Bluebell Railway General Discussion

I most certainly don't speak for the Bluebell and cannot of course comment on how their train service will run at any time in the future.

But as a one time frequent traveller, when important connections were to be made anywhere, I would always allow a minimum of having a second train as a back up in case of issues with the first. And even then I would still leave a good margin in case of lateness of the second train.

I even did that with aircraft when the best fare Heathrow to Jo'burg when taking my family for a trip to SA (mainly for steam locos!) was with Lufthansa via a connection at Frankfurt.

The scheduled connection with Lufthansa from Heathrow was quite a short time. So I asked for and was given, at the same price, the Lufthansa Heathrow to Frankfurt flight that operated before the advertised connecting flight. So, a fair bit of time at Frankfurt Flughafen. But it passed fine and we never had a worry about missing the Jo'burg flight.

Belt, braces and another belt sort of system is what I have done and would still do in similar circumstances.

Bryan

 

The reality is that it doesn't matter, so long as you're travelling outside of the morning peak, ie after 09.30. Trains into London from EG will be virtually empty at that time of day.
I know it looks specific when you book on National Rail, but those tickets when you pick them up, will not specify anything except "off peak".

 

Where are you travelling from Victoria? Off peak day return (first usable train 09:50) is only £20.50 (without a railcard) and that does not restrict you to either train, or later ones, but of course the booking system will make you choose one.
Trouble is like any transport system on the day something can happen, which is why I personally avoid restrictive advance tickets.

 

Tom, @Jamessquared Any update for Sunday would help me decide if/where I am going out photting this weekend please. I won't do HK on Saturday as there isn't a Lunchtime Golden Arrow shown and it will be rather crowded with Wizards and trainee Wizards all swelling the Bluebell's coffers and all having a very good time I hope.

Certainly not a complaint, but it would help if the Bluebell Info link https://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pti/index.html could be kept up to date and more accurately (usual caveats applying) if possible. But I do appreciate that it isn't a link that many visitors need to access when planning to visit the Bluebell. So I imagine that whoever does the website updating must always keep the big revenue earning websites up to date all the time.

Bryan

 

See post 7818 above:

A - 34059, 5 Mark 1s
B - 32424, 4 Maunsells + LNWR OBO
WR (Sat) / GA (Sun) - 80151

Saturday evening Pullman is 34059.

Remember - it’s the launch into service of Maunsell 3687 and the four coach Maunsell set. It ran in the week as a special for those involved in its restoration.
​

I don't know who maintains the PTI page, but it isn't the main office. So I can't help there I'm afraid. FWIW, our internal loco roster normally covers a few weeks in advance, though obviously could be affected by late changes. The weekly traffic notice normally comes out on Thursday for the week starting Saturday (i.e. our week runs Saturday - Friday) to get details of any changes to normal timings.

Tom

​

 

Thank you!

 

Travelling from Clapham Junction. It will be the whole family with a family and friends railcard.

Unfortunately with a young family I have to keep costs as low as reasonably possible, hence the specific train. Also I'd much rather spend my money on the Bluebell than Southern (finally bit the bullet and got us a family membership).

 

There are no guarantees. Normally though our time keeping is pretty good, and if things do run late, up trains (towards East Grinstead) are generally prioritised because of the desire to make connections. I’d have thought 40 minutes ought to be ample, even allowing ten minutes walk from platform to platform.

Tom

 

I’d be more worried about Southern actually performing as advertised. I’ve travelled to the Bluebell by train a few times in the past twelve months and never missed a connection at EG. Also while the booking engine will ask you to select a specific train, if you’re travelling outside the morning peak, the ticket will be valid in any off peak service.

 

Thanks Tom. Sorry I somehow missed you giving the same information earlier this week- I claim a senior moment!

Is the evening GA tomorrow at 19.00 from the Park please? I may go across in the afternoon and wait for that.

Re the PTI page. A few (or more) years back I might have volunteered to help there. But my ability for updating even my own very basic websites is extremely limited, and just looking at the PTI page source has me rushing off to get therapy.

And my current workload on progressing my SR 1960s steam loco memoirs books provides a constant reminder that I am making 'good' progress through the Battle of Britain Squadrons. That is how a group of us Bulleid fanatics refer to our ages.

But thanks again as always for your much appreciated help in filling the gaps for myself and others here on Nat Pres.

Bryan

 

I seem to remember reading somewhere the PTI is maintained by someone called Anthony Hayllar, but I can’t say I have ever met him or indeed heard any mention of him around the railway. Perhaps someone else might be able to shed some more light on it.

The public loco roster is usually much more accurate than the PTI, although currently doesn’t go any further than tomorrow (31/5). Maybe someone is trying to find a picture for the Crompton running from next week .

If you use the events calendar on the website, you can find the dates and departure times of all the dining trains by going onto the page for that service and clicking on “book online”.

 

Trying a few dates on the Southern site I can not even get the system to offer me an advanced ticket for that routing.

Picking July 24 as a random day with 2 adults and one child plus a friends and family railcard gives a fare of £25 with 09:57 being the first usable train. If you go at the weekend any train is usable of course on an off peak ticket.

 

Thanks for that but . . . . . a Crompton

Re the Golden Arrow evening times, yes I do check the 'book online' page, but tomorrow's GA has gone from that now. I assume it will be 19.00 as the next two are, then they go to 18.15 presumably as night starts to close in earlier.

Bryan

 

Looking at BRFares.com, I can't see an advanced ticket between London and East Grinstead, and nor would I expect one for a ~30 mile journey. If that's right, then so long as you don't have a connection you MUST make, I don't see an issue from a fares point of view if the connection weren't to work.

 

I don't remember there ever being advanced ticket fares from my local station. I remember coming back from York on an advanced ticket, and It was only cheaper than an on the day ticket to Kings Cross . The fare from Kings Cross to EG including tube was the same.
The On Board Supervisors regularly check tickets and I do not remember anyone having an issue with being on a certain train. Ditto revenue protection.
There have been times when people do not have the rail card that has been used to purchase the ticket(s) and have had to pay the difference.

 

Make sure that you have the Railcard with you, that is likely to be the only issue, rather than a specific train. People have had to pay the difference been full and discounted fare on the past without it.

 

Evening arrow departures are 19:00 and 21:30 from Sheffield Park.

Timings are based on customer demand; we wouldn’t move a train just to make use of daylight if the customer demand preferred a later time. In any case, even in mid summer the train finishes in the dark, so we have to be able to drive / fire at night. (Not that I particularly enjoy doing so myself, but some do).

Tom

 

These days they are very lucky then, from reading the disputes thread on Rail Forums UK most cases it seems will get sent to the prosecutions team and individuals are likely to have their online purchase history "data mined", especially if they use Trainline as the purchase medium to see if there are other possible occurrences.

 

Out of interest was this ‘special’ as attached to the service trains or ran additional to the service trains? What days did this happen and what times? I’ve been out of internet connection and not been able to check the rail cam or Public train Info section of website this week (well until today!)

 

As far as I can see, it was attached to the back (south end) of the A set at Horsted Keynes on the first up journey on Wednesday and detached on the last up trip, also at HK.

Tom