Bluebell Railway General Discussion

"STOP PRESS! Sir Nigel Gresley to work service trains this weekend!

Due to the overwhelming popularity of Giants Of Steam, 60007 will be working on selected service trains this weekend, giving you all another opportunity to ride behind and see this magnificent locomotive in action at The Bluebell Railway.

'Sir Nigel Gresley' will work the 1:00 pm and 3:45 pm departures from Sheffield Park on Saturday and the 3:50 pm departure on Sunday, again from Sheffield Park station.

Please note: these trains are on a first-come, first-served basis on these services so please ensure you arrive early to travel behind 60007."

 

Are the 1:00 and 3:45 pm trains likely to be very crowded? I was planning to visit on Saturday but will give it a miss if the trains are going to be very busy. Would not enjoy it as much if the trains are full even if I do like A4s.

 

Think that would depend on how many people will actually be in attendance. Its also a special event weekend for families so it'll be a difficult one to estimate

 

Will more people visit because "Sir Nigel Gresely" is hauling service trains this weekend? Does it attract crowdes as much as Flying Scotsman and Tornado? I was on a train worked by Tornado once and the train was was so full that nobody could move down the aisles. Would that be expected tomorrow?

 

Hard to say really; every train worked by Gresley last week was essentially standing room only, but most people who wanted it may have come then not expecting it to work this second weekend.

 

Big blue thing backing on to the 1pm service. Comfortably busy - a lot of Ghostbusters around!

 

Was it standing room only? Was going to go today but thought it would be too busy because of the A4.

 

The afternoon train I saw arrive at HK on the webcam looked busy, but I could not see people standing and there were only a few each side hanging out of a droplight.
My take would be that unless you were on the Bluebell weekly email or an enthusiast you would be unlikely to even know unless some of the local press ran something. The presence of a "big blue loco" probably increased travel on the day from those attending the Ghostbusters event.

 

No, three of us managed to get a seat together on both SP departures without any problems. Even on the 3.45pm departure a lot of tables only had one person sat at them. The vintage set behind 65 looked nicely busy as well.

 

Also known as the Blue Snowplough.

 

Generally Sundays are quieter than Saturdays, so if there were seats today, you should be fine tomorrow for the 3:50pm train on Sunday (which is normally fairly quiet).

Tom

 

But remember if you are driving it is another weekend of the M25 being closed at the A3 junction.

 

That depends where you are driving from!

But the question is whether a particular train will be crowded, and of all the trains over the weekend, I’d suggest the 3:50 on Sunday would normally be the quietest.

Tom

 

True but @778 profile says Hemel Hempstead so I would expect him to go that way.
Reliance on the National Network on a Sunday is at best flaky, and maybe more so having just read this post on another forum
"Back pay hit yesterday and plenty of drivers are trying to stay under £100k earnings for the year, to avoid the tax implications. I would expect Sundays to be like this until April."

 

A couple more photos from today, including the star of the show...

 

So thats why @Jamessquared is a fireman, stops him scaring the passengers too much

 

Not guilty m'lud, I was not there this weekend!

Tom

 

The A4 was running, wasn’t it? Just putting two and two together…….

 

I don’t get out of bed for less than the Atlantic these days …

(Though I’m missing the O1, it’s been months since I had a turn).

Tom

 

Have you mastered that LNER style firehole door flap yet Tom? The A4 would have given you some practice if you'd got on it.

Peter