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Bluebell Railway Giants of Steam 2009

Discussion in 'Galas and Events' started by Dan Hill, Aug 18, 2009.

  1. Lewisb06

    Lewisb06 Member

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    Sir,
    You dont get my drift....

    Questions sent out to home addresses, answers looked up and then written down on questionarire and then sent back....Oh look 100%

    Sorry I,m afraid that does not prove you know the answers.

    Imagine if you did that for school exams.....?
     
  2. Orion

    Orion Well-Known Member

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    I agree that in the circumstances you outline the aspiring PTS candidate almost certainly wouldn't learn a damned thing. But what really is swotting but looking up info that you might need and then applying it later.

    Personally I think the move towards PTS certification, while a good thing for safety, will be a bad thing for the hobby unless it is regulated on a national basis; and 'deedav' has a valid point.

    There is a thread in the 'Photography' topic that covers this matter.

    Regards

    Regards
     
  3. Matt35027

    Matt35027 Well-Known Member

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    I know it's nearly 2 weeks after the event, but I've only just remembered that this forum exists, so here is my set of photos from the sunday:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/spinner673/sets/72157622673418890/
    Had a fantastic day, although the timetable/booklet thing was a bit rubbish and some changes I think are needed as to rolling stock. Like taking the LMS BGZ out of the Arrow set and putting a third BR MK1 on the front of that train, putting the LBSC and LCDR 4 wheelers with the mets, putting maybe one of the blood and custard lounge cars with the Bulleids.

    you're all quite lucky I had a change of heart as there was quite a long rant clamped on the end of this post about all the stupid, petty and childish arguments that happen both on this forum and in the railway press.
     
  4. John Petley

    John Petley Part of the furniture

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    I agree with you about rolling stock. I didn't get along to the Giants of Steam, but did go to Sheffield Park the following Tuesday. 9017 waas working the Maunsell set, and what an impressive vehicle is the newly-restored Maunsell Droplight 1336.

    However, after all the publicity about restoring Bulleid 2526 and a four-coach Bulleid rake, it was back to the boring Mk I's behind 34059. I know they need to include the disabled coach and the Buffet car, but surely this set could have been re-formed to include some Bulleid stock. What's the point of putting all that work into restoring 2526 and re-paintng the rest of the rBulleid coaches if they are going to sit around in Horsted Keynes all the time while less interesting vehicles are used on a service train? I always regard it as a failure if I have to travel in a Mk ! on the Bluebell. I accept that a ride on, say, the Mid Hants or the Swanage Railways will almost inevitably mean a Mk !, but one of the Bluebell's Unique Selling points is its collection of older coaches - or at least, it should be.
     
  5. RichardSalmon

    RichardSalmon New Member

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    John,

    The simple answer is that Roller-bearing Mk.1s need a lot less maintenance, so we tend to run a mix, with the Mk.1 set able to take the brunt of the traffic, and rotating the coaches used for the second set between the older coaches; on the day you visited there were (if the STN was to be believed) 5 Mk1s, 2 pre-grouping and 3 SR Maunsell coaches running. This coming weekend one set will be the Metropolitan coaches. For much of the year, the "Mk.1 Set" has included at least one Bulleid coach.

    Matt asked why the LCDR/LBSC 4-wheelers were not on the Met set. The simple answer was that the Mets were not even going to be running, but the Saturday evening decision to use them in place of the freight train to provide greater capacity on the Sunday meant that they had to be shunted out of the shed and into the platform that morning ready for service. That the train only left 5 minutes late was good going! The two four-wheelers were buried on another road of the shed, not easily accessible, and 114 would have been running dark through the tunnel by the middle of the day due to its batteries being in need of charging. Had their use been planned, rather than being a last minute addition, I'm sure they could have been included. By the way, the storage road in the shed at Horsted is not long enough to hold the Mets and the 4 wheelers without splitting off the 4-wheelers. The running shed shortly to be built at Sheffield Park on the Woodpax site will overcome that problem.

    Regards,
    Richard

     

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