Bluebell in the snow 11/02

Made the most of the snow still on the ground yesterday and the sun shining, some photos and a video...

Bluebell Railway 2012 - a set on Flickr

Bluebell Railway in the snow Saturday 11th February 2012 - YouTube

 

The following is by Jon Bowers (I hope he doesn't object to posting it here - it was published publicly elsewhere) showing why the line through the tunnel was closed:

Sharpthorn Tunnel, 12 February 2012

The particularly dense build up in the centre are icicles hanging down from the ventilation shaft. Bad as it looks, this is not as bad as 1947, when it is said that a ballast train of 49 wagons was driven into the tunnel to remove the ice, and every wagon was filled with ice cleared from the roof.

Tom (-8C when I signed on...)

 

thats an amazing image. Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks for the links, we managed to get some superb shots from last Saturday with the weather and lighting conditions. In a way it makes up little for not have a Branch Line gala to look forward to this month.

Cheers

 

I'm sure Jon had a photo on the Bluebell website a couple of years ago showing the icicles almost touching the track, including the ones coming down the ventilation shaft!

 

The icicles this past weekend were less extensive than they were 3 years back, but I've never seen them stretch from the vent to the floor Nigel! As Tom has indicated though, it has been a lot worse in the past. I was shown a picture of the tunnel a while back (can't recall where or when, but may have been from the winter of 1963?) where the ice build up was so severe it made this past weekend look quite tame!

PS - nice selection of pictures Ashley. It was indeed me who went back to HK to "speak to the crew" of the Std 4 prior to the 3.20pm Nice to meet you, even if I didn't know it was you at the time!

Cheers,
Jon

 

Nice to meet you too, I thought it was you, recognised you from various Bluebell things! That photo of 80151 ended up being on the back cover of the Railway Herald the other day so thank you for your journey back as it made it a much better shot!