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.

Flying Scotsman at the Bluebell Railway: 13 - 19 April 2017

Discussion in 'Galas and Events' started by Jamessquared, Nov 23, 2016.

  1. Dan Hill

    Dan Hill Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2008
    Messages:
    2,576
    Likes Received:
    545
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Brick Machine Operator
    Location:
    Haywards Heath
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I was doing mine at work. I did have a ticket but the website crashed before I got to pay then I lost my booking window. Then tried again was over 1000 in the queue then lost phone signal before finally jumping through the queue (quite quickly to be honest) and getting a seat on the train I tried to book for first time round albeit a few coaches back (the original ticket was the the first carriage).
     
  2. Johnb

    Johnb Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2014
    Messages:
    14,318
    Likes Received:
    16,397
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired, best job I've ever had
    Location:
    Buckinghamshire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    The answer to your last point is, get up earlier
     
  3. green five

    green five Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2006
    Messages:
    6,596
    Likes Received:
    2,242
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hampshire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I couldn't book up our tickets until I got home from work as we are not allowed to use work computers for purchasing items off the Web.
    I only wanted to see how they were selling and couldn't believe how busy it was. I did actually swear out loud when I saw my position in the queue. It looks like Scotsman fever still hasn't cooled off yet.

    Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk
     
  4. green five

    green five Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2006
    Messages:
    6,596
    Likes Received:
    2,242
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hampshire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Fair point John!
    People booked on the first train will indeed have to get up very early.

    My Dad and I will be leaving jolly old Aldershot early to get to EG for around 9.48 so we are well in time for the connecting service for our trip on the 12.45 FS service.

    Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk
     
  5. 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
    I've only seen the timetable for Thursday, though I understand the other days are all basically the same for the core service, and vary only in whether there is a Breakfast Pullman or an evening Pullman.

    On the timetable I have seen, there is a train from East Grinstead leaving 09:00 that arrives at Sheffield Park at 09:45, which would connect with the 10:00am Flying Scotsman departure; at the other end of the day, the 15:30 Flying Scotsman service is back at 17:15, with a 17:30 departure for anyone wishing to get back to East Grinstead. My understanding is that those services have deliberately been put in as a feeder for the FS trains. I think the "arrive 60 minutes before" is probably if you are intending to drive to Sheffield Park so as to allow contingency; if you are coming by train, it's a bit more certain that if you get on the right train at EG, you will definitely arrive at SP in time. What I am not sure about is the nature of access control once you arrive; however, it is a racing certainty that there will be numerous people on the first down train of the day aiming to get the first FS service, so there must be a plan in place.

    Tom
     
    green five likes this.
  6. green five

    green five Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2006
    Messages:
    6,596
    Likes Received:
    2,242
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hampshire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Thanks Tom for your reply. It is much appreciated.
    Hopefully we will be sent the timetable and more details about connections later on.

    Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk
     
  7. Dan Hill

    Dan Hill Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2008
    Messages:
    2,576
    Likes Received:
    545
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Brick Machine Operator
    Location:
    Haywards Heath
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    When I was telling my Dad about being 1000 and something he wondered if the numbers were for the website itself rather than the specific bit for buying the Scotsman tickets (the Bluebell did say there were problems with the Ticketsource website which were sorted by early afternoon). Either that or people didn't fancy waiting around and gave up, given that there are still tickets available. I managed to get mine after 12:30 which isn't bad given I started trying just after 11 and had a half hour gap between trying where I lost my phone signal.
     
  8. 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
    After the initial glitch, it appears that the booking website is all working fine now. When I checked just now, there were still tickets on all services, though according to the website, a couple of trains were down to single figures of tickets remaining.

    Tom
     
  9. Dan Hill

    Dan Hill Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2008
    Messages:
    2,576
    Likes Received:
    545
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Brick Machine Operator
    Location:
    Haywards Heath
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Looks like it's going to be a memorable week and the Bluebell look to do well.

    I wonder what the numbers will be for linesiders given the Bluebell is a bit more rural with only a few country roads, mostly between Sheffield Park and Horsted. I work on Freshfield Lane, which is just a few hundred yards away from both Sloop Bridge and Monteswood Lane Bridge, which could be two potential viewing locations.
     
  10. Spamcan81

    Spamcan81 Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Aug 25, 2007
    Messages:
    35,121
    Likes Received:
    20,773
    Occupation:
    Training moles
    Location:
    The back of beyond
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Ticket page seems to have collapsed under the strain as it's currently down.
     
  11. 73082

    73082 Member

    Joined:
    Sep 11, 2015
    Messages:
    267
    Likes Received:
    377
    Just tried opening it, appears to be working fine now.
     
  12. A1X

    A1X Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2011
    Messages:
    1,158
    Likes Received:
    1,158
    Occupation:
    Insurance
    Location:
    Good Old Sussex by the Sea
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Stick Camelot out with a disc saying "60103" on it like they did with the B12 then.
     
  13. A1X

    A1X Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2011
    Messages:
    1,158
    Likes Received:
    1,158
    Occupation:
    Insurance
    Location:
    Good Old Sussex by the Sea
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Logic would dictate that the Scotsman trains leave from Platform 2 and access over there is strictly for people with the right tickets, but that's just one solution.
     
    green five likes this.
  14. Southern1556

    Southern1556 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 24, 2016
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    2
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Land of Inflated House Prices
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I tried to get tickets at 11AM yesterday ..... :eek: ... at one point I was 1058th in the queue! I decided to speed up the wait and refresh my browser every minute or so ..... worked a treat! I completed my booking at about 12:40.

    I'm really looking forward to this!
     
  15. Dan Hamblin

    Dan Hamblin Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2006
    Messages:
    2,544
    Likes Received:
    181
    Occupation:
    Rolling Stock Engineer
    Location:
    Kent
    My paper tickets arrived today from the ticketing company - that's very good service!

    Hopefully the railway will have an excellent Easter period to help with the track renewal funds.

    Regards,

    Dan
     
    Jamessquared likes this.
  16. Dan Hill

    Dan Hill Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2008
    Messages:
    2,576
    Likes Received:
    545
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Brick Machine Operator
    Location:
    Haywards Heath
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    My ticket arrived today as well. Really looking forward to it.
     
    Jamessquared likes this.
  17. 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
    There's a shunt move on account of the length of Flying Scotsman's trains that mean those trains will indeed all go from platform 2 at Sheffield Park. (The breakfast / dining trains will probably go from platform 1 as that makes life esimpler for the catering staff).

    It's going to be quite an event: Flying Scotsman; Camelot and the S15 on service trains; the C and the H as station pilots at Sheffield Park; the Q at Horsted Keynes as a "spare in steam".

    Tom
     
  18. A1X

    A1X Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2011
    Messages:
    1,158
    Likes Received:
    1,158
    Occupation:
    Insurance
    Location:
    Good Old Sussex by the Sea
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Someone ought to hook a brake van on it and make a few more quid...
     
  19. 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
    Checking the ticket website - if anyone wishes to travel behind Flying Scotsman but hasn't yet bought tickets, it would be worth doing so fairly quickly: it looks like the first day (Thursday) is sold out; there are very limited numbers of tickets (pretty much single figures) on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Only the last day has significant numbers left, and even then they are going fast. Of the 21 regular Flying Scotsman trains during the week, six look to be sold out and twelve more have only single figures of tickets left.

    Tickets for the non-FS service trains are "coming soon" via the same website. Those trains are unreserved, i.e. a ticket can be used on any non-FS train during the day. Flying Scotsman tickets can also be used on the non-FS trains on the same day.

    https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/bluebell-railway and http://www.bluebell-railway.com/event/flying-scotsman/

    Tom
     
  20. 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
    From the Bluebell e-Newsletter:

    Update on the Visit of "Flying Scotsman"

    Work continues apace for the delivery and event management team covering the seven-day visit of "Flying Scotsman" to the Bluebell Railway in April 2017, during the Easter Holidays.

    Early release of tickets for the Pullman breakfast and dining trains were snapped up very quickly and all are now sold out. In addition to these dining services, "Flying Scotsman" will--as part of the three service trains it will operate on each of the seven days between 13 and 19 April--haul a rake of seven coaches, plus the Great Northern Directors Saloon (tickets for the saloon are being offered to the corporate sector).

    An extensive service will be on offer, although final details of the operating timetable are still to be released.

    Online sale of tickets for services hauled by No. 60103 started on 13 Feb., with nearly two-thirds of the more than 8,000 seats available sold on the first day. As of this weekend fewer than 100 tickets remain at ticketsource.co.uk/bluebell-railway.

    Tickets for the other service trains operating over these seven April days, hauled by the Railway's own motive power, will go on sale via the same online provider on 27 Feb. This event will be an excellent opportunity for the Railway to showcase itself to a wider audience.

    Flying Scotsman will, of course, be arriving at the Railway via the connection with the main rail network at East Grinstead. In this regard, some consternation has been expressed outside the Bluebell Railway about pathing and gauging issues. However, Roger Garman, the Railway's Communication Director, confirms that a Network Rail source says:

    "Flying Scotsman is a railway icon, and we know many people are looking forward to seeing it on the historic Bluebell Railway. We're carrying out work at a number of stations to make sure the route is clear for 'Flying Scotsman'--which is taller and wider than today's passenger trains--most recently at Dormans station, where a team of 40 worked over the course of a weekend to alter the platform. Work also needs to be carried out at Oxted and Lingfield, and once this is done, we'll be ready for Flying Scotsman to make its journey."

    Much more information about visiting the Railway for this exciting event can be found at this webpage.
     
    green five and mike1522 like this.

Share This Page