Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Um......

We are going to Dungeness for our holidays at the end of August

Hopefully returning via The Bluebell

Looking at Trip Advisor with all the usual caveats the Bessemer Arms gets a rather disappointing review

Have things improved recently?

 

Yes a great read as always Tom, many thanks for your work on it.

I must comment on the opening photo where the photographer has seemingly (to me at least) taken the Beachy Head on the Maunsells photo to partly hide the extra vehicle on the rear!

And then your comment about the Bluebell being able to plausibly recreate certain eras, with for me, that of the post-war coming top (1960s especially). Which you end with mention of the Maunsell set. Is that code for the appearance of 80151 on just the Maunsell set with no extra vehicle on the rear? Very plausible as my photo of 80145 on a Victoria to Tunbridge Wells West train via Oxted and East Grinstead High Level shows.

But I will be patient after your comment on that train formation possibly (usual caveats of course) appearing at a Bluebell Branch line event.

And, along with your very helpful info on the various Bluebell weekend rosters, I will keep alert to any earlier running of that combination.

I'll finish by again thanking you for yet another excellent edition of The Bluebell Times.

Bryan

 

I don’t feel the reviews give the full picture. Railway food in the catering outlets is never going to be five star amazing quality, and I have never had any major problems with the food there. The staff are all friendly and happy to help if you need it. I think one of the main issues is the interior. It just feels so dark and dingy inside, with a weird pub-restaurant vibe and could really do with being fully refurbished. It’s not like it’s somewhere you would make a special stop to visit, but it’s a decent catering outlet that serves standard railway food.

 

I've only used it for my version of breakfast when I am down that end of the Bluebell ; which consists of quite a lot inside a large bap! Plus coffee.

Doing the above I've never experienced anything other than very friendly, helpful staff and freshly cooked food that always tasted great.

Bryan

 

Kind of you to say. It also reminds me that I have been somewhat asleep at the wheel in publishing rosters. (For family reasons, I'm having a couple of months away so haven't been keeping so close an eye on rosters - back late summer).

Anyway, this weekend:

A - 80151 / Mark 1s
B - 65 + 72 (72 leading in both directions) / GN Saloon + Metropolitans (GN Saloon in public service both days)
WR (Both days) - 32424 / WR Rambler set

It looks like there is some adjustment to the timetable of the B services to allow 72 to take water at Kingscote on the up journey - essentially 5 minutes longer stop at Kingscote in the up direction, and five minutes less run round at East Grinstead. On the Saturday there is also a loco swap of 80151 for 65 at Horsted on the last down A service, I think that is to position 80151 for an evening charter while 65 takes its train back. So Saturday in particular looks a bit more unusual than normal.

Tom

 

Here’s my footage from today’s running if anyone is interested , particular focus on the 72 + 65 double header. Certainly was a hot one, can only feel for the crews today:

 

That first sequence of 80151 is superb, many thanks for taking it and posting it here. What a fabulous looking steam loco. That class has moved up to second, behind Bulleid pacifics, in my all time favourites list.

Tanks again,

Bryan

 

Has anyone yet seen any pix from last nights van train charter?

 

The only one I’ve seen was an absolute cracker in black and white on the unofficial Facebook page by John Creasey.

Hopefully the usual suspects will send me stuff for Bluebell Times!

Tom

 

A small batch from me from Saturday.

 

Through no fault of the organiser or the railway for that matter, more the delays due to lineside fires, the charter didn’t go quite according to plan. Having said that full marks to the organiser for what we did get, I certainly wouldn’t want to have missed it.

 

A few of mine from Saturday's charter, I've tried not to duplicate those above too much.

 

Are the signal posts being kept in pre-closure condition for a reason!

 

Really lovely sets of photos from both posters. IMHO Horsted Keynes is a superb location to photograph trains. Double track, along with so much railway infrastructure to weave into the photos. A big step up from 3/4 front view photos in open countryside, no matter how good they can be and often are. Standing on the north end of platform 2 is where I'd love to get 80151 arriving on just the four Maunsells. Just before the pointwork comes into view.

 

Many thanks to Karl and John for those superb pictures, and yes, HK is a gift which keeps on giving. You'd be hard-put to replicate that scene anywhere else, certainly on the Southern.

 

While my memories are more 1980 than 1955, the train, TSO & Vans recreates the sort of formation you would find as the evening drew on and you got what were basically mail trains with as few as one passenger vehicle

 

Was there a brief period in the 1950s when a Marsh Atlantic and a Standard tank could have been seen together?

 

Yes. The first, 80010 was delivered in July 1951 and they were allocated to Brighton, where they were built, from the start. 80151 was delivered to Brighton shed in Jan. 1957, so was a shed mate to 32424 for 15 months until the latters demise in April 1958.

I never saw an Atlantic but 80151 was an old friend when at Redhill in 1964/5 and again in 1966/7 when it was Eastleigh based.

Peter
EDIT
It is also worth remembering that the last Brighton built loco, BR Class 4 Tank 80154, participated in 32424's final railtour on 13/4/58. The Atlantic worked the tour from Victoria to Newhaven, 80154 from Newhaven to Brighton and a King Arthur took it back to Victoria later in the day

 

The down mail, 22.35 Waterloo and up Mail, circa 22.13 Weymouth were those sort of trains. 2 or 3 passenger coaches and 3 or more bogie parcels vans. They ran right to the end of SR steam in July 1967. Most usually a Bulleid pacific, and more so with the up Mail (due to loco diagrams) as a Merchant Navy could sometimes be on it. Both were used by crews to run very fast indeed at times towards the end. Not just high speeds, but they were the two trains most often where the crews provided footplate rides away from London.

Bryan

 

Out of interest here is my last encounter with 80151, taken on 21/4/67, about a fortnight before it was withdrawn. The front embelishment was fine for the run down days in 67 but please dont get any such ideas for future charters.

Peter