Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Fair enough, I'll yield my stance on this project plan, I know when I'm in the wrong and didn't look at it from the right perspective. Again, no disrespect intended, I just really have a fondness for Bluebell's great coaching stock and want to insure their given the care they deserve as soon as possible, as we all do.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and it's rather foolhardy of anyone (including myself) to presume that pushing forward and getting all the money required would be a straight forward matter, even for the Bluebell Railway.

 

Thanks 46118 - very generous of you and much appreciated!

Tom

 

Great idea, I'm a huge advocate of carriage sheds, and MASSIVE kudos for having an option to donate via paypal, I can't stand it when the only option is via phone or post!

 

The full project includes a component store, office, trim shop, walls and roller-shutter doors to complete the project, but this will be a tremendous start. The drawing below, also by Matthew Cousins, shows how the finished shed, for which we have already secured full planning permission, will look.



Tom

 

Ooh, that looks properly snazzy hope ours looks that good when we get round to ours...

 

Tom,

In the picture of the final sheds, the shed on the left is shown with a very odd looking roller door. Do you know of the reason for this and why it hasn't been designed to match the other 2? Just curious!

Thanks

Keith

 

Keith,
It is an artists impression for a start. The left hand section of shed is the original 1971? carriage shed, which is a different design from the rest of the building. The roller door is mounted differently as a result. I believe the long term aim is to fit new cladding to the original shed to match the new shed sections, although I'm not sure the roller door would change. Despite having been built in about 1971, the original shed didn't get a door until the late 90s if i recall correctly.
Daniel

 

As Daniel says, the buildings on the left are the already existing C&W workshop, those on the right are what the new phase of the project sets out to construct - hence the difference in design of roller doors. Photos of the south end of the C&W works are surprisingly hard to find on Flickr, presumably because to get a good picture of the south end, you would need to be standing in the non-public part of the station. But this plan from the original planning application shows what is intended. Starting from the top, there is the current C&W works and Works extension (three roads), then the maintenance road, then the storage roads (four roads) and finally, at the bottom of the plan, a new (non rail-connected) storage shed for small components.



Tom

 

Tom: There looks to be a lot of timber cladding around there, and a whole range of "communicating"( in fire insurance terms) buildings. I do hope money is spent (indeed is already spent on the existing buildings) to have state of the art fire protection. Otherwise you are creating what might be called a " perfect storm".

 

I'm not sure the cladding is actually timber. I seem to recall comment that appears to be timber, but is some other material with a coating on it, so it doesn't need to be painted. Certainly, when i suggested on the yahoo group that the whole station should revert to LBSCR colours (as it now has all sets of platform buildings), the non changeable nature of the colouring of the carriage shed was one reason put forward for not doing it.
Daniel

 

In the short term until the money is available you can always hang tarpaulins to create a semi enclosed space. Just by giving some elementary protection from direct weather can really slow down degradation. For a few years I kept some machines in a similar open sided structure with ex lorry curtain-siders tarpaulins hung to close in the sides. Don't make the mistake that I first made to hang them with the names still on the outside (mine were from a company that makes candles and I kept being asked for samples...) The machines were under there for 5 years and came out in the same condition that they went in (metal parts greased up)

 

I also guess that, with the prevailing weather being westerly, the new building will be at least partially sheltered by the existing buildings until such time as the walls can be finished.

Tom

 

Hello,
What is the current standing figure towards the matching funding to kick in?
Will be send a donation at the end of the month for this great project.

How many vehicles will still be left out in the elements?


Nick

GWR 813​

 

Thanks for the info Tom and Daniel

 

Hi Nick

Not quite sure what your first question is asking. But the scheme is that there is £125k of matching funding available, which will be matched pound for pound with up to £125k of donations if they are made before mid-November. If people donating the £125k are also able to claim Gift Aid on their donation, then that means that potentially up to £275k (£125k donation + £25k Gift Aid + £125k match funding) could be raised in this appeal, against a target figure of £350k to build the framework and roof.

A considerable amount has already been spent on the project before the launch of this appeal in getting to this stage: that includes the design work, planning application and some ground works for foundations and drainage.

From the appeal information (I believe there will be a more detailed article in the next Bluebell News, but I haven't seen that) my understanding is that when this is completed, "virtually all the pre-nationalisation carriages on the railway" will be under cover. That still leaves the wagons and vans and half the engines, of course...

Tom

 

Hello,
Was poorly asking:
How much has been raised so far?

Nick

 

Are you sure that was a VEP - the ride looked far too smooth for a VEP. Comuter Staplehurst - London SR 1976 to 1992

 

Ah, I see. The JustGving page is showing just under £9k, but the appeal was only launched yesterday. Bluebell News is due to hit doormats next week which hopefully leads to a boost (past experience shows that quite a number of our potential supporters don't necessarily see online channels such as FaceBook, the Yahoo Group, website etc but do obviously get Bluebell News).

Tom

 

9k in a day isn't bad!

 

I can confirm it was a VEP - but it was a South Western-maintained VEP on South Western-maintained P-Way
In other words, unit not held together by spit & Kleenex and track maintenance not supervised by Hornby.

SW Division Fleet & Motive Power Staff 2002 - Present.