Bluebell Railway General Discussion

You didn’t see the videos and photos of the inaugural day in service then!

Tom

 

It needs to be more careful, there's a tunnel with a brick yard nearby if it refuses to go out too often...

 

Aa but that was the right type of rain. When it gets colder and more wintery. Thats the wrong type of rain

 

It just needs a hat, coat and scarf!

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Not as badly as the crew need them when it's running tender first.

 

At least it's got a dome. Domeless engines aren't respectable...

Looks lovely... credit to all concerned.

 

For those that think Heritage Lines do not have to move with the times this weeks weekly round up has a long list of upcoming events including the Diesel Gala.
As far as I can see the GOS only gets a mention in passing in the piece about Beachy Head returning to service.
Like me many I suspect they can remember when the GOS or Christmas trains (Santa then of course) would have been the headline event.

 

AIUI, this winter will have two track relaying projects. One (after Christmas I think) will finish off the last bit of Freshfield Bank, so line speed will commence from the station limits. That would mean the entire line south of Horsted had been relaid in the last ten years or so.

The other (before Christmas I think) is to relay the rails through the tunnel, which are always subject to corrosion due to the wetness of the tunnel. The TSR at Black Hut will remain, but recently it has been having two close together that is the problem; in effect the two together act as a single long restriction since there isn’t much scope to recover speed after Black Hut before you have to slow again for the tunnel.

Tom

 

Might visit the Bluebell tomorrow. Which way are the scheduled locos facing?

 

Thanks Al.

 

There was a 2 part feature on Trackside a few months back, where it talked about the issues with the track through the tunnel and on the approach.

 

On the basis of my run 6 coaches would be no problem. Sustained 23 up to Imberhorne and no slipping in the tunnel. Also had to ease at Waterworks to keep to the line limit and ran SP to HK in 13/40. Drivers are still learning so limited to 5 is sensible but a great loco.

 

Except 80151 (running as 80154, which wasn't scheduled to run, but I think may have) and 'Fenchurch' (which wasn't running) which face south (as they have for years).

 

It's running in the main currently as an attraction for special events, but is also one of 5 large locomotives now in regular service on the Bluebell, so will be taking its turn with other locomotives, given that, outside the special events we only need one or two of those 5 larger locos in service at any time. Nothing more or less than that.

 

The load limit is based on its ability to maintain section times, and to re-start trains on wet rails on our 1-in-55. Bluebell has one of the tightest timetables of any heritage line. I believe its load limit is set at 185 tons following the testing that's been carried out, which I think is roughly the same as generally applied to the Q-class. That's no surprise since it's effectively a 3P (they were rated at 4P in BR days, but with a higher pressure boiler and larger cylinders). Locos can exceed their load limits if required, but the aim is always that that's an exception rather than something that should happen regularly. The reasons for that load limit are different between the Q and the Atlantic. In the former case, it has the power but not the boiler capacity without knackering the fireman. In the latter case, there's boiler capacity to spare, but the enormous driving wheels count against the raw power available up gradients.

 

Does the fact that it has 4 driving wheels rather than 6 make much difference, or is the size a greater factor?

Also, it may sound daft but to what extent does the (anticipated) weather conditions affect loco rostering? For example, would the Atlantic be less likely to be rostered on a very wet day?

Thanks

 

As was explained earlier, the load limit is based around what the loco can reliably restart from a stand on the 1 in 55 at Imberhorne Lane. If you were to stall there on a day with only one engine in steam, it would be quite a long time before assistance could be summoned - hence a degree of caution. On the day I fired, the train was stopped at the HK outer home on the 1 in 75 gradient - the driver used about 140psi indicated on the steam chest gauge to get moving again, with a 177 ton train.

The gradient from Tremains through Lindfield Wood to Waterworks Bridge is fairly easy, so locos generally aren't worked hard there; you need to open up more from Waterworks up to Horsted Keynes where the gradient steepens to 1 in 75.

Tom

 

Weather doesn't really affect rostering, since you don't know what it is going to be at the time you draw up the loco rosters! Launch day was in mid-August and it lashed down with rain ...

The Operations Department publish a service plan, i.e. the days of operation, how many trains and how many carriages on each train. The loco department then work out the rostered locos to a plan, taking account of the loads requested, and the maintenance needs of the locos (i.e. wash outs, minor maintenance, annual boiler tickets etc). In principle, we have seven locos available for traffic at the moment, but in practice at any one time, a couple of them are likely to be out of use for washouts etc. Occasionally an unplanned issue can cause the plan to change (such as No. 65 substituting for Fenchurch last week) but if all goes to plan, the loco roster is set several months in advance.

Tom