Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Only by the magic of cinematography - very much still present in real life. At least it was still there last time I went up the line shortly before Christmas, and unless SAS Rogue Heroes also includes some illuminated reindeer and a sign saying "North Pole", I don't think they did the filming since that time ...

Tom

 

Strange that this part was so well done, when the rest of the railway footage looked like they gave the work experience guy 2 hours to come up with it.

 

No need to extend the headshunt, last time we had an overlength engine, tender ivatt 46447, it ran doubleheaded, and the other loco took the train back with the tender engine following under staff and ticket working.

Also Bridge 12 has just been removed, that was the right one, so it should be all good....

 

Hmm, one of the SR members of that class. If it's going to work with rolling stock appropriate to its time in that area in the 1950s, and into the 1960s for anywhere it worked on the SR, I shall certainly aim to make my first ever visit to this Bluebell event. And I wonder if it ever worked up to 75 F when it was based at Brighton . . . . .? But what if it becomes surgically attached to the rake of Victorian and other very old coaches . . . <insert absolute horror thing here/>

Bryan

 

One of the features of Branch Line weekend is that normally locos are regularly swapped between sets, so I suspect over the weekend there's a fair chance it will be on both vintage and modern stock. We always publish timetables, loco working diagrams and carriage sets in advance, so it is a case of consulting those closely when they come out. Oh, and choosing the correct side of the line to hide the air pump if you are really fussy

Tom

 

Bryan I think that you can be quite certain that 41313 did visit 75F during the two occasions that it was allocated to Central Section depots. It was a Three Bridges (75E) loco from 2/55 to 6/55 so would have definately have been seen there during this brief period. On Sat 28/5/55 it was working a diagram over the Bluebell Line and a photograph of it at Sheffield Park that day appeared in the Railway Magazine a couple of months later. This was the day before the start of the 17 day ASLEF strike and the line had closed by the time the strike was over. Then it was a Brighton (75A) loco from 1/63 until 6/64 and quite likely appeared at 75F on odd occasions during this period although dieselisation was well under way by then.

Peter

 

A new post on the Facebook page, suggests it will run with the Mets at some point (unless one of the other Ivatt's is also visiting), as it's the 65th Anniversary of Steam ending on the Chesham Branch, which used an Ivatt tank on the final service, but as Tom says the Branch Line Gala has loco changes at Horsted Keynes, so it'll show up on various other sets.

I must admit, I was wondering if it's sister 41241 could have been a candidate for visiting prior to the announcement of 41313.

 

The latest edition of The Bluebell Times is now available for January.

In This Month's Edition:

• Beachy Head and Car 54 both nominated for prestigious Heritage Railway Association Awards - and you still have time to vote for either in the Steam Railway Award!
• Tree on the line? All in a day’s work for the Railway’s staff tackling a winter of storms
• Ivatt 2MT 41313 announced as first visitor for Branch Line Weekend
• Join the 500+ Club and help keep Sir Archibald Sinclair in prime condition
• Make 2025 the year you start volunteering - we have a range of opportunities across the Railway

https://www.bluebell-railway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/issue-65.pdf

Tom

 

Tom, me really fussy? Where on earth did you get that idea from.

 

From Instagram

 

I see from a charter invite the loco is planned to face south, would that align with that photo Peter?

 

Here is the Nazi Standard Five from the SAS series:







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And the carnage from Three arch bridge and HK:


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The other film with Bluebell connections that is out at the moment is "Blitz", for which there was several days of filming on the railway at the beginning of 2023. This is the film that required the Bulleid carriages to go on an extended mainline jaunt for film purposes.



Tom

 

It might well do but cannot find the photograph at present. Anyone with access to a copy of the Railway Magazine of maybe August or September 1955 will find it there. As I recall it was on a three car Birdcage set.

Peter

 

I need to check but I think I have a photo of it in 1963 in that area

 

Please note that the Bluebell Railway Giants of Steam dates over 10th-12th October is pushed back a week and will now take place over 17th-19th October

Visiting locos announced as 2999, 6880 and 60163

 

Well, I very much hope that line-up makes the event a really great success for the Bluebell.

But it looks like it could limit my special event days visits to maybe just one day in March this year. When SR 41313 might just be hauling something like the SR green stock that class hauled on the Lymington Branch in the 1960s.

In what could be a much reduced number of Bluebell visits if such as 34059, 73082 or 80151 get surgically attached to rolling stock that I feel would look so much better behind 31065.

Bryan - nothing stays the same same for ever - B

 

The A1 people had better get a ripple on, then. Recent experience suggests that their idea of meeting deadlines is not great.
Pat

 

That was my thought - it will be a great event, if Tornado makes it!