45669 Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 This would be a great opportunity to rebuild the station as it would have been prior to closure, covered wooden footbridge and all. Just to whet your appetites, this is West Hoathly in August 1960 : Clicking on the picture will enlarge it and take you to the rest of the early Bluebell pictures on my Fotopic site. Alternatively, click on this link : http://ronfisher.fotopic.net/c1125344.html By way of contrast, this is the same location looking the other way fifty years later in August 2010 : And here is a shot of the Imberhorne Tip, close up and personal : As above, clicking on the pictures will enlarge them and take you to the other pictures I took last August. Alternatively, click on this link : http://ronfisher2.fotopic.net/c1882724_1.html Hope that they are of interest, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted December 8, 2010 Author Share Posted December 8, 2010 fantastic shots! here are some plans on west sussex website, plans for ardingly extension.... http://www2.westsussex.gov.uk/ds/cttee/plng/plng301110i4ai.pdf Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted December 15, 2010 Author Share Posted December 15, 2010 pic from yesterday on the bluebell site http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pic2/wn-2010/siding_patp0298_14dec10h.jpg Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 clip of recent excavation work http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imjPyD7N480 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 more info here http://www.philpot.me/collection2.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neal Ball Posted February 27, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 27, 2011 more info here http://www.philpot.me/collection2.html Fascinating to see. We last went at the end of last year and clearly much progress has been made since then. It is worth re-iterating that the lane running up to the bridge, although a path and looks ok for cars is in fact a private drive to a depot at the start and also to some cottages. I tried parking there and was chased off. You need to find somewhere off the main road to park. Fund-raising for the extension continues, the Bluebell Railway still needs to raise some £2 million to get all the tip removed. If you have not thrown some money towards the railway, I would ask everyone to "dig deep" !! There are many ways you can give: £25 per month for 10 months gets you 250 shares in the extension: http://www.bluebell-railway.com/news/east-grinstead-extension/ Or by giving a "Tenner for the tip" - which pays for a 1/4 tonne to be removed: http://www.bluebell-railway.com/news/tenner-for-the-tip-appeal/ Or of course throwing a few coins into the various collecting points at the railway. Details of the next East Grinstead open days are here: http://www.bluebell-railway.com/event/east-grinstead-open-days/ April 9th and 10th 2011 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 that site has been updated again with more pics and videos Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny Emily Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 I'm just interested whether anything unusual has been discovered in the infill yet? I believe that there is known to be a rubbish lorry buried in the fill - the result of a driver-forgot-the-handbrake incident and I presume the vehicle was written off in the fall and just filled over. I seem to recall that the hub from a traction engine or roller was discovered in amongst the clay infill to the south. I've also seen a photo of a 1970s newspaper that came out of the fill, preserved and still vaguely readable. There was talk about sifting the remains so that recyclables would be recovered. Is this not happening now, or is this actually being done instead at the place the rubbish is being despatched to? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 the red marker is where the owner of the website believes the rubbish lorry was buried. http://www.philpot.me/images/photos/fintipcomp.jpg if true they havent reached it yet Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 more updates on the bluebell site and philpots, funny how he calls the wagons trucks, like its thomas the tank engine Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny Emily Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 the red marker is where the owner of the website believes the rubbish lorry was buried. http://www.philpot.m.../fintipcomp.jpg if true they havent reached it yet The site has been updated with greater reference to the lorry (the position of which they haven't yet reached). There is every possibility though that it isn't there - recovered unseen when the 35 year younger website author wasn't around? What is interesting is that he mentioned yesterday that he saw several reels of quarter inch tape on spools turn up. I don't know how playable such tape would remain after several decades in landfill, but I wonder if anyone has the forethought to investigate such things as who knows what they contain. A part of me hopes that a pile of film cans turn up containing the missing 108 episodes of Doctor Who junked by the BBC in the 1970s.... More likely is a lot of old socks and empty bean tins. Of course, by law of averages, this tip ought to contain a quantity of thrown away model railway items that got dumped by tidying teens in the 70s. They are making a lot of progress in the dig, and when all is finished at the end of next week there will be a sizeable bit of new cutting to look at. Not to mention the north face of the Eiger made out of old cross-ply tyres. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 longer vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F0gMoC2ERk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted March 14, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 14, 2011 Did anybody see "Country Tracks" from Sussex on BBC1 on Sunday. During the programme there was a repeat of a report from 2007 on the Bluebell Line which ended showing the tip which needed to be removed so that the line could be extended to East Grinstead. After the report the host, Joe Crowley, said that the tip had now been removed and the line was open! Bit premature? Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torn-on-the-platform Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Bit premature? The Bluebell posted a rather frantic message on the 'What's New' page on their website after this was broadcast! I think its pretty poor that the BBC made this mistake! *Edit to replace silly typing mistake! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Bus Driver Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 From the impression their website makes, if they were to remove what is left of the tip, it would take around 14 weeks or so to get the cutting, then they'd have to do the ground, lay the membrane, the ballast, then the track, ballast it then add S&T stuff signal posts, signals etc. Each department will get as much done as possible to allow installation with the minimum of time and effort. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 thats it for now, they need more money before they can do anymore. http://www.philpot.me/collection2.html surprised on the bbc programme they asked why do you want to get back to East Grinstead? he said so we no longer go from nowhere to nowhere, now from nowhere to somewhere which is fair enough, but he made no reference to the fact that it would be reconnected to the national network. allowing people to arrive by train and charter trains. and the fact they then said it was finished, I wouldnt be happy with them if I where head of the railway, although they did get quite a lot of good coverage and free advertising so cant complain too much. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 Tv reporters ,local press reporters are all the same zombies who dont listen to the people they are talking to ,dont do any homework,but thats all we get take anything they say with a pinch of salt and the BBC will also put a global warming message in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 ......I think its pretty poor that the BBC made this mistake! Lazy journalism. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted March 21, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 21, 2011 Lazy journalism. Not an uncommon failing alas - best recent example I have seen is 'The Daily Mail' describing one of the ships thrown aground by the tsunami as being 175,000 tons! Clearly it is nowhere near that big nor would it have a capacity that great - which is why various marine/marine loss sites and other sources note it as 4,724 tonnes (and gross tonnes at that). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 on the official site,they say it costs approx £25000 for each train. not sure if that includes the costs of the diggers loading it etc. either way, that is a huge some of money, I knew it would be expensive but didnt think it would be that much. and the job needs to be done in a years time as the price will skyrocket due to tax relief. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-BOAF Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 If my reading of yesterday's budget is correct, landfill tax will increase in April, so this makes any work done post-tax relief even more expensive! (assuming I didn't misread the BBC or Evening Standard summary). I'm guessing the railway will end up borrowing the money - this will be much cheaper than paying the tax. I would hope they are looking at various options, including borrowing at a favourable rate from some of the membership. Clearly debt is not a great solution, but the rewards of getting the link complete by summer 2012 (i.e. huge tourist boost) would be, one hopes, great. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebell Model Railway Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 that is correct, infact the price of removal may double or even triple which is what i was told at the Branch line gala a few weeks ago, I was also told also at the gala whilst on the Brake van ride that they may get to east Grinstead by the end of the year... all be i have my reservations on that but what the gaurd told me that the plan was to dig a channel down one side and lay track down that connecting to the other end, Due to Health and saftey of course they could not run passenger trains due there still be rubbish in the cutting, but what it enables them to do is place a steam engine up there on static display to get some more attention and also allows them to get an engineers train through. I have a bit of this conversation on my Branch line gala video from the bluebell on the sunday, you will probably have to turn the volume up , but around 7 mins 12 secs in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted March 24, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 24, 2011 they may get to east Grinstead by the end of the year... all be i have my reservations on that but what the gaurd told me that the plan was to dig a channel down one side and lay track down that connecting to the other end, Certainly the track layout and digging pattern over the last 4 weeks makes it look as if this is the plan. It;s also obvious that they are trying to extract any poissible value from the rubbish by separationg out the metals. Also possibly the tyres but I'm not sur if there is any resale value for those. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny Emily Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 I seem to remember reading somewhere that the tyres would be filled with concrete and used to help stabilise some of the cutting sides. I suppose this means that they don't need to go to landfill which in turn saves money. I'm not entirely sure of what value forty year old perished and squashed tyres are, but new tyres certainly do get chewed up and recycled into that matting that gets used in children's playgrounds for one thing. I've heard all sorts of stories about what mystery stuff is rumoured to be in the fill from old car chassis to bin lorries. What there actually is will only be known when they dig it out. However if they do find a lot of metal that can be recycled it will certainly help them. Whilst rubbish can't be left alongside a single track, the clay capping certainly could if they have no room left at Horsted Keynes for it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium gc4946 Posted March 26, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 26, 2011 I think they'll want to remove all the rubbish, including any that could combust itself from steam loco sparks, and restore the cutting, which was laid out for double track, to its original form, but relaid with a single track. It'll be a case of re-grading and re-vegetating the slopes. However my money's still on the whole thing being completed sometime next year, naturally, depending on funding. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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