The Bluebell Railway is very good. Has a lot of other things going on too, besides the steam engines! :) (Good real ale as well!!)
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Don’t cry for me
I go where music was born
J S Bach 1685-1750 -
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Ah thank youDP!! Might see you there one day then!Originally posted by Don Petter View PostDon’t cry for me
I go where music was born
J S Bach 1685-1750Comment
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<< Originally Posted by Don Petter
Let’s face it, the only place you can’t see the engines and trains is on board one, so it seems little loss once you have ridden on another occasion.>>
Originally posted by mangerton View PostOh, I don't know!
At the risk of grit in one's eyes..... Here are two I took earlier. One at the weekend, and the other - for saly - five years ago at the BF in Wales.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/59411788/BF.jpg
I like your pics, manger, and I have taken quite a few from on board trains as well. (One time that the bends are a good thing.) Here is one on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch:
On the Bluebell, it sometimes helps if you stand on the roof:
And if you do sit in the carriage, you might miss one like this as the loco runs round:
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DonPetter:
I see you are a Sussex wallah. Have you tried the Spa Valley Railway that runs just over the border in Kent from Eridge to Tunbridge Wells West? Its a sweet little 20 minute chuff through High Rocks and lands you more or less on the doorstep of The Pantiles.
By chance I met an old school chum - some 50 years after we last saw each other - on one of those Steam Dream excursions down to Weymouth. He told me that he volunteered on the Spa Valley line as a fireman and would I like a trip on the footplate? Oh yes says I and duly turned up one sunny Saturday. Squeezed into a corner of the cab I was amazed at the amount of physical work involved in getting even a small engine fired up and moving. On this particular day we travelled tender first (backwards) to Tunbridge Wells and the coal dust from the tender swirled through the cab. By the time I got to Tunbridge Wells I was a candidate for the dusky half of the Black and White minstrel show.
O Wort, du Wort, das mir Fehlt!Comment
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Whilst Bill Hoole was one of the "legends" of the steam era on BR/ECML metals he wasn't alone. Many of those highly skilled men on the footplates of those peaks of steam engine engineering, the vast majority from working class backgrounds who worked their way to the top of their profession through skill and endurance, also deserve some recognition. Where are they all, surely there were many more than Hoole? Where are the Hooles of the GWR or of the LMS?
One other that has found his way into legendary status through publication of memoires was Bert Hooker of the Southern railway. He and Hoole were typical of the age and type, proud of their achievement and of their profession. We forget nowadays what comfort drivers of EMU/DMU rolling stock work in, protected by 'Elf and Safety etc. We know they have to know the rule book backwards but the extra dimensions of knowledge and experience needed to drive at Top Link status those Leviathans of the steam age were something else.Comment
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Bax,Originally posted by Bax-of-Delights View PostDonPetter:
I see you are a Sussex wallah. Have you tried the Spa Valley Railway that runs just over the border in Kent from Eridge to Tunbridge Wells West? Its a sweet little 20 minute chuff through High Rocks and lands you more or less on the doorstep of The Pantiles.
By chance I met an old school chum - some 50 years after we last saw each other - on one of those Steam Dream excursions down to Weymouth. He told me that he volunteered on the Spa Valley line as a fireman and would I like a trip on the footplate? Oh yes says I and duly turned up one sunny Saturday. Squeezed into a corner of the cab I was amazed at the amount of physical work involved in getting even a small engine fired up and moving. On this particular day we travelled tender first (backwards) to Tunbridge Wells and the coal dust from the tender swirled through the cab. By the time I got to Tunbridge Wells I was a candidate for the dusky half of the Black and White minstrel show.
Yes, I've been on the Spa Valley. (Less than half an hour from here.)
Much enjoyed. I have a thing about J94 saddle tanks, as there were several on the Longmoor Military Railway, very near to where I was brought up, and I have all three of the Hornby versions. So it was a plus that the engine of the day, 'Ugly' was a closely related 0-6-0 saddle tank.
Another nice feature was the station at Eridge, shared with the current Southern network. The only slight disappointment was the limited, narrow, platform at Tunbridge Wells West which made photography rather difficult. The other facilities at that end were not very extensive but quite pleasant. I envy you the footplate ride, which have been quite an experience!
It's about time we visited High Rocks again, which is an intermediate station. There can't be many 'pleasure gardens' left, and I remember trying to climb some of the rather vegetated chimneys many years ago.Comment
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The Kingsbridge branch from South Brent to Kingsbridge in Devon. For most of the 12 miles this delightful branch line followed the River Avon until just after Loddiswell when it climbed up to Sorley Tunnel before descending into Kingsbridge (For Salcombe). It became known as the 'Primrose Line.'Comment
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Thank you, Don. Yes, bends are a great help when taking pics on board, and the smaller radii of narrow gauge lines make it easier still. It also helps of course to occupy the rear of the train. I have some pics of locos running round, and also some taken when passing in a loop.Originally posted by Don Petter View Post
I like your pics, manger, and I have taken quite a few from on board trains as well. (One time that the bends are a good thing.) Here is one on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch:
On the Bluebell, it sometimes helps if you stand on the roof:
And if you do sit in the carriage, you might miss one like this as the loco runs round:
http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/...Wainwright.jpg
Btw - on the roof? Really? You wouldn't perchance be using a footbridge? What would Mr Elfin Safety have to say?
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Originally posted by mangerton View PostBtw - on the roof? Really? You wouldn't perchance be using a footbridge?
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We hope to visit Kent next year. The steam railway that runs by Bodium Castle, thats part of the one from @Tenterdon?Don’t cry for me
I go where music was born
J S Bach 1685-1750Comment
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Hmm ... perhaps we should have taken five coaches today. It's looking rather full.Comment
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Yes, Tenterden Town through to Bodiam. In fact Tenterden was about the only station that actually served a largish community and was sited close enough for people to walk to the station. When one realises how remote some of the stations were it is little wonder that the lines lost foot traffic and became financially insolvent once coal, milk and farm supplies switched to road.Originally posted by Brassbandmaestro View Post
Here's a nice couple of youtube films showing the last days of the Paddock Wood-Hawkhurst branch line in 1961.
O Wort, du Wort, das mir Fehlt!Comment
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Thanks for these lovely clips, B-o-D. They prompted me to do a search, which, to my delight, has come up with footage of a line we all knew as the Cranleigh Flyer, which I was very familiar with as a nipper attending school in leafy Surrey. The single line connected Guildford with Horsham. By the time these were made the old fusty, creaky wooden rolling stock with its pictures on board showing Edwardian ladies and gentlemen at the seaside which I remember so well had obviously been replaced, along with the engine with its very long funnel; but that train could knock up a good 60 miles an hour on the straighter sections of track.Originally posted by Bax-of-Delights View PostYes, Tenterden Town through to Bodiam. In fact Tenterden was about the only station that actually served a largish community and was sited close enough for people to walk to the station. When one realises how remote some of the stations were it is little wonder that the lines lost foot traffic and became financially insolvent once coal, milk and farm supplies switched to road.
Here's a nice couple of youtube films showing the last days of the Paddock Wood-Hawkhurst branch line in 1961.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeOH33FHmrs
To save time, the additional two clips show the same material - not all of which btw is of just that line. The trains, with their green livery, seemed to nestle more harmoniously into the landscapes than todays counterparts
I must now have a search for footage of the G 'n' T Line, which connected Marks Tey in Essex with Sudbury and beyond in Suffolk.Comment
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Oh, please tell us more, S_A. That sounds so much more sustaining than watercress or bluebells.Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
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