Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Reminder about the anniversary weekend tomorrow and Sunday. Normal ticket prices apply; residents of RH19 postcode can travel for just £5 on Saturday if they book in advance (basically, ring up today I guess) - see website.

Timetable below, in addition there are C&W workshop tours, visits to Kingscote signal box and various walking tours around East Grinstead, both to look at the remains of the railway infrastructure there and also, I believe, a more general tour round the town with East Grinstead's tourism manager.

Apparently the brake van rides (behind Baxter) will leave HK platform 2 and travel south towards the advanced starter, then return back through platforms 4/5 to the up advanced starter (beyond Leamland bridge), then return to platform 2. So kind of a tour of the station.

The plan is:

Saturday:
A service - 1638 + 847 + Southern set, makes four round trips (i.e. normal peak summer service) (9.45 / 12.15 / 2.45 / 5.15 ex-SP and 10.40 / 13.15 / 15.45 / 18.15 ex-EG)
B service - L150 + 5643 + Mark 1s / Bulleids, makes three round trips (11.00 / 13.30 / 16.00 ex-SP and 12.00 / 14.30 / 17.00 ex-EG)
C service - 263 + 592 + Mets / 4 wheelers, makes three round trips at 10.15 / 12.50 / 15.20 ex-SP 11.18 / 13.53 / 16.23 ex-EG
Baxter on brake van rides (leaves SP light engine 10.35 and returns from HK at 4.34)
847 does the evening Golden Arrow (two round trips).

The 5.15 trip is 1638 only (847 will be on shed to prep for the evening Golden Arrow)

Sunday
Sunday is similar, but the A service only does three round trips. 263 takes the early morning "C" service on its own for just one round trip, then there is a lunchtime GA at the normal timings with 263 and 592. So Sunday is basically a normal Sunday but with the extra train at 10.15 and brake van rides; Saturday is a considerably enhanced service.

http://www.bluebell-railway.com/event/happy-birthday-east-grinstead/

Tom

 

Full working timetable with loco and carriage allocations here:

http://rasalmon.co.uk/bluebell/download/events/2014/22-23march2014_anniversary.pdf

Tom

 

Just to say, a lot of us from the Spa were over today for the Diesel Gala as well as a lot of others from other lines, we all had a very enjoyable time. Trains were well filled and the 09 being taken off its set to be replaced by the 08 didn't cause seem to cause any issue for the visitors as they got more 08 mileage than first anticipated!

33103 put on a good performance through the tunnel and up the other gradients.

Speaking from experience organising these events at the Spa, they aren't easy as diesel enthusiasts go for particular traction rather than a collection of locos usually, but today was very good. Top marks Bluebell.

 

Went to see the new Muppets film yesterday. They travel around the world on a steam hauled train (no idea what the loco is but it's similar to 96 Normandy) and there are a lot of railway scenes. One of the diesel shunters (08168) also appears on a freight working. The lines they travel along mainly look like The Bluebell Railway. Ricky Gervais also walks along one of the station Platforms (Horsted Keynes?) Does anyone know if the film was shot on the line?

 

It was indeed the Bluebell, the loco being 3 Captain Baxter. Mr Disney and Mr Jim Henson's custom in fact paid for Camelot's boiler to go to Crewe.

 

Matt35027:

"It was indeed the Bluebell, the loco being 3 Captain Baxter. Mr Jim Henson's custom in fact paid for Camelot's boiler to go to Crewe."

Thanks for that Matt. I just realised the loco was Captain Baxter when looking through some Gala pics from yesterday in another thread. Disney took over the Henson company so 73082' boiler has been paid for by a kids film studio!

 

I have a pic of the carriage shed at HK ready to receive its enormous blue screen (or, to fit in, was it in fact a green screen?) so that the backgrounds to the trains could be added in later.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68369885@N00/8523150667/in/photolist-dZanKz

 

There was an interesting write up on it in one of the recent Bluebell News editions, saying when most film companies turn up at Horsted Keynes they pick the best looking engines and carriages whereas this lot turned up and spent half an hour finding the most decrepit stuff they could get their hands on!

 

From the News from the Bluebell email : -

At a meeting of Bluebell [managers] on Friday, it was reported that the line had attracted 188,144 visitors in 2013-up from 146,224 the year before. Of these, an encouraging 35,029 passengers started their journey at East Grinstead. The increase ensured ticket revenue soared from £1,577,474 in 2012 to £2,294,145 in 2013.

 

Ticket spend per pax up from 10.79 to 12.19 (13%) - good.

(SVR average fares, for comparison, were included in the Shareholders' Newsletter this week and are not shown as copyright or confidential so here goes: 2013 13.67 2012 12.82 up 6.6%).

Patrick

 

Vintage Bus Day in East Grinstead

Every year there is a vintage bus event based in East Grinstead. This year the event will take place on Sunday 6th April with bus routes to various destinations from the High Street and railway station. This event is organised by Country Bus Rallies http://freespace.virgin.net/ian.smith/buses/CBR/CBR01.htm

The Bluebell Railway is offering a special train fare of £5.00 per adult or child for any passengers travelling on the 9.45am service from Sheffield Park on that day (calling at Horsted Keynes at 10.02am). Return travel from East Grinstead from 2.30pm onwards.

To travel on the £5 ticket they must be purchased in advance via the Sales and Information Office at Sheffield Park or the Travel Centre at East Grinstead. Telephone 01825 720800.

See more at: http://www.bluebell-railway.com/event/vintage-bus-day-in-east-grinstead/#sthash.kieqlwO7.dpuf

Tom

 

Volunteering "find out more" day

The next volunteering "find out more day" is Sunday 6th April. (They are held on the first Sunday of every month). The days give a tour round various areas of the railway, explaining what opportunities there are for volunteering. If you would like to attend, contact bluebellvolunteer@gmail.com

Tom

 

[1972 - 1989 Photoplug] Here are 40 photos of the Bluebell taken in 1972, 1976, 1980, 1981 and 1989. They show many of the locos that have worked on the line in the half century since its preservation:

http://andrewstransport.smugmug.com...-1989/38084724_8k6g5S#!i=3154193441&k=VjKFpZ4

Cheers

Andrew N

 

Thanks for this! Happy memories, especially of 488 in steam.

 

Not my video, but I came across this. I'm amazed at the quality (steadiness etc) these days that can be achieved from a flying drone that is presumably cheap enough for hobbyist, rather than professional, use:



Tom

 

Wow that is very impressive, there was a video of Clan Line at Dorking on YouTube I saw a week or so ago that must of used something similar to take it.

 

Bin the music and it would be even better.

 

Yes, though it wasn't so much the artistic merit (or otherwise), it was the fact that such shots were within the capability of almost anyone with the inclination to experiment that way. I did a quick Google afterwards and it seems you can get a drone and camera mount for about the same order of cost as a Digital SLR - one I saw with 25 minute flying duration was under £500.

Incidentally - on the subject of music: what should the correct soundtrack be? If you are flying well above the train, you are unlikely to hear it, but if you record from the drone itself, you'll presumably get a dominant sound of the electric motors. So I can see why he instead added music.

Tom

 

So you'd prefer the annoying whine of the drone's engines then?
Or dub in a recording of a random steam loco, so some bright-spark can say the sound is at a different value setting to the video.

Richard

 

Yes, but the music isn't as bad as that added to some railway videos.