Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Thanks for that Tom. Is set B still the rake of BR Mk1 green stock, with nothing else attached please?

And at what time is the Wealden Rambler due back into H Keynes on Saturday please.

Many thanks in adavance,

Bryan

 

Set B is the Victorian set (sadly for your photo aspirations!). Set A is the green Mark 1s.

The Rambler gets to HK at 15:20 in the down direction, planned to go through Platform 2. Assuming no last minute swaps, that means 80151 smokebox first.

Tom

 

Thanks anyway for taking the time to reply Tom, much appreciated.

Plenty of work to do here on my South African Steam loco memoirs book!

Bryan

 

Each heritage railway has its own niche where it excels, the Bluebell is unsurpassed with its collection of vintage locos and rolling stock. Yesterday's charter with Fenchurch was a good illustration of that. A few results from the day show what I mean

 

Needless to say I have an inbox filling with submissions for the next issue of Bluebell Times! (As running foreman last Sunday I also had a small part to play in ensuring that 80151, 72 and the carriages were left in the right place and ready to go for the 3am book on times for loco crews!)

It has been interesting seeing some entirely new perspectives opened up by having south facing locos, notably heading south from Imberhorne Lane and the tunnel (your third and fourth photos respectively).

Tom

 

It certainly was different and no sun in the face around midday! I didn’t submit anything to you because Mr Cable was there so you would have just got two of everything!

 

Season tickets - for the summer holidays. I think this is a new thing. You are more or less in the black after two visits.



Tom

 

A pleasant day in the Sussex countryside on Sunday. 2999 sounded and looked good, even if a tad out of place on green Mk.1 stock. 65 on the vintage set was very nice.
2026-04-19 GWR SAINT 4-6-0 2999 HORSTED HOUSE FARM - BLUEBELL RLY 040 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

2026-04-19 SER 65 O1 0-6-0 FRESHFIELD BANK - BLUEBELL RLY 118 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

2026-04-19 BR 5MT 4-6-0 73050 FRESHFIELD BANK - BLUEBELL RLY 137 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

 

If anybody is intending to visit this weekend, the loco allocations have been changed to try and reduce the fire risk.

Saturday:
80151 - A/GAD
73082 - B
2999 - WR

Sunday:
80151 - A
73082 - B
2999 - GAL

 

It feels like fire risk season starts earlier and earlier each year...

 

Your Nene Valley credentials shining a bit too brightly there… you're in Camelot country now…

Simon