If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

Bluebell Railway Giants Of Steam: 14th - 16th October 2022

Discussion in 'Galas and Events' started by WesternRegionHampshireman, Aug 13, 2022.

  1. WesternRegionHampshireman

    WesternRegionHampshireman Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2021
    Messages:
    1,079
    Likes Received:
    198
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hampshire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Glad to see 6989 made it. :)
     
  2. alts1985

    alts1985 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2007
    Messages:
    1,822
    Likes Received:
    590
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Store Manager for the Co-operative Group
    Location:
    Stevenage
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Really superb weekend, we travelled Saturday to get around all the stations then spent time Sunday at West Hoathly then Horsted Keynes. Thought the timetable was excellent with all the loco swaps and non-stop trains, with the locos swapping diagrams Saturday into Sunday as well it meant everything was different across the weekend which was nice. Huge thanks to everyone involved as always, video from across the weekend, photos to follow...

     
  3. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2008
    Messages:
    26,103
    Likes Received:
    57,433
    Location:
    LBSC 215
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    16 minutes of film and you caught me for about 3 seconds right at the end :)

    Three different engines over three days; the two highlights from my point of view were the 5:05 on Saturday on 76017; and the 3:30 on Sunday on the the Hall, with Cosmo Bonsor (late of this parish) on the other side. The little standard because it was an absolutely cracking run with six on, and about an hour and a half of non-stop stuff. (We came off the front of one of the Standard 5s at Horsted Keynes on the down; shunted across to the down yard for water and then back to the Ardingly; then on the front of 80151 for the trip down to the Park. Unhook at the outer home, straight onto the waiting stock, watch 80151 draw the train in, pick up the token and go - then a quick run round at East Grinstead (uncouple, ground frame, couple) and straight back before a breather at Kingscote. Pretty well full on from hooking off at Horsted to take water until we got back to Kingscote - and all on an unfamiliar engine.

    The trip on the Hall - just because I get on well with the driver, and a trip with just driver and fireman is always a pleasure; you do your own thing trusting the other guy and it is as close as you'll get to how it must have been.

    I'm grateful to all the various owners for letting us have the opportunity to use their respective machines; you must never forget what a privilege that is, nor the levels of trust they must have that a crew can get on a possibly unfamiliar loco and work it safely and efficiently.

    Thanks too for all the comments above; it feels like it was successful. I'm not aware of any significant issues and pretty much everything ran to time, or very close, as far as I can tell. Co-incidentally, my trip on Saturday morning in the Met / Birdcage brake was with the person who writes our timetables, ex of South West Trains, and I got a fascinating insight in not only how you diagram such an event, but how you diagram the daily service from Waterloo - where you start and how things fall into place. The timetable is quite clever in looking intense but having critical recovery built in.

    A few photos:

    Loco prep, Friday morning

    IMG_9849.jpeg

    On Camelot, waiting for the Baby Standard at Kingscote

    tempImageUyG5BA.png

    A poke around Atlantic House on Friday afternoon

    IMG_9858.jpeg

    Evening shunting, 75027 bought out for display

    IMG_9861.jpeg

    The evening photo charter - the gallery. Expect some cracking images from this shoot, which I watched (but didn't;t partake of!) from teh sidelines

    IMG_9864.jpeg

    Saturday morning prep

    IMG_9867.jpeg

    Sunday morning commute to sign on - tea cakes and coffee to wake up on the GN saloon

    IMG_9888.jpeg

    Putting the 75 away on Sunday afternoon

    IMG_9890.jpeg
     
  4. David likes trains

    David likes trains Member

    Joined:
    May 31, 2014
    Messages:
    804
    Likes Received:
    3,317
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Colchester
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Well as you mention it, would be rude not to share some I took. The mist was coming in by the time we were finished with the scene out in the yard. Note: I have digitally removed the modern fire exit signs attached to the shed roof.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  5. David likes trains

    David likes trains Member

    Joined:
    May 31, 2014
    Messages:
    804
    Likes Received:
    3,317
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Colchester
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Some more photos taken from the lineside on Saturday:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    A1X, Mick45305, Johnme101 and 7 others like this.
  6. Matt37401

    Matt37401 Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2014
    Messages:
    15,330
    Likes Received:
    11,667
    Occupation:
    Nosy aren’t you?
    Location:
    Nowhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Really like the slightly murky one of the Standard Tank, put a monochrome filter on it and you’d be hard pushed to date it. Thanks for sharing David if you don’t mind I’ve just done a quick edit on my iPhone if you’d like to see it?
     
    green five likes this.
  7. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2018
    Messages:
    2,696
    Likes Received:
    5,502
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Leicestershire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    What an excellent collection of images from the various posters. The event was an obvious success and may well alter the old, longstanding perception, that the Bluebell is the home of 0-6-0's pottering about....
     
  8. Jdwitts

    Jdwitts New Member

    Joined:
    May 16, 2008
    Messages:
    89
    Likes Received:
    134
    I don't think the Bluebell has that image at all! And while it's lovely to see the 'Giants' in action, one thing I always enjoy about Bluebell is that on most running days you're usually guaranteed something pre-grouping (maybe even an 0-6-0) running alongside something larger and more modern.

    In any case, glad to see the Gala was a great success and I hope that's reflected in the takings. The line seems to have had a bit of a bad run of luck with events the last year-or-so.
     
    35B likes this.
  9. 6026 King John

    6026 King John Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2006
    Messages:
    1,491
    Likes Received:
    735
    Location:
    Hampton Court, Surrey
    Totally agree - it's the variety in both locomotives and rolling stock that make the Bluebell so attractive. The main issue at the moment as far as I can see is that they don't have as many serviceable locos as they used to have, particularly the pre-grouping ones. At the moment there is only 65 with Fenchurch due to return soon. They used to be able to put on a small engines gala at the start of the year but I'm not sure that will be possible with the current fleet.
     
    35B and Jdwitts like this.
  10. nhumble37

    nhumble37 New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2011
    Messages:
    109
    Likes Received:
    2
    CRACKING night shots!! -- I missed out on the Night Shoot, was it a private do as I cant
    remember seeing it advertised???
    TIA N
     
  11. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2008
    Messages:
    26,103
    Likes Received:
    57,433
    Location:
    LBSC 215
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    It was a Jon Bowers charter - so would have been organised through him.

    Tom
     
  12. David likes trains

    David likes trains Member

    Joined:
    May 31, 2014
    Messages:
    804
    Likes Received:
    3,317
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Colchester
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Sure, please do share. Yes it was actually raining quite heavily at the time, a shower interrupting what had been a pleasant morning.
     
  13. alts1985

    alts1985 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2007
    Messages:
    1,822
    Likes Received:
    590
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Store Manager for the Co-operative Group
    Location:
    Stevenage
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
  14. Matt37401

    Matt37401 Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2014
    Messages:
    15,330
    Likes Received:
    11,667
    Occupation:
    Nosy aren’t you?
    Location:
    Nowhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    7EA943B2-91F9-44BD-8D3B-834A40FF1800.jpeg Nothing spectacular as I’ve said but what’s to date this from the 1960’s? Only thing I can think of is maybe the loco and stock are far too clean! :)
     
    Johnme101 and David likes trains like this.

Share This Page