The Bluebell Railway is a heritage line running for 11 miles (17.7 km) along the border between East and West Sussex, England between Sheffield Park and East Grinstead, with intermediate stations at Horsted Keynes & Kingscote along the old London Brighton & South Coast Railway line.
It was the first preserved standard gauge steam-operated passenger railway in the world to operate a public service, the society ran its first train on 7 August 1960, less than three years after the line had been closed by British Railways.
On an unusually hot summer day back in 2009, in my early days as a photographer, I was photographing south of Horsted Keynes station at Three Bridges as I interested in imaging Sir Archibald Sinclair 34059 even though there would be no steam showing; when a group of teenage girls approached me. The lead girl explained they were on a march as part of their Duke of Edinburgh awards and although they were meant to do everything themselves they were lost and needed directions. Worst still they had run out of water and although I said the station would have some, they called up one of the dad’s to come out with a supply.
Unfortunately to get to my location I had to cross a field where there was a bull which luckily was way off. As I was returning to my car I came across the girls again and they were scarred to cross the field with the bull.
Not wanted to appear a wimp especially in front of girls I told them to follow me and keep close. It was like mother hen & her chicks!!! The bull was by then closer but I was not going to show my fear and boldly went ‘where no man had gone before’ in true Star Trek fashion.
In order shown below:
GWR 0-6-0 No. 3205 was built in Swindon in 1946, and is the sole surviving member of the 120-strong 2251 class of locomotives designed by C. B. Collett.
Here shown amongst the bluebells where the line takes its name from.
South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) H Class No. 263 is a class of 0-4-4T steam locomotive originally designed for suburban passenger work and designed by Harry Wainwright in 1904.
Built as the standard loco for the SECR's suburban services, the H-class were a popular loco in later years for services on rural branch lines in Sussex. This particular locomotive ended up on the line between East Grinstead and Three Bridges and worked there until the last push-pull services on that line were withdrawn in January 1964. It's estimated to have run 1,849,668 miles over its 59-year main-line career.
Shown below at Sheffield Park station.
London, Brighton & South Coast Railway (LBSCR) A1 0-6-0T Stroudley Terrier, 672 'Fenchurch'. Designed by William Stroudley at a cost of £500, 50 members of the class were built in 1872 and between 1874 and 1880, all at Brighton.
These diminutive tank locomotives were designed in 1870 to haul commuter trains on the heavily congested lines in South and South-East London.
Another Stroudley engine No.55 'Stepney', is best known as being the first locomotive to arrive at the Bluebell Railway, and also for appearing in 'Stepney the Bluebell Engine', one of the books in the original Railway Series written by the Reverend W. Awdry, which also gave birth to ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’.
Shown below 672 pulling a director's coach and a goods train.
British Railways Standard Class 4MT 2-6-4T No. 80151 was one of the last batch of standard tank locomotives in use on the former South Western Section of British Railways.
Built between 1951-57 to a Riddles design of which 155 were built before being withdrawn in 1967 shortly before the end of steam.
The night image was taken at Kingscote station, with the header code changed to 80017 to reflect the particular period.
Shown below is 80151 en-route to Barry Scrapyard South Wales, at Basingstoke station in 1967.
South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) C Class No. 592 is a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotive, designed by Harry Wainwright and built between 1900 and 1908.
They were designed for freight duties, although occasionally used for passenger trains. They operated over the lines of the railway in London and south-east England until the early 1960s.
592 features in most in the 2000 adaptation by Carlton Television of 'The Railway Children' playing the part of 'The Green Dragon'.
London Brighton & South Coast Railway (LBSCR) Class E4 0-6-2T 473 'Birch Grove', was the first of Brighton's 0-6-2 "radial" tanks to be designed by William Stroudley and his successor Robert Billinton in from 1898, of which a total of 75 were built, but only 473 survives.
The practice with such Brighton engines, was to name them after towns and villages in the LBSCR's area, and Birch Grove is a small hamlet just north of Horsted Keynes. Its residents, including one-time Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, would have used Horsted Keynes as their local station.
Southern Railway (SR) U class No. 1638 is a 2-6-0 (mogul) steam locomotives designed by Richard Maunsell for passenger duties on the Southern Railway.
A total of 50 locomotives were built over three batches between 1928 and 1931 of which only four survive. They operated over most of the Southern Railway network, gaining the nickname 'U-Boats' after the submarine warfare of the First World War.
Great Western Railway (GWR) 3200 Class 9017 'Earl of Berkeley' was a design of 4-4-0 steam locomotive for passenger train work. The nickname for this class was 'Dukedog' since the locomotives were composed of former 'Duke' Class boilers on 'Bulldog' Class frames.
A few of the class carried the names of Earls, but 9017 did not receive its allocated name until preservation days. At the time the Earls in question indicated that, if their names were to be used, they would prefer their names on something a little more prestigious!
Furness Railway No. 20 was built in 1863 by Sharp Stewart & Co. of Manchester as one of a batch of eight 0-4-0 tender locomotives supplied between 1863 - 1866 and is Britain's oldest working standard-gauge steam locomotive.
No. 20 continued in traffic until 1960 when diesel locomotives were introduced. Yes, that's right: 90 years service finally at a steelworks, and just 3 years short of its centenary!
