Bluebell Railway Giants of Steam Gala 22-24th October 2010
At first, the annual Bluebell Railway Giants of steam gala did not look particularly promising, particularly after the star studded 50th anniversary gala in the summer. Unfortunately many of the railway's resident 'giants' were undergoing repairs or out of boiler ticket; for instance 'Sir Archibald Sinclair' was not expected to be running leaving locomotives like 'Stepney' and 'Fenchurch' to run the gala. However, things were improved by the presence of visiting 'King Arthur' class locomotive No:30777 'Sir Lamiel' on loan from the National Railway Museum. As with last year trains were well filled, not just by enthusiasts but younger families too, obviously enjoying their day out.
One of the highlights was the brake van rides being offered a short distance along the Ardingley Branch. These rides proved very popular, although, there was a small extra charge of £3 for the rides, but these did include two trips up and down the branch and up until the shunt limit of the station. These brakevan rides were hauled throughout the day by recently repainted LSBCR 'Terrier' class No:55 'Stepney'. In addition, at Kingscote fellow 'Terrier' No:673 'Fenchurch' was offering trips to the tip - the current limit of operations near Imberhorne Tip, again there was a small charge for this.
Throughout the day a highly intensive timetable was in operation with trains departing roughly every 40 minutes you did not have to wait long for a train to appear. Although there were not any shuttle between any of the stations along the line this was more than made up for by the very intensive timetable. But on the other hand there weren't any freight trains either.
(RIGHT: No: 34059 'Sir Archibald Sinclair' waits to pilot visiting NRM loco No:30777 'Sir Lamiel' away from Horsted Keynes on the 24th October)
The noticeable absence of goods trains was more than made up for by some interesting double heading combinations; the first of these was a timetabled S&ECR combination; P class No:178 and C class 0-6-0 No:592 giving a combined age of 118 years! The other was something of a surprise; Shortly after lunchtime No:34059 'Sir Archibald Sinclair' came out of the shed to double head with No:30777 'Sir Lamiel' on all its afternoon departures. The fine display these two giants put on certainly made up for any earlier disapontment.
This gala represented pretty good value for money with nine locomotives in operation, and the wide spectrum of locomotive types on offer, from pre 1900 branch line locomotives like 'Stepney' to one of the last developments of BR steam; the 4MT tank. Ticket prices started from £16.50 for an adult one day rover.
However on Saturday Standard four tank No: 80151 had failed, and, on Sunday afternoon No:55 'Stepney' was failed with injector problems but these setbacks failed to put much of a dampner on proceedings.
(A1X 'Terrier' class No:55 'Stepney' hurries another brake van ride out of Horsted Keynes) See more like this HERE
Overall then, a superb event despite a number of failiures the Bluebell served up a true feast of steam again this year, although it might be worth just calling it the 'autumn gala' next year!
The full list of locomotives in operation on 24th October:
BR 'King Arthur' class 4-6-0 No:30777 'Sir Lamiel'
Southern Railway 'U' class 2-6-0 No:1638
LSBCR E4 class No:B473 (previously known as Birch Grove)
LSBCR 'terrier' 0-6-0T No:55 'Stepney'
LSBCR 'terrier 0-6-0T No:672 'Fenchurch'
SE&CR P class 0-6-0T No:178
SE&CR C class 0-6-0 No:592
BR 'Battle of Britain' class 4-6-2 No:34059 'Sir Archibald Sinclair'
BR 4MT 2-6-4T No:80151 (failed) in light steam at Sheffield Park
The Verdict
More from this event: