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Bluebell railway extension


Michael Delamar

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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 can't see what in 'Health & Safety' would prevent them running passenger trains if there is still rubbish in the cutting. What is critical to the running of passenger trains, or indeed the safe passage of any rail movements, is the production of a risk assessment which establishes that the risk is ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Practicable) in the course of which the presence of any remaining rubbish would have to be considered as a potential risk to the stability of the cutting sides and the other potential risk of the flammability of any remaining rubbish being such that it could be ignited by a passing steam loco and as a result reducing the stability of the cutting sides. As long as the Railway assesses such risks as being present to a sufficient extent it would no doubt consider it advisable not to run trains - that decision lies with the Railway and it might well consider that limited presence of rubbish of some types in a suitable cutting profile does not constitute a risk.

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I think that the health of passengers might be the main consideration in having to do a complete removal of the rubbish before running normal passenger services. I don't think that most rubbish tips are considered particularly healthy places to be, even for short periods, and the railway will probably have a responsibility under the permissions gained to remove the tip to ensure the job is done properly.

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I think run off from rubbish into surrounding terrain was one of the arguments for removing the tip quite apart from allowing the railway to be reinstated because the cutting was never lined before rubbish was tipped in. Leaving some at the bottom would defeat that objective.

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I think some people may have miss understood. What i have been told when i was there, is that they plan to dig the channel down one side of the tip. This is a quicker option as i doubt they will raise 2 and a bit million before april 2012... unless someone wins the lottery, They are looking to get to East Grinstead Quickley, No passenger trains would run on that line through the tip, the main idea behind the idea is to place a static display loco up at the station at east grinstead, for promotional perposes to raise funds to remove the rest of the tip, also it would allow the bluebell to get an engineering train through. Which is quite clearly said on the video i posted up on the last page.

 

 

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The important thing is that fund-raising continues apace:

 

Richard Salmon has launched a Just Giving Page: http://www.justgiving.com/ChitChatXpress

 

The Bluebell Yahoo group so far has raised quite a bit of money, enough to fund a complete train I think: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bluebell/

 

Plus this week there have been a couple of large donations, added to the yahoo sums, brings the total up to £25k:

 

Last night saw the 1st Shareholders open evening at East Grinstead, 'photos of which are here: http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/whats_new.html complete with a spoil train in the main line.

 

EG is open all weekend for trips in the 4VEP over the viaduct, with all money going towards getting rid of all of the rubbish.

 

Regards,

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The important thing is that fund-raising continues apace:

 

Richard Salmon has launched a Just Giving Page: http://www.justgiving.com/ChitChatXpress

 

The Bluebell Yahoo group so far has raised quite a bit of money, enough to fund a complete train I think: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bluebell/

 

Plus this week there have been a couple of large donations, added to the yahoo sums, brings the total up to £25k:

 

Last night saw the 1st Shareholders open evening at East Grinstead, 'photos of which are here: http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/whats_new.html complete with a spoil train in the main line.

 

EG is open all weekend for trips in the 4VEP over the viaduct, with all money going towards getting rid of all of the rubbish.

 

Regards,

That is quite a bit of fundraising. It will still be a challenge raising £2million by this time next year but hope so.
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Very nicely done video, well presented and with lots of good information. Other railway preservation societies could learn a lot from this.

 

Going to make a donation but for some reason Bluebell's website seems to be off the air at the moment.

 

EDIT - Now working again. Donation made which with the gift aid should be about five tonnes I reckon, I have visions of my postman struggling to my door with five tonnes of full bin bags... :lol:

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The latest news is here: http://www.bluebell-...prog.html#aug11

 

5 weeks of trains started last Monday and run through to September - 25 trains in total - fund raising contniues though!

 

Not quite, the August weeks are being combined with the Septemeber weeks, and work starts in September,.

 

An interesting set of arial photos (taken from a kite! ) are here http://www.riff-raff.org/bluebell/v/Mlawrence/KAP/ - I'm not convinced they are half way yet,,,,

 

Jon

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Not quite, the August weeks are being combined with the Septemeber weeks, and work starts in September,.

 

An interesting set of arial photos (taken from a kite! ) are here http://www.riff-raff.../Mlawrence/KAP/ - I'm not convinced they are half way yet,,,,

 

Jon

I was getting ahead of myself!

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Does anyone have any news from the current Waste by Rail progress? The website hasn't been updated in a month, which is a crying shame as they've been madly digging out the waste all that time, and I'd love to see how they've been getting on!

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According to the latest Bluebell News just out, things are proceeding on schedule with both the fundraising and waste removal. The funding target to get the work done before the end of the Landfill Tax exemption is now less than £1m (as of a month or so ago in fact) and in December for a week from 5 December there is an initiative where you can donate on line and have the money matched pound for pound from other sources. I'll put up a topic about this nearer the time (with Andy's permission) unless someone else gets there first.

 

Day to day progress can be followed via the Bluebell Yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bluebell/.

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Does anyone have any news from the current Waste by Rail progress? The website hasn't been updated in a month, which is a crying shame as they've been madly digging out the waste all that time, and I'd love to see how they've been getting on!

 

Robert Philpot's site illustrates the current situation much better than the official Bluebell one, but he isn't connected to what's actually planned, so there can be a bit of wild speculation...

http://www.philpot.me/cutting3.html

 

Jon

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Excellent site with a lot of info.

Very disapointing to see wagons arriving not emptied.

I cannot see how they would not have emptied the new ballast before filling again with rubbish!! perhaps their are missing pictures or he wasnt there when they were emptied first ?

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I cannot see how they would not have emptied the new ballast before filling again with rubbish!! perhaps their are missing pictures or he wasnt there when they were emptied first ?

 

I think it was only the first few wagions that had a small ammount of residual ballast in them, which had to go straight to the loading, because (if I understand correctly) the waste trains time on site is quite tight, and if loading dosn't get done quickly then some wagons would have gone away empty. The really full wagons were emptied of ballast, by a road rail digger, and then shunted for filling.

 

Jon

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Just read in our staff weekly news letter (Southern) that the old Station House which for many years was an abandoned marooned island in the middle of the car park at Haywards Heath has been carefully dismantled (explains why I was standing on Plaform 1 the other day looking across and trying to work out what was missing!) with all the bricks and presumably other bits being donated for further use by the Bluebell.

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The building at Haywards Heath was a ex-LBSCR workers cottage built in the late eighteenth century. The salvaged building materials include a large quantity of Victorian bricks, roof and ridge tiles, etc. They will be used to construct a brick LBSCR Goods Office in the ‘Up’ yard at Kingscote as part of its forthcoming transformation into a static display depicting a typical rural railway goods yard.

 

This project is being undertaken to provide an exhibit and purpose for Kingscote Station once the extension is open through to East Grinstead.

 

Chris

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