rasalmon

Flittersnoop, I suggest you read what I wrote just over a week ago. For your convenince I'll repeat it here: "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 flat bottom." So we've not "enthusiatically" consigned bullhead to the history books. We have used it in our station relays at Horsted Keynes and Sheffield Park. And it appears you've clearly not visited the Bluebell since 2013 (i.e. since we opened the extension), since otherwise you'd be aware that the new flat bottomed rail (on the extension from Kingscote to East Grinstead) retains the clickty-clack! For your information we have actually given fundraising our best shot, with the TracAction Appeal in 2017-18, and it raised about £200k. Hardly the huge financial draw you think it should have. The rest of the funding for the essential track, drainage and formation renewal (which must be something over a million over 8 years) so far has come from bequests left to the Bluebell Railway Trust, plus the sale of scrap rail.

Not too long to wait for a loco in this livery, I believe. Gladstone visited for our Centenary in 1982. In the meantime, if you like the livery, there's a bargain from our shop at the moment: https://www.bluebell-railway.com/product/lbscr-terrier-0-6-0t-48-leadenhall/

Indeed, given that we've relaid far more track in the last few years than was ever the case before, if we relied on doing the track-laying by hand (you need 20 people to lift a rail... but we never actually had 20 available when I helped out, and we were all younger then, taking a week off work once a year forPeter Cox's "Engineering week"), we simply wouldn't now have a railway to run trains on. You can only rely on the inherited worn-out infrastructure for so long, as we did for the first 30 years.

This particular tamper (the one we've bought) was hired from another heritage organisation; it had to come by road when it was transferred between lines (so a few thousand pounds a time just for road transport), but we were fortunate that it wasn't needed elsewhere very often so could remain on the Bluebell between our hires. I can't imagine we'd be able to afford a commercial hire of a main-line machine. The machine we have with us while it is commissioned is (I think someone said) £5M of kit, so a day's hire charge, with crew cost on top, wouldn't be negligible! If we just need to tamp a small section of relayed track it is not worth hiring in a tamper, at huge expense. So relayed track would remain with 10mph restrictions on it for a considerable time if we did not have one on site, waiting for a reasonable number of jobs to accumulate for its attention. So there were plenty of reasons why it made sense for the railway to purchase this one, not least because it was a known quantity and already on site.

Now it belongs to us, I ought to add it to the stock list... Now, does it go on the loco list, or with the steam crane (also self-propelled) as part of the wagon list?

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 :-)

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

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.

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.

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?

For what it's worth, we (on Bluebell Railway) have by careful research settled upon BR Crimson Lake to be BS381C No. 540 As used on: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keith_duke/35991345370/in/album-72157683795725742/ (photo taken while snowing). https://www.e-paint.co.uk/colour-alternatives.asp?cRange=BS Other&cRef=BS 540&metallic2=False&cDescription=Crimson Range: RAL Classic RAL 3004 "Purple red" is very close.

Billinton on the LBSCR used Foxes Plate Bogies, rather than the pressed ones used by SECR. LSWR used a variety of bogie types over the years. Even if using the same bogie frame types, they could be different lengths (7ft, 8ft or 9ft wheelbase) between railways/stock. The LSCR bogie first 7958 on the Blueebll runs on LNWR Foxes plate bogies, which has a different bolster arrangement from the LBSC Foxes Plate bogies, but few will notice the difference! We were just lucky to be able to obtain a suitable underframe of nearly the right length to restore it!