Chip Evening Supper Special.
◦16 June: Father's Day - Full Cooked Breakfast on board a special morning Wealden Rambler train. ◦30 June: Full Afternoon Tea on board our Lounge Car service.

July

•6 & 7 July: Sussex Food Festival at Horsted Keynes

•20 & 21 July: Toy and Rail Collectors Fair - Railway Artefacts, Model Railway Equipment and many other stalls at Horsted Keynes, both on the station platforms and in a marquee.
•Also in July:
◦12 July: Murder Mystery evening on the Golden Arrow Pullman.
◦19 & 26 July: Fish & Chip Evening Supper Special.

August

•10 & 11 August: Vintage Transport Weekend - Vintage cars, commercial vehicles, traction engines and of course, our vintage steam trains

•Also in August:
◦9 August: Murder Mystery evening on the Golden Arrow Pullman.
◦16 August: Rail Ale evening. Enjoy a steam hauled train ride, evening supper and live jazz; a range of Real Ales available at Sheffield Park, Horsted Keynes and on board the train.
◦24 & 26 August: Full Afternoon Tea on board our Lounge Car service.

September

•6, 13, 20 & 27 September: Fish & Chip Evening Supper Specials
•13 September: Murder Mystery evening on the Golden Arrow Pullman.
•14, 21 & 28 September: Full Afternoon Tea on board our Lounge Car service.

October

•26 & 27 October: Giants of Steam - our Autumn Gala featuring larger engines makes a welcome return to the Bluebell's calendar.
•Also in October:
◦4 October: Murder Mystery evening on the Golden Arrow Pullman.
◦4, 5, 11, 12, 18 & 19 October: Full Afternoon Tea on board our Lounge Car service.

November

•2, 9, 16 & 23 November: Full Afternoon Tea on board our Lounge Car service.
•8 November: Murder Mystery evening on the Golden Arrow Pullman.

December

•Full details of our Special Christmas services will be available later in the year.
•Also in December:
◦3, 4 & 5 December: Full Afternoon Tea on board our Lounge Car service.
◦3, 4 & 5 December: Murder Mystery evening on the Golden Arrow Pullman.
◦31 December: New Years Eve Golden Arrow Spectacular - Bring in the New Year with style!

 

Bluebell Special Events 2013

Obviously, the opening to East Grinstead is the big one, and there is already a thread here for that event. But the railway has now published its list for the whole year:

Special Events on the Bluebell Railway

Probably of most interest to enthusiasts are:

- The "Great Britannia" opening gala, provisionally booked for two weeks from 23 March.

- Southern at War, 11 / 12 May

- An Edwardian Fair and Trains event, 22 / 23 June. I might be putting 2 and 2 together to make 353, but I wonder if that is when we are due a visit by Met 1 and carriage 353? Personally, am really looking forward to that one.

- Vintage Transport Weekend, 10 / 11 August.

- Giants of Steam, 26 / 27 October. Hopefully by then we'll have 1638, 847, 541 and the MHR 9F all in service, so will be a Giants event, not Gnats of Steam.

Plus all the usual range of Golden Arrows, Wealden Ramblers, Fish and Chip and Beer trains, collectors fairs, the Sussex food fair, model railway weekend etc.
Tom

 

Re: Bluebell Special Events 2013

D'oh! Beaten to the punch by Dan! Mods, can we merge the two threads?

Thanks!

Tom

 

Superb news to see that Giants Of Steam is back in October, as Tom says I guess the line-up could be 92212, 1638, 847 and hopefully the Q along with maybe one or two large visiting locos. As much as I'd love to see 34059 back by October I just can't see it happening so guess that'll have to wait until 2014. But still the Giants event could be one real tasty gala to look forward to in October.

 

I remember reading somewhere that the Midhants Autumn Gala was to be the same week as Giants of Steam.Not listed on the website but the timetable shows a special event 25th - 27 October.

 

Well with 70000 and another possible visitor for the East Grinstead Opening Festival as well as Met 1 and Met Coach 353 later in the year (as Tom says most likely the Edwardian Fair and Trains weekend in June) I'm not sure there will be a visitor/s for Giants but would be delighted to be proved wrong.

It does sound like a great set of events for what will be a fantastic year for the railway.

 

Just about to post that it clashes with the Mid Hants Gala. Pity that, I will only be able to go to one that weekend. Now if they had been on following weekends that would have been great. Pity I'm forced to make the choice as I would have gone to both.

 

The Saturday of the weekend after, the Kent and East Sussex Railway are going to commemorative the 50th anniversary closure of the Hayling Island Branch ( according to Steam Railway ) and the weekend before is the Spa Valley Real Ale Festival.The Bredgar Steam Gala is also on the 27th.

 

Am I right that both the 9F and Britannia are owned by Jeremy Hosking? Is that the first time that two of his locos have been working together? (Assuming that is, that the 9F is still there, and that Britannia fits through the tunnel north of EG...) Maybe time for a Hosking gala ;-)

 

No it isn't. In 2011 he had 92212, 70000 and 60019 (running as 4492) all steamed together at the MHR's Autumn Gala that year.

Mind you Jeremy Hosking does own the lease to Gravetye Manor which is in West Hoathly.

 

I'd be surprised if the S15 isn't done, but I can't see us finishing the Q in 9 months I'm afraid. Although the frame work is moving along nicely, the boiler has barely started, with only some stays and the tubes removed. We will still have to replace plate around the foundation ring, re-rivet, stays and patch screws to fit, before we get as far as the tubes, flues, superheater header etc... We're going as fast as we can with the resource we have, and I'd love to be proved wrong of course!

Pil

 

Ah fair enough, was very much a stab in the dark! Must have been a proud moment for him at the MHD gala..

 

Hasn't the Mid Hants steam gala been scheduled for early September recently? I know in 2011 it was put back but it usually clashes with Swanage in early September?

I seem to recall late October being Thomas before now, half-term you see.

 

A comment in the Bluebell Newsletter suggests that Met 1 will probably be visiting in 2014, not 2013. Oh well, something to look forward to for that year!

Tom

 

Yeah just read my newsletter and it says it might appear in September 2014. A shame its going to be that long really given other contributors to the event such as Epping Ongar and Buckinhamshire Railway Centre will be playing host to Met 1 this year.

 

In the 2013 printed timetable
25/10-29/10 Autumn gala
followed by Wizard Weekend for half term 31st October-3rd Nov
It was agreed to move the gala because of the Swanage clash, possibly also to avoid the Alresford show on the 7th September which causes traffic mayhem for much of the area. The Autumn gala was on 28/29/30th October in 2011 and was vey successful (mind you a great line up of locos then of course....
MHR Autumn Gala 2011 - a set on Flickr

 

Looks like busy weekend for me then. Maybe Mid Hants on the Saturday and the Bluebell on the Sunday.