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Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Jamessquared, Feb 16, 2013.

  1. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    Just a reminder that Service 2 (two train service) will be running every day now until Sunday 3rd January. Planned locos / stock are Camelot and a six coach corridor set on set A, and 263 / Mets / 4 wheelers on set B.

    This will be the last chance to take a train until early February, as we will be having an engineering shut down for the remainder of January. When the new season-proper starts, the significant difference on the main service 2 timetable (the weekend / school holiday two train service) is that the vintage and non-vintage sets will swap. So set A (the first train from SP) will become the vintage set, and set B (the second train) the non-vintage set. This is designed to better match capacity and loadings at East Grinstead, particularly on the 12 noon down service from East Grinstead.

    Tom
     
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2015
  2. Ploughman

    Ploughman Part of the furniture

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    What are the planned engineering works?
     
  3. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    I believe part of it is the commissioning of the Westinghouse L frame and associated signalling at Kingscote, and the decommissioning of the current Kingscote (South) 'box. I'm not sure if there are other things planned.

    Tom
     
  4. jonpbowers

    jonpbowers New Member

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    Mainly S&T work - the main job is the culmination of months of prep work with the final commissioning the north signalbox at Kingscote. Nothing major planned PW wise (sadly we don't have enough money available to undertake NYMR style relays!).

    [Edit - Tom beat me to it!]

    Cheers,
    Jon
     
  5. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    Thanks Jon - good to see it confirmed! Token exchanges at Kingscote (North) will definitely be an improvement from a loco point of view.

    Tom
     
  6. Ploughman

    Ploughman Part of the furniture

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    Thanks for that.
    Yes we are just gearing up for a 3/4 mile initial relay after the 4th Jan
    Already had 2 rerail sites completed. about 50 lengths each.
    Got to work off that turkey somehow.
     
  7. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    As a matter of interest, how much manpower will be involved in the 3/4 mile relay, on average?
     
  8. Ploughman

    Ploughman Part of the furniture

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    Normal manning will be about 6 - 8 per day
    That includes the PW permanent staff and regular volunteers.
    The volunteers will be putting in what days they can manage.
    Last winter I was doing 2 - 3 days per week fitting in work as and when.

    Tom , sorry to hijack your thread.​
     
  9. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    Don't worry, the odd diversion to see how the other half live isn't a bad thing! As Jon alludes to, a lot of the Infrastructure team effort recently has gone into the commissioning of Kingscote (North), and in addition the preparatory works for the construction of the new HK carriage shed. Hopefully, there will be reports on both projects in the Bluebell e-Newsletter and elsewhere, as otherwise such projects can often go a bit under the radar, not necessarily taking place in the full glare of the usual photographers.

    There are some photos here showing the current state of Kingscote signal box, but without any captions, starting about half way down this page: http://www.derekhayward.co.uk/BluebellRailway-1/Photographic-Tours/Kingscote-Station/i-8wF4mzZ

    There's a bit more info about the provenance of the frame, and some photos, here: http://www.wbsframe.mste.co.uk/public/Kingscote.html

    The eagle-eyed will note that the first twenty levers have no labels; these I believe have been reserved for future use in providing signalling at East Grinstead, but that is a future project and not part of this current scheme. Interesting (to me at least as a non-signalman) that the frame is arranged facing away from the window.

    Tom
     
  10. Wenlock

    Wenlock Well-Known Member Friend

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    I work two boxes on KESR, one has the frame at the back so that it doesn't restrict your view of passing trains, the other is at the front so that you can pull levers whilst watching trains. I'm happy with either.
     
  11. pmh_74

    pmh_74 Well-Known Member

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    Hotchley Hill on the GCRN has its frame to the back (although you can't tell from passing as the frame was smashed off below floor level when it closed under BR). This is because it replaced an earlier box on the other side of the line, and this avoided renumbering everything...


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  12. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    When the line reopens in February after the January shut down, the timetable has undergone a few tweaks this year, as shown:

    http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pic2/wn/2016a/2016_tt_johns_h.jpg

    The main change on service 2 (weekends / midweek peak) is that the old 9.45am up / 10.40am down is retimed to run at 10.00am up / 10.55am down. This gives a connection with the first off-peak mainline service from London while still giving the same 11.32am arrival time at Sheffield Park for visitors who wish to make a day of it visiting the Gardens. The first up service is also scheduled to stop at Kingscote; I never understood why it didn't previously. Less fun to fire on the new timings but more passenger amenity I guess! Token exchanges at Kingscote will now all be at the North box, which should be fully commissioned.

    There's a very minor consequential change in timing of the next up service, the 11.00am ex-SP, in order to allow the down train to get away smartly; in effect the normal HK sequence of down arrival / up arrival / up departure / down departure is swapped round. I assume HK signalmen are already undergoing a fitness training regime to cope with the extra walking that will be involved...

    The final very significant change is that the corridor set will now be set B (11.00 / 13.30 / 16.00 ex-SP) and the vintage set will be set A (10.00 / 12.15 / 14.45 / 17.15SO ex-SP); this is the opposite way round to previously.

    Tom
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2016
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  13. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    Dates for the Bluebell "find out more" days for prospective volunteers have now been published - second Sunday of every Month from February 14th to November 13th, starting at 10.30am at Sheffield park.

    More details and contact details here:

    http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/vol/vbbb01.htm

    Tom
     
  14. Paul.Uni

    Paul.Uni Well-Known Member

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    According to the Railway Magazine Calbourne's visit has been postponed to 2017.
     
  15. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    From the Bluebell e-Newsletter:

    NEW FOR 2016: SEASON TICKETS!

    In 2016, the Railway is offering two new season tickets ...

    Off-Peak Season Tickets

    This season ticket allows unlimited third-class travel on all Service One and Service Two timetable days (not including special events or special services--see webpage for details). An adult ticket costs £50; a child ticket costs £25. Available for purchase until 28 March, 2016. Tickets valid until 27 Nov., 2016.

    Rail Gala Season Ticket

    This is a special season ticket for the rail enthusiast. It allows unlimited third-class travel on these three special events: Branch Line Weekend (18-20 March); Diesel Gala (15-17 April); and Giants of Steam (28-30 Oct.) Enjoy unlimited travel when visiting locos perform alongside the Railway's own fleet. An adult ticket costs £120; a child ticket costs £60. Available for purchase until 13 March, 2016.

    To buy either Season Ticket, drop into the Sales & Information Office at Sheffield Park or the Travel Centre in East Grinstead or phone 01825 720800.

    Wish to Travel First Class? Simply pay the difference between First and Third Class travel for the day of your choice in advance or on the day.

    Learn more here.
     
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  16. Kje7812

    Kje7812 Part of the furniture

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    A nice idea, hopefully it'll be successful.
    Just checking, the 'Off-Peak Season Tickets' refers to non-special events rather than times of the year?
     
  17. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    Yes, it just means anytime on any normal Service 1 / Service 2 day. We haven't got round to charging more for the 10.00am departure yet :) So basically any weekend from when we re-open at the beginning of February until the end of November (after that is Santa Specials), and any day during the daily season, with the exception of special events, Autumn Tints etc.

    Will be interesting to see how it goes - I don't think we have offered anything similar before, certainly not in recent times.

    A couple of other things jumped out as interesting in the newsletter. One was that we carried just 125 people fewer on our 2015 Santa season relative to 2014, but did it with six fewer trains, so higher occupancy and a lower cost base. That included an additional Victorian Special due to demand, and adding the Obo to each of Edwardian / Reindeer specials, giving another 400 ticket sales on those trains. (Generally the Victorian and Edwardian Christmas trains are sold on a per compartment basis, but adding the Obo allowed for groups smaller than the normal 6 / 8). I fired one of the Edwardian trains, and it was a surprisingly interesting day, a bit out of the ordinary.

    The other point of interest is that the Bluebell, KESR and IoWSR have agreed to sell each other's members' magazines in each other's shops. I don't suppose it will be the financial making of any, but it is nice to see the co-operation.

    Tom
     
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  18. paulhitch

    paulhitch Guest

    Good news! The IoWSR has also started to make previous issues of its magazine available on the website, i.e. the current one is always "print only". The electronic and written word complement one another rather than compete as articles in both media have received valuable responses.

    Paul H
     
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  19. A1X

    A1X Well-Known Member

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    Good to see indeed. Would be nice to see it as a chance to group together some of the other local societies in over time (RHDR, MHR, Swanage etc.) to create a solid group of the southern lines. I'm sure there must be ideas and wisdom which can be exchanged between one another.
     
  20. 21B

    21B Part of the furniture

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    There is a tremendous amount of cooperation between the southern railways already. There is barely a week that goes by without a component or a tool, or a drawing or a bit of technical help doesn't pass one way or other between Ropley and Sheffield Park for example. I don't think a Great Little Trains of Wales type grouping would add over much really, if that were the suggestion.
     
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