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Time travel
For the last 50 years the Bluebell Railway has been taking passengers on a trip down memory lane in the East Sussex countryside.We sent Chris Nye to enjoy a nostalgic journey into the golden age of steam
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Steaming ahead
The Bluebell Railway is offering a ride on the UK’s newest steam train
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Clockwise from above: Steam Day at the Bluebell Railway; Sheffield Park station is the railway’s HQ; the Bluebell Railway passes through the Sussex Weald and the Ashdown Forest; the signal box at Sheffield Park is manned by one of the line’s 500 active volunteers
bride’s family farm. It was dusk on a July evening and raining heavily, so they decided to walk along the railway instead of the muddy farm track. Sheltering together under a coat, they didn’t see a goods train behind them and were killed after just four hours of marriage. They were later buried in the graveyard of the church they had just been married in. By the mid-1950s it was clear that this stretch of track wasn’t viable and British Rail made plans to close it. Although delayed by a legal loophole – causing BR to implement such a poor-quality service that it became known as “the sulky service” – it finally closed in March 1958. Within a year, what became the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society was formed and the first engine ran in August 1960. In 1994 the service was extended to
Kingscote Station, including re-laying track through the 700-metre Sharpthorne Tunnel. The railway now includes three stations: Sheffield Park, Horsted Keynes and Kingscote. Sheffield Park has been returned to the Victorian era, with station staff in traditional uniforms, original advertising and newspapers and luggage stacked up waiting for a porter. Sheffield Park is home to the locomotive department of the railway too, where you can look around these beautiful, black behemoths in the shelter of the refurbished sheds.
Vintage service Horsted Keynes has been decorated in the style of the 1920s and 30s, including posters for seaside days out in destinations that long ago ceased to be as stylish as their advertising suggests. The Bluebell Railway Carriage Works is at Horsted Keynes too, restoring rolling stock from every era and using it for special catering events and filming. There are Pullman services where you can enjoy three-course meals in 1920s splendour, or afternoon tea, murdermystery adventures and curry night specials, all while the train is puffing along and all available for private hire.
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©IAN MCDONALD, CHRIS NYE, ALAMY
This summer, from 29 July to 10 August, the Bluebell Railway is running the Tornado, a brand-new A1 Peppercorn Pacific and the UK’s newest steam engine. The train is the creation of a team of enthusiasts, the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, who formed in 1990 and spent the next 19 years realising their ambition of building the first steam locomotive in the UK for half a century. Officially named the No 60163 Tornado, the train was finally unveiled and moved under its own power on a short length of specially laid track in Darlington in 2008.After the train’s successful debut, it was then moved to the Great Central Railway at Loughborough, where it was tested to ensure it would be fit to haul passenger trains on preserved lines and Network Rail, before being transported to the National Rail Museum in York to be painted and put on display in the Great Hall. During testing, the train reached an incredible average speed of 71.2 miles per hour. It is now possible to book a ride on the train as it tours the railways of Britain. For more details about the history of the Tornado and the tour dates, go to www.a1steam.com
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rail heritage Bluebell Railway
ou may not realise it, but you’ve probably already seen the Bluebell Railway, in the countless movies, TV shows and even Vogue fashion shoots that have been filmed here. It is the most successful and ambitious of Britain’s heritage railways and, on its 50th anniversary of operating steam trains, is nearing completion on a £5 million project to link back into the national rail network at East Grinstead. Throughout the year, the Bluebell Railway takes passengers through 10 miles of lush and gently rolling Sussex countryside. The older engines, dating from as early as 1872, trundle along at a leisurely pace, while the 20th-century models fly along ‘shovelling white steam over their shoulder’ as they pass scenes of idyllic English beauty. Hedges dip and rise as you steam past meadows bursting with poppies. There are church steeples in the distance and babbling brooks and quiet ponds below. The bluebell woods that give the railway its name are ancient oak and beech trees and between them are scruffy working farmhouses surrounded by bits of tractor, classy cottages with wellgroomed horses in the yard, orchards, oast houses and vineyards. You’ll see
© ALAMY
Y
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plenty of dark brown Sussex cattle and Southdown sheep with their characteristically woolly faces, as well as the occasional deer.
On the line While it may seem rather idyllic today, a railway line passing nothing but countryside presented a problem for the newly nationalised British Rail in the early 1950s: it may be pleasing on the eye, but it doesn’t pay the bills of a modern mass transit system. The line had never been a commercial success since opening in 1882. It linked East Grinstead, south of London, with Lewes in the South Downs, from where you continue to south coast towns like Brighton and Eastbourne or the port at Newhaven. But these were already wellserved by rail services and this stretch, sponsored by local landowners and with stations placed for maximum convenience to their own country homes at Sheffield Park and Newick Park, always struggled. The trains were only ever full when the cricket-mad Earl of Sheffield invited the Australian cricket team to play England at Sheffield Park in the 1890s, drawing crowds of 25,000 to watch WG Grace in action. The line was useful for transporting
timber, milk and agricultural supplies and for carrying men and equipment during both world wars. Indeed, during the Second World War the Canadian Armoured Division was stationed at Sheffield Park and embarked from there on the ill-fated Dieppe raid from Newhaven, as well as the rather more successful D-Day. One wartime tragedy on the line was nothing to do with enemy action however: in July 1943 Gunner Ronald Knapp and his new bride Corporal Winifred Knapp were walking back from their own wedding reception at Horsted Keynes to the
Clockwise from facing page: a steam engine pulls a passenger train on the Bluebell Railway; GWR’s Large Prairie Tank No 5199 arrives at Horsted Keynes; Horsted Keynes’ colourfully painted station
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BluebellRobert Railway Burns rail heritage Great Britons
Above: steam engine in southern livery preparing to leave Sheffield Park station. Below: the station master and assistants at Sheffield Park station wear the uniform of the LBSCR (London Brighton and South Coast Railway), from before the First World War
It’s only when you’re standing next to the engines that you start to appreciate their size and power and the skill of the supporters You can even get married in the old waiting room at Horsted Keynes railway station and have the reception on the train (if the ghosts of the unfortunate Knapps don’t put you off). Lastly, Kingscote Station evokes the early British Rail era of around 1952, when the motorcar was starting to take over from the railways and BR was staggering under the weight of all the branch lines it had to support. There’s no sign of that though in this perfectly manicured station where, until the line is finally reconnected, you can catch a vintage bus to East Grinstead.
Keeping up appearances An army of 500 active volunteers keeps the railway in such splendid condition, with people coming from around the world to spend time helping with the engineering, trackside clearing, station maintenance or simply working in the shop or the buffet. The dream of most is to have a go at driving the engines. It’s only when you’re standing next to them
at ground level that you start to appreciate their size and power and the skill of the supporters in keeping them working. Even the smallest engine weighs 28 tons. Their oldest locomotive is Fenchurch, a Terrier-class engine built in 1872. Just three years younger is Stepney, another Terrier, built in Brighton in 1875 and the inspiration for Stepney, the Bluebell Engine, a Thomas the Tank Engine adventure from 1963 by the Rev W Audry. Both these engines will be working over the summer for the 50th birthday celebrations, though at their advanced age they will only be carrying smaller loads. More up-to-date are engines such as Birch Grove, a 1902 radial tank engine that took its name from the village just north of Horsted Keynes where Prime Minister Harold Macmillan lived – indeed he used to catch a train to Westminster from Horsted Keynes. From 1947 is Sir Archibald Sinclair, a Light Pacific that could reach top speeds of 100 miles an hour. What marks out the Bluebell Railway is the sense of life and energy around it. It is more than just a bunch of enthusiasts with lots of time – and grease – on their hands. This is history brought vividly to life, transporting you back to an era of superb service in spotless carriages and welcoming stations, even if the trains occasionally left you with bits of coal in your hair! h
heritagetrail Getting there You can reach the Bluebell Railway from Sheffield Park, Horsted Keynes and Kingscote stations. For Kingscote, on busy days there is a special bus from East Grinstead mainline station. Other stations are served at weekends from various local bus services from Haywards Heath, Lewes or Uckfield. Further details from www.bluebell-railway.co.uk By car, the railway is easy to reach via the M23 and M25 motorways. Driving from central London will take around 90 minutes.
Where to stay Luxury: Newick Park Hotel (www.newickpark.co.uk) is a classic English country house hotel set in glorious parkland, which is owned by one of the founders of the railway. Its 16 rooms (including three in the Granary situated just off the drive) start from £165 for a double.Tel: 01825 723 633. Budget: Gothic House B&B (www.gothichouse55.com) in East Grinstead is an attractive older property in the heart of the town centre, with double rooms from £65.Tel: 01342 301 910.
More information The Bluebell Railway operates every day from April to early November and at weekends during the winter.The first train leaves Sheffield Park at 11am and finishes around 5pm.There are also myriad evening services. For more information go to www.bluebell-railway.co.uk or call 01825 720 800.
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