If you missed the Bluebell's

WINTER STEAM-UP

13th & 14th February 1999

SECR P-class 323 with Metropolitan Coaches

then you missed a treat, with the Bluebell's oldest locos and coaches operating an intensive and varied service

All photos courtesy Lewis Nodes, taken over the weekend. Full set of photos also available.

Right: SECR P-Class No.323 with Metropolitan coaches.

Six Vintage Steam Locos in action.
All trains formed of pre-Mk.1 coaching stock, sixteen vintage vehicles in eight different formations.
A non-stop run with BR 4-6-0 No.75027 first thing every morning.
The return to traffic of two Metropolitan Railway carriages from 1898/1900.
An outing for Terrier "Stepney" and P-Class No.323.
A rare outing on a passenger train for the LSWR dock tank No.96 "Normandy".
A triple headed finale train at the end of each afternoon.
Non-dining accommodation attached to the Saturday evening Golden Arrow Pullman train - the romance of steam trains after dark.

In addition:

Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes station forecourts were 'dressed' with a selection of period road vehicles, thanks to the Surrey Vintage Vehicle Society.
Conducted Tours of the Horsted Keynes Carriage Works (normally closed to the public for safety reasons) on both days, which raised nearly £200 through donations for the restoration of the remaining two Metropolitan coaches.
At Sheffield Park the locomotive collection and museum were open.

The triple header: "Stepney", 323 and "Birch Grove", with five coaches, all in Southern Railway lined olive green livery.

Locomotives:

The following locos were working:
55 LB&SCR Terrier Stepney, built 1875, in ochre livery
96 LSWR Class B4 0-4-0T, Normandy, built 1892, in black
473 LB&SCR Class E4 0-6-2T Birch Grove, built 1898, in umber livery
592 SE&CR Class C 0-6-0, built in 1902, SE&CR lined green livery
323 SE&CR Class P 0-6-0T, built in 1910, SE&CR unlined olive green livery
And one youngster:
75027 British Railways Class 4 4-6-0, built in 1952, lined green livery

Right: SECR C-Class with the Four SR Bulleid coaches

Carriages

The coaching stock in use was:

Two magnificent teak-bodied commuter coaches built by the Metropolitan Railway in 1898 and 1900
LNWR Observation Car built in 1913, now in LMS Crimson as No.15843
2-coach SE&CR set dating from 1922/3, painted in lined olive green, with a Southern Railway Van C (BY) for the Guard
3-coach Southern Railway Maunsell set from 1929-35 (lined olive green)
4-coach Southern Railway Bulleid set from 1949-51 (malachite green)
3 Pullman Cars, all dating from 1924-33, for pre-booked Golden Arrow dining passengers only. These were added to the Maunsell set for the Saturday evening and Sunday lunch-time services.

Stepney and 323 with the Metropolitan coaches

Metropolitan Coaches
This event marked the return to traffic of the first two of the turn-of-the-century Metropolitan Railway Carriages after 30 years out of use. These teak vehicles have been painstakingly and magnificently restored to their original condition over a number of years. Following their test run on 25th January and a successful supporter's day on 30th January, these coaches made their first public appearance at this event following an eight-year-long overhaul, and appeared to be absolutely full throughout both days.

LSWR B4 Normandy with the Metropolitan coaches and the LNWR Observation Car

A Personal View of the weekend:
It was only on the following morning (Monday) that, reflecting on the weekend, I realised the brilliant subtlety of Robin White's timetable. It was Normandy's run, allocated 20 minute section times, that enabled time at Sheffield Park for the shunting required to marshal the long set of coaches for the triple-header, and then, since this left Sheffield Park without a spare set of coaches, the extended interval which gave time for the extraction of (on the Sunday) the Maunsell set from the wrong end of the Pullman Train to form a departure which, on arrival at Horsted Keynes, dovetailed brilliantly with two (!!!) trains going in the opposite direction.

A quick count up showed that no less than eight different coach formations were to be seen during the weekend, without a Mk.1 in sight. With the different combinations of locos, this ensured that, without a copy of the working timetable, one would have been costantly surprised at what arrived next!

The hand-signalmen at Horsted I spoke to thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It's much more fun to stop a train by holding out a red flag than it is to do it remotely by pulling a lever in the signal box!

One highlight for me was the Sunday morning round trip with the Metropolitan coaches when Elizabeth Groome as fireman managed Stepney's boiler in such a way that water was not required at Kingscote, and on arrival back at Sheffield Park Stepney was able to berth the coaches in the Dock, and was still in no hurry to find the water tower. Shows what is possible, even with the Terrier's miniscule water capacity!

All in all, possibly the best weekend I've ever experienced down at the Bluebell.

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Last updated 29 July 1999 by Richard Salmon, and restored from the archive on 8 September 2022.
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