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16 hours ago, The Evil Bus Driver said:

I'm fairly sure there's a picture of a Blue & Grey mk1 coupled to a green Bulleid floating about on line somewhere. The mk1 must have been ex works as it's very clean.

 

There's plenty of both photos and videos - have a look at any of the "last days of steam from Waterloo" type stuff, frequently filthy Bulleids and standard 4s/5s pulling a mixture of green Bulleid stock and both green and B/G Mk1s

 

3 minutes ago, Grizz said:

Flat bottom rail in BR steam days. This is (not my photo) Malling Cutting, Lewes, East Sussex, looking back towards Malling Brooks and Lewes town, Cliffe side. The down road can clearly be seen to have been recently relayed with FB rail. In fact the whole of this section over on to Hamsey island was relayed with FB......then some ten year’s so later....they shut it. Probably the most deliberately, intensionally anti rail - pro road acts in Sussex. All for a dual carriage way bypass set to be built right through the centre of Lewes, the only part of which was built was the Phoenix Bridge. They even flattened the original Lewes station in Friars Walk in preparation. 

 

Didn't they do the same on the Horsham-Shoreham branch - relay it all and then use the cost of the relay as justification for how much money it was losing...

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Following the recent relay towards Vaux End, the opportunity was taken to reuse the few wooden sleepers that were serviceable. These had to be swapped out during last year as holding works prior to the relay. 
In terrible weather conditions the BBR Infrastructure Pway Legends constructed a replacement sleeper hut. A replacement for the one that burnt down and was completely and utterly destroyed a few years back. Fortunately and quite amazingly the brick built chimney was still sound so the hut was built around it as per the previous one. Located on the UP side.

 

61AE92A6-C2DD-4A91-964A-40040DF8AD86.jpeg.2f6e2693809de9cd64aebdbaa906d412.jpeg


 

 

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2 hours ago, Grizz said:

A new ‘loco hauled’ test train is seen setting back into platform 2 at Horsted Keynes. :D....what month is it again. 
 

0B53F674-E9CE-47B6-BBA8-9C7BB40EE047.jpeg.9c42bd1593b173bf06c84ff853bb32ed.jpeg

 

6EB8F1F5-C2B0-42DC-83B7-41BD6D6C751D.jpeg

 

That combo would be great for the haulage-bashers on a Diesel Weekend ! 

 

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20 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

I don't wish to criticise the track machine team, but the sleepers go under the track and the rails need to be a little further apart and parallel to one another.

it's the new Avant-garde track being trialled by Network Rail.

 It's called Picasso Track

Edited by The Evil Bus Driver
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Rail temp in a fairly sheltered spot averaged -4c today. Wind chill lower. Didn’t disturb the ballast with the tamper. 
The track relay has been delayed until the ballast, rails and sleepers aren’t frozen together anymore. Probably until it warms up and starts pi....slas....hammering down again! 
 

Couple of views of the line around Horsted Farm Bridge from last week, after the first pass.


Looking in the DN direction towards Leamlands. 

7B9E6A51-D42A-46DD-8153-EE6A1FB8FBF4.jpeg.076038326b5c5ca48268f1b1745f7f8d.jpeg


Looking in the UP direction towards Vaux End. 

F9816033-9314-476A-9AA0-41CB24F3467F.jpeg.7047f01f881c3ce7a7a9d4ff4fe1e276.jpeg

 

B817C036-B303-4DAF-BDA5-DC2D935A1AC9.jpeg.d087938c31ce1f28d1c3e4ee26c252db.jpeg


 

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On 04/02/2021 at 17:43, Grizz said:

Following the recent relay towards Vaux End, the opportunity was taken to reuse the few wooden sleepers that were serviceable. These had to be swapped out during last year as holding works prior to the relay. 
In terrible weather conditions the BBR Infrastructure Pway Legends constructed a replacement sleeper hut. A replacement for the one that burnt down and was completely and utterly destroyed a few years back. Fortunately and quite amazingly the brick built chimney was still sound so the hut was built around it as per the previous one. Located on the UP side.

That's brilliant news!  Well done whoever suggested doing that, and for the Pway Legends who then did it!  I think it was a spark from the C-class which had set fire to it?

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On 03/02/2021 at 18:29, The Evil Bus Driver said:

I'm fairly sure there's a picture of a Blue & Grey mk1 coupled to a green Bulleid floating about on line somewhere. The mk1 must have been ex works as it's very clean.

Bulleid open 1481 now on the Bluebell was amongst the Bulleid coaches which had been intended to be refurbished and painted blue and grey in 1967. But in the end the Southern Region was allocated a few more Mk.1s instead.
There were still 18 Bulleids in service in May 1968 (all in green) to mix with the blue and grey Mk.1s.

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On 01/02/2021 at 21:47, PenrithBeacon said:

Yep, poor English. I wasn't intending to say that the Bluebell should recreate the Bluebell but generically recreate the SR as it was-ish. As you say, this it does well,  Horsted  Keynes Station is a gem as is much of the rolling stock though I can't enthuse about the new flat bottom rail. That's alien, not withstanding the relative cost vs bull head. It's not just the moving vehicles that have heritage status.

So yes, it's down to relative cost.  If someone had given the Bluebell an extra half million back in 2013 when the relay started, then SP-HK could have been relaid in bullhead.  But actually, that half million would have been better spent relaying an additional mile of the track...  Sadly those are the economics of having track fit to run trains on.  So the decision was reluctantly agreed by all parties that the aim would be to keep bullhead as far as possible in station areas, but that the running line had to be done using the lower cost option of bullhead flat bottom.

Edited by rasalmon
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On 03/02/2021 at 16:56, Dunsignalling said:

My point is that Blackmore Vale, never combined the features it does now before the Bluebell Railway owned it. The anachronisms are, though, purely cosmetic and have no operational significance. 

 

To be a truly authentic 21st century loco, maybe the tender should be lettered "BLUEBELL" rather than "SOUTHERN".:angel:

 

...

 

The Bluebell Railway has never owned Blackmoor Vale.  It belongs to the Bulleid Society, and it's up to their membership how its painted.

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10 hours ago, rasalmon said:

And we're already seeing the advantages with fewer broken loco springs, and less tyre wear :-)

 

I'll bet passengers in the four wheeled coaches will appreciate it too!

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18 hours ago, rasalmon said:

The track specification is entirely appropriate for running 100-ton locomotives at 25 miles an hour.  If we were aiming for an inappropriatly extravagant specification for higher speeds then the ballast bed would be deeper and thus more costly.  If we used second hand rails, then we'd be replacing them again in another 30 years, as we are with the current rails on the track north from Horsted Keynes, which have now been there for 30 years, and the sleepers are due for replacement too.  We are making use of a top spec tamper simply because it's there for crew training.  The rails on the SP-HK section were anything up to a century old, on formation that was built 140 years ago.  Fitting brand new rail now, on a decently overhauled formation is a question of doing the job properly, not "over spec", just so that it lasts, with appropriate maintenance, for many years into the future.  And we're already seeing the advantages with fewer broken loco springs, and less tyre wear :-)

Question for you. When in BR service would the line speed between SP and HK have still been 25? I know the track was reprofiled relatively recently* to an appropriate cant for 25mph running.

 

*Within the last 5 years

Edited by The Evil Bus Driver
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2 hours ago, The Evil Bus Driver said:

Question for you. When in BR service would the line speed between SP and HK have still been 25? I know the track was reprofiled relatively recently* to an appropriate cant for 25mph running.

 

*Within the last 5 years

Nope it wasn’t like that on BR. It was canted for 40mph running. Therefore most curves between SP and HK remained over canted for the maximum permitted speed of 25mph, up until the reprofiling undertaken during the track renewal program. The underlying formation was so old and generally poor that the often proffered ‘helpful’ solution of ‘Oh just tamp it’ would have been the metaphorical equivalent of stirring a bucket of mud. 
 

However to make matters worse not all Bluebell trains travelled at that 25mph through the those 40 mph canted curves or were even always capable of travelling at the speed of 25 mph. 15 mph may not seem much over but they weren’t all doing the maximum 25 mph. 
 So in addition to the already over canted track, throw in the ruling gradient of 1 in 75 and the different vehicle types, differential between bogied and non bogied stock and the multitude of wheel profiles, coupled with differentials in bogie behaviour through those curves in either trailing or leading position and also either up or down gradient.....with the addition of poor formation and worn out track components and worn rails and dipped joints and crippled rail ends etc etc ....then you begin to understand why if you spent £500,000 doing up your favourite, unique and very precious locomotive to a superb standard....it sadly did last as long as it should have. With Rail Defects such as side cut rails and plastic flow on the rail head, or uneven wear bands, premature wear and damage to wheel sets etc etc. 
 

Over canted track (for the speed you actually require) causes undesirable wheel behaviour and usually results in premature wear at the rail wheel interface, well as other assorted door prizes for the reasons highlighted. 
 

But the really fantastic news is the track renewal program has already shown reductions in such occurrences, as RASalmon already said.  :good:

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The Monster awakes........although you’d be forgiven for thinking that it is actually a photo of a dead tamper. If you look very carefully one of the side lights is operational. :D

 

This 07 is a great piece of kit, allowing for its age it is in remarkably good condition. Once the batteries were recharged the power unit roared into life with no objection and the horns were heard right across the yard. 
 

8D799D9A-CCF8-4DD5-913C-D8C389F7959B.jpeg.d037d7d192ea31a4225a5c6b8f9c4884.jpeg


 

 

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