BLUEBELL TIMELINE: 1960-2020
SIXTY YEARS OF SUSSEX STEAM
A lot can happen in 60 years.
It’s a lengthy period by any standards, quite literally a lifetime. But especially in railway terms.
It’s about 15 to 20 years longer than was the generally accepted lifespan of a steam locomotive in service – though not for many of the Bluebell Railway’s venerable machines, which had long surpassed that shelf life even before they crossed the line from BR metals and into preservation just south of Horsted Keynes in the early 1960s.
Those engines had been built when the railways were in their Victorian and Edwardian pomp, and had kept running through the ravages of two world wars and the austerity of nationalisation, into the decade of the ‘white heat of technology’ in which steam would be thrown onto the scrapheap.
Yet these survivors were about to witness six more decades of change on one railway – packed into just 11 miles, and geared towards restoration and enhancement rather than cutbacks and decline.
As the Bluebell Railway reaches its 60th anniversary, let’s take a look at how the line has developed over those six decades...
1960 STEPNEY: STARTER FOR TEN
Standard gauge ex-BR steam preservation kicked off on August 7 1960, when ‘Terrier’ 0-6-0T No. 55 Stepney hauled the Bluebell’s first train out of Sheffield Park, witnessed by 2,000 people – and the nation’s television and press. Formed of two coaches repainted into a blue house livery – LSWR Lavatory Third No. 320 and SR Maunsell Brake Composite No. 6575 – it was ‘topped and tailed’ by the Stroudley ‘Rooter’ and SECR ‘P’ 0-6-0T No. 323, because for that first season and most of 1961, there was neither a proper station nor a run-round loop at the other end. BR did not initially allow the preservationists to run into Horsted Keynes station (still served by EMUs), so trains terminated at a temporary wooden platform just to the south of the junction with the Ardingly branch.
12,000 passengers had been carried by the end of the year.
1961/2 ‘SOMEWHERE TO SOMEWHERE’
On October 29 1961, the Bluebell gained a real destination when it was permitted to run trains into Horsted Keynes station – which also made it, for a brief period, the first preserved line with a cross-platform main line connection, the station still being used by Southern Region electric services at that time. This was welcome in the era prior to mass car ownership.
Along with Stepney and ‘Bluebell’, the first train was ‘topped and tailed’ with two more engines that had arrived that year – the much-loved Adams ‘Radial tank’, No. 488, and
‘P’ No. 27 – while the coaches were the historic Metropolitan Railway ‘Chesham’ set that had also been purchased that year for £260, helping to carry the 92,000 passengers who flocked there – despite vintage steam being still very much active on Hayling Island and the Isle of Wight (to name but a couple).
The steam fleet grew further in 1962 with the acquisition of ‘E4’ 0-6-2T Birch Grove, North London Railway 0-6-0T No. 2650, and the first tender engine, GWR ‘Dukedog’ No. 9017 (see separate, dedicated features to the latter two elsewhere in this issue).
1963 ARDINGLY BRANCH FINALE
Several memorable railtours traversed Bluebell metals featuring exotic motive power, including Brighton ‘Atlantics’, Great Northern ‘J52 No. 1247, ‘Caley Single’ No. 123 and pea green ‘T9’
No. 120, but 1963 was to be the swan song year.
These extraordinary runs also featured the Bluebell’s own engines, including on September 15 1963 when the Adams ‘Radial’ and ‘E4’ took over from Nos. 120 and 123 at Haywards Heath on the Brighton Main Line (pictured) for the Horsted Keynes (via Ardingly) leg. It was an event never to be repeated; the Ardingly branch was lifted in 1964.
1964 THE ENGINE THAT BEECHING SAVED
Yes, that headline is correct. While hated by many enthusiasts for swinging the axe that butchered the railway network in the 1960s, Dr Richard Beeching – a resident of East Grinstead – did support his local steam line. In 1964, he intervened to ensure that the oldest surviving locomotive on BR – ‘Terrier’ No. 32636 – made it into preservation. As was its usual practice, BR had given the Bluebell just one month to pay for it, but Beeching ordered it to be reserved for six months while the railway raised the funds – a very helpful gesture at a time when the Bluebell was desperately trying to raise money and negotiate to buy the line. The ‘Terrier’ – also the first of its class to enter service in 1872 – went on to a preservation career that has included restoration to original ‘A1’ condition, and it is now under overhaul again at Sheffield Park.
1964/5 LOVE WILL TEAR US APART
One of the most infamous events of the early years was when both Birch Grove and North London tank No. 2650 were hired to the firm charged with the dismantling of the line between Ardingly and East Grinstead. The failure of the contractor’s Ruston & Hornsby diesel shunter called for more resilient power, and so the two tank engines helped erase almost all trace of the remaining railway – one that the Bluebell would ironically rebuild over the next five decades.
The hires raised £1,500 by February 1965 – critical at the time when funds were urgently needed to purchase the Sheffield Park-Horsted Keynes line from BR.
1968 SITE SECURITY
After much tin-rattling and careful budgeting, the freehold of the line from Sheffield Park to Horsted Keynes was purchased for £43,000 in October 1968, which included the two stations and ten railway-owned staff cottages – six at Horsted Keynes and four at Sheffield Park.
1969 RAISING THE STANDARD?
Until now, all the locomotives acquired for the nascent preserved line had been of the tank engine and vintage variety. The first sign of change came in January 1969 with the arrival of its biggest machine yet – BR ‘Standard 4’ 4-6-0 No. 75027 – preserved straight from service, as one of the last engines in traffic at the end of steam in 1968. Though considered by many at the time to be far too big for the line, No. 75027 has subsequently proved itself to be a capable and useful performer through three ‘ten-year’ boiler certificates. Last steamed in 2007, it is now awaiting its turn in the works, but was given a full repaint in 2018.
1976 BLACKMOOR VALE IS FIRST BULLEID
As a working museum of the Southern Railway, the Bluebell would not be complete without a Bulleid ‘Pacific’, and it gained its first example with the arrival of ‘West Country’ No. 34023 Blackmore Vale – saved for preservation straight from BR service at the end of Southern steam in 1967. It went first to the ill-fated Longmoor Steam Railway, before that project folded and it moved to the Bluebell in 1971. Restored to Malachite green with its original identity of No. 21C123 Blackmoor Vale, it steamed for the first time in 1976 – the first of many Bulleids to make their home at, or visit, the line in the decades to come. It is now out of traffic, but a further overhaul is in prospect (see also 2000 entry).
1977 MAUNSELL ‘MOGUL’S’ DEBUT
Maunsell ‘U’ 2-6-0 No. 1618 arrived at the Bluebell on May 17 1977, the line’s first resident engine from Barry scrapyard (albeit not restored there – this task had been carried out at the Kent & East Sussex Railway, but as the locomotive was too heavy for that line at the time, it was allowed to stretch its legs at the Bluebell instead).
It was by no means the last ex-Barry engine to find sanctuary at the Sussex line; the following year, the railway went shopping in Dai Woodham’s yard for more, purchasing ‘S15’ No. 847, BR ‘Standard 4’ tank No. 80100 and ‘9F’ No. 92240 (see also 1990).
1982 BACK AFTER A CENTURY
The centenary of the opening of the original Lewes & East Grinstead Railway was a cause for major celebration and brought together 13 working engines from across the country. Two of the supporting ‘cold’ cast were 0-4-2 Gladstone (see also pages 82-85) and a hitherto little heard-of Manning Wardle 0-6-0ST No. 4 Sharpthorn. That engine, remarkably, was one of contractor Joseph Firbank’s locomotives used in the construction of the L&EGR. It means that the Bluebell is, perhaps uniquely, home to locomotives that both helped lay and lift its track!
Sharpthorn (a misspelling of the village and tunnel on the Bluebell) still resides on the railway today, albeit stored outside away from public view.
1983 FIRST IN THE ‘Q’
Another Maunsell engine – the humble but now unique ‘Q’ class 0-6-0 No. 541 – set a milestone for the Bluebell’s locomotive department when it returned to steam in 1983 – making it the first ex-Barry scrapyard engine to be restored at the line. Following a more recent overhaul, it is again part of the working fleet, this time in BR guise as No. 30541.
1990 FIRST BARRY ‘SPACESHIP’ STEAMS
Underlining just how far the railway had grown from its modest beginnings with small tank engines, it made another small piece of Barry history in 1990 with the return to steam of No. 92240 – the first ‘9F’ to be restored from the legendary scrapyard. Having later undergone further firebox work, the Riddles 2-10-0 was withdrawn in 2002 and has remained on static display since – but as reported in SR499, plans are afoot to raise funds for another overhaul.
1992 WEST HOATHLY RETURN
After an initial mile of extension was opened north of Horsted Keynes in 1990 (operated in pull-push fashion), Sharpthorne Tunnel and the site of West Hoathly station was reached two years later, ahead of the next push to Kingscote. Port Line was used to break the tape, with principal guest Sir Alastair Morton, chairman of Eurotunnel.
1994 KINGSCOTE BACK ON THE MAP
In 1994, the first stage of the railway’s northern extension was completed, to Kingscote station. This in itself was the culmination of almost a decade of hard work, the project having been given the green light in 1985 with the granting of the necessary Light Railway Order. Symbolically, tracklaying had commenced north of Horsted Keynes on March 13 1988, almost exactly 50 years since the last BR-era trains ran over the line.
Delightful station though Kingscote is (complete with rebuilt canopy on Platform 2 using the original pieces), with no car parking and the need for a bus link to East Grinstead, it could only ever be a stepping stone on the way to the latter…
1999 FINEST FILMING HOUR
Over the years, the Bluebell has provided an authentic backdrop to countless period films and TV dramas, with episodes of the hit series Downton Abbey being among its recent credits. But perhaps its finest hour on-screen came in 1999 when it was chosen as the location for Carlton Television’s production of Edith Nesbit’s classic The Railway Children. As well as Jenny Agutter (who also starred in the 1970 version, filmed at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway) the remake featured SECR ‘C’ No. 592, Birch Grove, and visiting North British ‘J36’ No. 673 Maude, as well as a brief appearance by ‘B4’ Normandy.
1999 ‘LOST’ ENGINE FOUND IN TIME FOR ANNIVERSARY
1999 marked the centenary of the formation of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway, and with its extensive collection of that company’s locomotives and stock, the Bluebell was well placed to celebrate the anniversary in style. The icing on the cake was the reappearance of ‘O1’ 0-6-0
No. 65, an engine that had been thought lost to preservation after being dismantled and spirited away to a secret location in 1983. As part of the celebrations, it double-headed with fellow SECR 0-6-0, ‘C’ class No. 592, as the two had done on the last train over the Hawkhurst branch in 1961.
2000/1 SUMMER COMES… TO THOSE WHO WAIT
For its ‘Giants of Steam’ weekend in October 2000, the Bluebell ran the first double-header of Malachite green Bulleid ‘Pacifics’ for almost 50 years, pairing Blackmoor Vale with visiting ‘Battle of Britain’ No. 34081 92 Squadron. Sadly, the weather did not show the ‘Southern Sunshine’ duo off at their best, but a repeat visit by 92 Squadron the following July provided the desired effect – a vibrant reminder of the optimistic dash that the Southern Railway cut amid the austerity of the late 1940s.
In 2007, four Bulleids starred at ‘Giants of Steam’, including visiting ‘West Countries’ Wadebridge and Eddystone, and 92 Squadron again.
EARLY 2000s FOUR BY FOURS
A new challenge was embarked upon with the aim of restoring a vintage train of LBSCR four–wheelers to match the ‘Terriers’. Stroudley First No. 661 was completed in 2004, with two further vehicles now at an advanced stage of restoration.
Progress however was overtaken by a trio of London, Chatham & Dover carriages, which were restored between 2006 and 2016, including wheelchair-accessible Third No. 3360.
The LBSCR and LCDR carriages currently combine as a four-coach set.
DOUBLE DUTCH 2002
A small number of locomotive exchanges between the Bluebell and the Netherlands’ 12-mile Stoomtram Hoorn-Medemblik culminated in an official twinning in 2002, with ‘Terrier’ No. 672 Fenchurch present for the ceremony. The first, and so far only other engine to make the cross-Channel journey was ‘P’ No. 323 ‘Bluebell’ in 1998.
2003/4 THE LAST PUSH… AND THE BIG DIG
In September 2003, the railway embarked on the final – and certainly the most difficult – stage of the extension to East Grinstead, as tracklaying commenced north of Kingscote. The following year, the railhead reached the edge of the biggest obstacle – Imberhorne Cutting, which following the railway’s closure had been used as a landfill site and now contained approximately 100,000 tons of domestic waste. Trains hauled by hired-in Ivatt ‘2MT’ No. 41312 took some of the spoil southwards to rebuild part of the embankment of the Ardingly branch, west of Horsted Keynes, and from 2010, the waste was removed northwards by rail also. Sufficient waste was cleared by March 2012, paving the way for the track to be relaid (higher than the original formation, because the cutting was not excavated to its full depth) and for the extension to open the following year (see 2013).
2006 MONDAY SHUNT DIESELISED
Forty-six years of total steam operation came to a sad end as a Class 08 shunter was brought in to replace retiring LSWR ‘B4’ Normandy. All of the railway’s passenger services, permanent way and shunting duties had been proudly carried out by steam since the very first day, but a shortage of suitable engines, especially to handle spoil trains from the south end of Imberhorne Tip on the northern extension, forced the Bluebell to admit defeat.
The weekly Monday shunt had, until July 2006, been the last regular steam-worked shunting operation anywhere in Britain, but that too became powered by internal combustion.
Diesels are now a common sight at the railway, from its first non-steam passenger train in 2009 to a full-blown ‘Deltic’ gala in 2015.
2006 BRIGHTON BREED
‘Terriers’ have been synonymous with the Bluebell right from the start and, in November 2006, the railway paid homage to the class by gathering five examples – half of the preserved total. As well as its own Stepney and Fenchurch, it shipped in No. 32678 from the Kent & East Sussex Railway, No. 662 from Bressingham and No. W8 Freshwater from the Isle of Wight Steam Railway – surpassing a previous gathering of four in 2000, with Stepney, Freshwater, No. 2678 and the IoWSR’s No. W11 Newport.
2010 SOUTH WESTERN SPLENDOUR
With so many exquisitely restored vintage carriages in operation at the Bluebell, it is difficult to pick out any particular highlights, but one was the completion of London & South Western Railway Lavatory Brake Third No. 1520, in March 2010. This 1910-built vehicle is one of only a handful of restored LSWR carriages, and one of only two passenger vehicles from that company that are operational.
The salmon and pink-liveried carriage and No. 488 later starred at the 150th anniversary of the former LSWR Shepperton station, Surrey, in September 2014 (pictured).
2013 EAST GRINSTEAD – WE’VE DONE IT!
The Bluebell’s biggest moment in recent years – indeed, arguably one of the biggest achievements in preservation history – came in March 2013 with the opening of the extension to East Grinstead. The symbolic ‘golden fishplate’ ceremony to complete the tracklaying (actually involving a white fishplate) took place on the 15th of that month, followed by the first members-only trains on the 16th/17th, and the official opening on the 23rd. Visiting ‘9F’ No. 92212 was the first steam locomotive through the excavated Imberhorne Cutting on March 16 – but, in an echo of the first train into Horsted Keynes in 1961, the first public train to East Grinstead was worked by three of the line’s earliest stalwarts: Stepney, ‘Bluebell’ and Birch Grove.
New-build ‘A1’ Tornado hauled the first incoming steam hauled charter in 50 years on September 10 2013 (see page 98).
2013 GOING UNDERGROUND
Another significant moment of 2013 involved part of the Bluebell’s rolling stock collection. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the London Underground network, a complete Metropolitan Railway train ran through the tunnels from Moorgate to Edgware Road and Earl’s Court, hauled by ‘E’ 0-4-4T No. 1 and including the Bluebell’s ‘Chesham’ carriages.
Other members of the vintage carriage fleet also appeared at King’s Cross with the ‘C’ class in 2015 for the filming of Wonder Woman.
2014 ALL CHANGE AT HORSTED
Perhaps somewhat overshadowed by the northern extension was another major project that cannot be allowed to pass without comment, and which was finally concluded in 2014 after more than a decade and a half of work. This was the resignalling of Horsted Keynes station, and the equally complex remodelling of its track layout. Started towards the end of the 1990s, it installed bidirectional signalling on all roads of the five-platform station, and also provided for the future reinstatement of services on the Ardingly branch. During this period, another long-running project at Horsted Keynes also came to fruition – the reconstruction of the canopy and buildings on platforms 1 and 2. This was completed in 2004 – 90 years after the LBSCR demolished them to improve sighting from the signal box.
2017 FLYING SOUTH
Celebrity ‘A3’ Flying Scotsman made its debut visit and, as at many of its destinations, all trains were sold out. The opportunity was taken to recreate a classic LNER publicity photograph with 15in gauge ‘Pacific’ Typhoon, which was brought in from the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway for the occasion.
2018 TWO STEPNEYS IN ‘STEAMWORKS!’
To anyone witnessing that first two-coach train with Stepney in 1960, the suggestion that the railway would one day build a full-size mock-up of the Stroudley ‘Terrier’ for a £1.5m museum would have seemed outlandish. But in 2018, the railway opened ‘Steamworks!’ (also known as ASH – the Accessible Steam Heritage project) – an improved exhibition shed for out-of-ticket locomotives, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to the tune of £1.1m. In addition to exhibits such as the Adams ‘Radial’ tank and ‘P’ No. 323 ‘Bluebell’, the real Stepney is on display along with a replica version, with a driving simulator and sectioned interior to show how the boiler works.
2019 THE ADAMS FAMILY
A trio of LSWR Adams design tank engines were brought together for the April Branch Line Weekend, featuring Isle of Wight ‘O2’ Calbourne, making only its second return trip to the mainland since 1925, alongside newly BR liveried ‘Radial’ No. 30583 (sponsored by Steam Railway) and ‘B4’ No. 30096 (nee Normandy).
The National Railway Museum’s Beattie well tank No. 30587 completed the one-off LSWR tank engine line-up.
2020 CARRIAGES UNDER COVER
As the railway enters its sixth decade, the developments and enhancements continue. Nearing completion at the time of writing is the fourth phase of ‘Operation Undercover’ – a multi-pronged scheme to get as much as possible of the railway’s valuable rolling stock out of the weather.
It started in the early years of the 21st century with an extension to the carriage workshops at Horsted Keynes, followed by the completion of the locomotive running shed at Sheffield Park, and then by a major new shed at the latter station housing 17 carriages – opened, along with an enhanced museum, in 2011.
The fourth phase was a storage shed at Horsted Keynes, which now provides accommodation for up to 20 carriages. A rolling stock museum building is proposed for the future.
EXCEPTIONAL LONGEVITY
To put the Bluebell’s diamond anniversary into further context, it’s also more than a decade longer than the entire existence of British Rail, which ran its last train in 1997 after a 49-year life. It’s more than double the lifespan of the ‘Big Four’, with the exception of the GWR. And it’s now not all that far short of the seven or eight decades that some of the longer-established preGrouping companies had lasted by 1923.
We can thus begin to foresee a time when, instead of celebrating the centenaries of its veteran locomotives or the formation of a pre-Grouping railway, the Bluebell will be marking its own 100th anniversary and milestones beyond…