Bluebell Railway- Diesel Gala- 6th-8th September 2024

D8188 announced as first guest

https://www.bluebell-railway.com/diesel-gala-weekend/

 

14 No. D9551 announced as guest 2

 

Guest no. 3 is 33111 from Swanage.

 

D6851 "Flopsie" announced as the 4th guest

 

From the Bluebell social media:

4-VEP 3417 'Gordon Pettitt' To Star At The Bluebell Railway Diesel Gala 2024!

We are delighted to announce that this very special piece of Southern Region traction will be making its way to our Diesel Gala for the 6th to 8th of September.

This will be the first time that 3417 will be working over the whole of The Bluebell Railway, with the intention of working in 'Push Pull' mode with fellow visitor, Class 33 No 33111. It will also mark the first gala appearance of 3417 in 11 years!

We must thank our friends at the SETG for all of their hard work and for making this all possible.

Book now for advance tickets now at https://www.bluebell-railway.com/diesel-gala-weekend/
​

Tom

 

Timetable available now - https://www.bluebell-railway.com/wp-con ... E-2024.pdf
Please note: E6040 ‘The Bluebell Railway’ is not currently not listed on service trains within the timetable posted but will still be taking part in the gala weekend. Details TBC.

 

Just wondering does Flopsie have vac brakes or just air? If it is air only does Bluebell have an air set or is the 73 or something else going to be acting as a translator loco?

 

No idea who or what "Flopsie" is, but the railway has no operational air-braked carriages.

Tom

 

Flopsie is the 37 D6851

 

Dual braked per its driver for the second half of the weekend .

 

Cheers

 

...and this looks like the ECS working to bring it down from Strawberry Hill next Thursday afternoon

 

Carriage sets:

South --> North

Set A: 21246-4941-1818-25728-16210-4754 (Mark 1s)
Set B: 3064 - 35207 - 34556 - 3069 - 16012 - 4957 (Mark 1s)
Set C: 7598 - 114 - 3360 - 3188 - 1098 (vintage)
VEP - 4-VEP unit 3417

Wheelchair access available on Set A and Set C

Tom

 

There is a live stream of the movement of 3417 on YouTube:

 

4VEP at Dormans and Sharpthorne:

 

From the goods division:

"If you get up early tomorrow you will be able to see the 8:05 goods train from Sheffield Park to East Grinstead. It will return to Horsted then the brake van and the Class 14 D9551 and 09 D4106 will be offering brake van rides within station limits. Brake van rides will also be offered over the weekend.

On Sunday there will be a rare opportunity to see a mixed train when the Goods set is coupled to Set C (Wheelers, 100 seater and Brighton 1st) for a trip from Sheffield Park to Horsted at 10:10.

We will have an update on the SECR 2 Plank on Sunday and you will be able to see our current project on the C&W tours over the weekend. Until then a photo from last night when Matt and Laurie fitted Tarps to 3 wagons in preparation for the Diesel gala."

Also on rolling stock: the diesel gala will be the first opportunity to ride Mk 1 Second Open No. 4754, which has just been outcropped to join our heritage mark 1 carriages. (On Set A). This is the ex Bicester Military Railway carriage, which was acquired due to having considerable originality on account of its early withdrawal from BR service.

Tom

 

Action from the lineside today in less than ideal weather conditions:

 

I'm going on Sunday. Let's hope for better weather. Did 4-VEP's have orange curtains in all the windows? When I rode on these on BML in 1980's I can only ever remember orange curtains in the first class compartments.

 

cycled through Freshfield in time to see the VEP leading this evening, a fantastic view and a real "what if?"

Very nice touch with the 66 headcode on the VEP and the 77 on the 33!

 

Did the gala prove a success?
I looked at the webcams only a couple of times but it looked quiet (of course weather was rubbish as well) and the YouTube videos only show people leaning out of the first couple of coaches.
Did it suffer from the NVR event which from comments on here was oversubscribed?