Bluebell Railway General Discussion

It'll be great to see it visit, though won't Calbourne's lack of vacuum brakes limit it somewhat? More to the point does the Bluebell Railway even have air brake stock?

 

It was mentioned on the Bluebell Yahoo group that a loco with the same name as an item of plant on the railway would be a visitor for GOS, so no surprise.

 

It would have to operate with the E4 as mentioned before.

 

Ah I see, fair enough then. Pity it doesn't have vacuum brakes, perhaps at some point somebody could start an appeal to raise money to pay for the brakes to be reinstalled on Calbourne.
Not sure how much interest there'd be for not the most glamorous of projects, but you never know...

 

Is there a timetable for the Vintage Weekend around anywhere? Struggling to find it on either Bluebell site but probably being daft.

Am in that part of the world with a free day so was thinking of some kind of 'pick 2-3 from...' RHDR/KESR/Spa Valley/Lavender/Bluebell combo and wanted to see what would be viable.

 

Edit mark 2: see post below.

Apparently, as well as the evening tour of the back sidings at HK, there will be C&W workshop tours during the day. The vintage vehicles will be on display in the field at HK.

Tom

 

Thanks Tom, much appreciated. Reckon I'll definitely factor some Bluebell into the day.

 

@ Journalist: OK, edit mark 2: It is a full-line three train service after all. Normal service two plus an extra train in one of the spare paths.

Note as well that the same timetable is being used on Sunday, i.e. there is the extra 5.15 up / 6.15 down on Sunday that normally only runs on Saturday.

See http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pic2/wn/2015c/vtw_timetable15.gif

Tom

 

Even better! Thanks Tom, the amount of info about their lines that people such as your good self provide on here can make such a difference to whether I squeeze a preserved railway trip in between jobs when around and about.

 

RHDR will be a tough one at the moment what with Operation Stack shutting the M20!

 

Unless the 4 Vep is used as air braked stock...

 

Hoping that back-road knowledge from three generations of my family living on the Romney Marsh will help a bit! But yes if that corner of the world is particularly troublesome over the weekend then I might not get quite that far east and it might be more Bluebell/Spa Valley themed. Would be a shame to miss L92 up Tenterden bank though so hopefully I can get to the KESR at least.

Back on a Bluebell topic, will Baxter be pilot at Sheffield Park or Horsted Keynes? Wondered if it might be HK as that's where the vintage event is centred.

 

I haven't seen the traffic notice this week yet, but normally the pilot duty is concentrated at Sheffield Park. I haven't seen any mention of anything at HK (e.g. brake van rides etc) and with a three train service, it would be a bit hard to fit them in in any case.

As always, I'll try and update if I find out more though unlikely to be before tomorrow evening now.

Tom

 

When at Sheffield Park what are the duties of the pilot? Hoping to see Bluebell do it on 16th.

 

Quick update about this weekend:

Carriage sets are as follows:

Set A (9.45 / 12.15 / 14.45 / 17.15 ex-SP) - Mark 1s
Set C (10.15 / 12.50 / 3.20 ex-SP) - 3 Maunsells + LNWR Obo
Set B (11.00 / 1.30 / 4.00 ex-SP) - LSWR brake 3rd, Brighton bogie first, SECR 100 seater, SECR birdcage brake, SECR wheelchair-accessible open third saloon

Timetable here: http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pic2/wn/2015c/vtw_timetable15.gif

The pilot spends it's time at Sheffield Park.

Tom

 

It varies - there is normally a fixed element and an element of "work as required".

For a normal Sunday (as on 16th August) when there has been a Saturday evening Golden Arrow and there will be a Sunday lunchtime Golden Arrow, the typical duty would be:

- Off shed once the 9.45am "A" service has departed.
- Take water, then into the carriage shed and pull Set B into the pump house siding.
- Wait for the B engine to come off shed, which will attach at the north end and draw the set into the platform ready for the 11am departure.
- Wait for the "A" arrival back (at 11.32am). A engine runs into Newick siding; pilot couples to stock and draws it into the pump house, thus releasing the A engine to run back into the station, take water, come back and collect its stock. All of that is necessary because the Golden Arrow stock has been blocking platform 1 where it has been left overnight.

After that, it is work as required, often until the Golden Arrow comes back at 4pm, where normally the pilot will put the stock away in the carriage shed and then go on shed to dispose. Sometimes "work as required" just means go into the station when there is nothing about to pose; sometimes it involves shunting the loco yard / loco works. It's that variety that makes the turn interesting.

It used to be the case that the pilot would do a half-trip to Horsted and back with the second Golden Arrow trip on account of a short run-round time at HK, but when Baxter is the pilot, normally that doesn't happen.

On a Saturday, there tends to be less to do in the morning but more in the afternoon / early evening as there is a bit of shunting to get the A and B sets tucked away and the stock out for the evening Golden Arrow, while the "B" engine is on shed prepping for the Arrow and the "A" engine goes straight on shed to dispose. However, frequently if there has been a Saturday afternoon Wealden Rambler, that engine will do the evening Pilot duty rather than a dedicated engine.

Tom

 

Was at the railway yesterday and thought I'd share a few photos of the day

https://railwaygalleries.smugmug.com/Bluebellphotosets/Vintage-Transport-Weekend-2015/

 

Thanks looking forward to visiting again! One last question... as it's Bluebell on Pilot does that mean she'll get the half-trip to Horsted?

 

what was this all about

 

Don't know for certain until the weekly traffic notice is published, though I think that it is probably a fair assumption that it won't do the half trip.

Tom