Bluebell Branch Line Weekend 21-23 April

I spent all three days at the event alternating between photographing and riding - and Sunday's downpour aside I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it all. Plenty going on, Pug and Hastings both looked and sounded fantastic, and the overall atmosphere was a good buzz.

I think my only critiques (and these are really 'scraping the barrel nitpicks') were that the public timetable could perhaps have benefitted from notes to indicate what was joining/detaching and in what formation (I missed one double header and positioned myself for another that turned out to actually be a top-and-tail), and it would have been nice to see more of Hastings, though I believe it was being used carefully as it's still fairly 'fresh out the box'.

I too hoped the four wheelers would be out but given how busy it was, I don't think they would have coped with demand. It's a reason to go back for sure (not that I ever really need one...)

Full praise to all who worked on it, be that front line staff or those 'behind the scenes'.

 

Some short videos taken at Horsted Keynes during the Bluebell's Branch Line Weekend:











Hope they're of interest. Lots more to come when time permits.

TTFN,

Ron.

 

There seems to be interest in me explaining the current situation with some of the older carriages.

Obo - has been out of service for some time awaiting a brake overhaul, which is now nearing completion.

4-wheelers were sidelined since they couldn't run north of Horsted until the track twist at Vaux End was sorted by rebuilding the embankment. Now that's been done, they can run, but needed maintenance attention on the jacks - we have had a shortage of jacking capacity due to Pullman Car 54 spending so much time on them over the last year, to complete its restoration which has included the design and installation of a completely new brake system, since the original was missing, and the evidence and bolt holes underneath of the carriage didn't actually match the drawings of what one would expect to have been fitted - the problem of it having been, in 1923, the prototype for an entirely new coach design (the K-type Pullmans).

LSWR Brake Third 1520 and some of the four-wheelers will run together fairly soon (hopefully for the Bluebell on Parade event in June if not before then) now the jacks are available, and they are currently under maintenance to prepare them for service - they will need a deep internal and external clean too. One of the four wheelers needs heavier maintenance, but should also return this summer, and 949 (nearing the end of restoration) should also follow later in the year, all being well, replacing the LSWR coach in this set (which will then be 5 x 4-wheelers). Once the sixth (LBSCR 5-compartment Third 328, currently in the works, and a couple of years from completion) joins the set, it will then provide almost identical seating capacity to the Met set or the three SR-liveried non-corridors, but at significantly lower tare weight (and including, as Tom has mentioned, wheelchair access).

Mets - they've been heavily used in the last 3 years due to their separate compartments giving families great isolated spaces. They are now withdrawn, due fairly heavy maintenance (two have been back in service for 24 years now!). That is under way, on 394. The plan is to do the outer two coaches from the close-coupled set first, and then they can run whilst the other two are worked on, and those can then be added back into the set when each is completed. Other than some work repairing split teak panels, the major work is on the replacement of the door locks, which are effectively now life expired, after 125 years service. They've become a huge maintenance burden, with many being slightly different such that holding a stock of spare parts was tricky, since it required bespoke parts to be made due partly also to different wear between different locks, and were non-interchangable between doors due to slight differences in case size. The Bluebell has therefore commissioned the manufacture of new door locks by an external contractor. The prototype looks good, and all the internal components are completed, and we're just awaiting the new lock cases. Fitting them includes work on every door to make the new locks fit correctly. The secondary sprung door catches on these coaches had been renewed a few years ago, as a first stage, since these are separate components installed in the door pillar, so there's less to do this time round than had that not already been tackled.

 

Better late than never, here's the video

 

Fabulous stuff, @A1X . As good as being there.

 

Now THAT is what I call a Branch Line Weekend!!
Packed trains, numerous amounts of double-heading, brake van rides, variety of coaching stock - A true testament of the railway age!!!