Blue bell Railway celebrates Diamond Jubilee with first post-lockdown services
THE Blue bell Railway returned to public operation on August 7 for the first time sincelate-March. And it wasjust in time to celebratethe railway's preservation Diamond Jubilee, albeit in a lowerkeythan originally envisaged. That Friday should have been the start of the line'sSteaming Through60 anniversary weekend:a grand galawith trains running every 40 minutes. Under stand ablyh,o sting such an eventwasnot an option in the current circumstances a, nd the railway has re scheduled it for August6-8 nextyear.
Inspections
Nevertheless, ta ff and volunteershad beenpreparing the railwayfor reopening from mid-July,completing the all-important locomotive boiler exams, carriage and infrastructure inspections, and implementing measures requiredto complywith the Government' s C ovid -19 guidance.
The opening weekend might not havebeenthe party that had beenhopedfor, but just beingableto runtrainsagain wascausefor celebrationin its own right.
Thefirst train of the day on Friday7th wasthe 09.00 departurefrom SheffieldPark, hauledbySECR'Ol'0-6-0 No .65. This was the' Pioneer; a special members' train, formed of ex-Metropolitan Railway compartment stock, which had incident ally sold out within 10 minutesof ticketsgoing on sale. It waswavedoff by six-yearold AlexVenton,who had donated his pocket money to the railway' s recovery appeal. TheAshford-built'01'was suitably adorned with a special 60 th anniversary head board and commemorative route indicator disc,and ranasfar asKingscote, laterreturningto SheffieldPark. Alsoin steamwasBR'4MT' 2-6-4TNo.80151,which was primarily allocated to the Mkl dining servicesand worked between Horst ed Keynes and Kingscotet,hen backdown the line to Sheffield Park before returningto HorstedKeynes.
Hot
Theweekendturned out to be one of the hottestof the yearso far, with temperatures hitting 33° at timesin that part of the South EastT. his,togetherwith the corona virus access restrictions, mayhavehadan impacton the numberof peoplewho turned out to witnessthe railway's long-awaitedcomebacka, s therewasno publicaccessto the stationswithout beingeithera travelleror rosteredto work. The railway plans to operate public trains every weekend throughout the restof 2020, together with its dining services. Plans are also being drawn up for a specialtransport-themed eventat the endof October.