Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Well I found the carriage restoration display at HK fascinating ..... but then, I'm wierd like that!

 

Thats not too bad, you could do worse and be a Digger Spotter.

 

Or that guy that restores bin lorries

 

Getting rather off topic, but http://www.yellow-things.co.uk/

 

Details of the Bluebell Railway’s heritage grant from the National Lottery fund and plans for the autumn/winter are in September’s issue of the new monthly The Bluebell Times.

Issue 12 also contains two reports on the completion of the Accessible Steam Heritage (ASH) project in SteamWorks! with the installation of a ramp for footplate access and new buffer stops.

In Issue 12:

• The story behind the Elton John album cover photo opportunity
• More tales of working goods trains
• A debate over the colour of The Bluebell Railway nameplate
• Guess the Year and Word Search puzzles
• And much, much more.

The Bluebell Times will be published monthly on the second Friday of each month. The October issue is due out on Friday 9 October.

https://www.bluebell-railway.com/bluebell-times/

Tom

 

Visited at the weekend and Platform Tickets were on sale at Horsted Keynes for £2.50 per Adult.

 

Details for the Off The Rails event have been added https://www.bluebell-railway.com/whats_on/off-the-rails/

 

Most of the info is also on the Bluebell's Facebook event page https://fb.me/e/1JZrWeIeb

Sent from my SM-J610FN using Tapatalk

 

I note the SECR H-class No.263 returns to traffic this weekend running on the pioneer. First run for like 15 months I believe

 

The last two parts of the volunteering series have appeared on YouTube:





Tom

 

A note to say that this weekend is No 178’s last in traffic before withdrawal, having run for ten and a half years - doesn’t time fly

To mark the occasion, she will be double-heading all weekend with 263 on “The Pioneer” - tickets available here: https://bluebell.vticket.co.uk/product.php/201/the-pioneer

Tom

 

Doesn't just. I remember seeing her in Pioneer II guise at the Branch Line Weekend and being surprised towards the end of the day, when it was decided to run her around the station limits at Sheffield Park having been on show in the yard.

I also recall her very briefly carrying a Nettle nameplate during the 50th Anniversary Gala

 

I've just read in the latest "Brighton Matters" newsletter that the footbridge at Eridge has recently been stripped out.
Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't that the last remaining Brighton timber footbridge?
Bearing in mind that the Long Term Plan requires the reinstatement if the original Myres design timber footbridge at Sheffield Park, does this not represent a missed opportunity of huge proportions, or was the bridge already rotted out?
Last time I used it, it seemed pretty sound.
The timber in that bridge must have been worth a good Bob or two...

 

So I found out via the powers of Facebook this evening that platform tickets are available from Horsted Keynes??? can anyone within higher authority confirm this and why it hasn't been put on the website?

 

I took my first trip down to the Bluebell this year today. I really enjoyed seeing No.178 and No.263 out today, especially as the weather wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be! I'll miss seeing 178 running - but at least I have my Hattons model of her to run in the meantime!
It was also great to see the 'Q' out on the Wealden Rambler - looking and sounding great as always
Here's my video - 178 seemed to be struggling a bit up Freshfield bank, as you'll see

Comments welcome!
Although I didn't travel on the trains, I have just made a donation to the railway's Covid appeal.

 

Believe me, it got a lot worse for the evening dining train ...

Tom (now dried out again)

 

So many great photos on natpres, you can get a bit complacent, so it’s nice to be reminded how beautiful so much of the stock at the Bluebell is.

Simon

 

I asked the same question on Facebook, and was told it was rotten and only good for firewood.

 

Looking at a photo on Facebook from yesterday, looks like another section of track relaying is underway this week on Freshfield Bank. From where there were rails stored a week or so ago, I think it is 13 panels (i.e. 260 yards), round about Palmer's Cattle Creep, for which new bridge sections have been cast; starting at the southern end of new track on Freshfield Bank and proceeding southwards back towards Ketches. I don't know exactly how much is planned this week, since the possession is fairly short and we will be running trains again next weekend.

It's certainly encouraging to see the track programme continuing; it would have been easy perhaps to have completely retrenched and done the least possible this year.

Also, talking of Ketches, the disused Ketches Halt is now no more. (That is the very short halt adjacent to the Sheffield Park down outer home). The wooden platform surface was rotten, and it was dismantled at some point in the last couple of months, with the concrete supports currently stacked by the line side.

There is an event planned for the last two weekends of October called "off the rails". It will feature goods trains and shunting at Horsted Keynes, along with various road vehicles (traction engines etc). The timetable is arranged with a long layover at Horsted Keynes during which the shunting can be watched, followed by a return journey in the same compartment.

Timetable and details here: https://www.bluebell-railway.com/whats_on/off-the-rails/

Tom

 

My video and a couple of photos of 178's last weekend in service. Will miss this little locomotive; with Baxter and Bluebell already out of service and confined to SteamWorks!, it'll be a shame not to have a small locomotive around the Bluebell. At least until no. 27 or Fenchurch return to steam!



On Saturday afternoon, 178 pilots 263 past Horsted House Farm:


178's final public departure from Sheffield Park, on Sunday afternoon: