The Bluebell Railway is one of the first, and most famous, heritage railways having opened way back in 1960 (before I was born!) We've never holidayed in the area so this was my first visit.
Overall it's probably much like most railways I visit. It was busy, partly due to a large holiday party for which several coaches were reserved. For some reason the railway is based at Sheffield Park when in truth Horsted Keynes (apparently pronounced as canes not keens) would have been a better location.
The train journey from Sheffield Park to East Grinstead doesn't have all that much to recommend it, although you do go from East to West just after setting off as you cross the Greenwich Meridian but that's about as exciting as it gets!
One plus point is that you are allowed to wander round the engine sheds, the contrast of locos in both size and condition is incredible. There are tiny tank engines in good condition right up to a 9F (about as big as general use locos got in the UK) in need of a lot of restoration.
It's understandable that the bulk of their repair and restoration efforts have to go on locos that will be useful to them, but that does mean that older, less efficient, tank engines are being neglected.
The catering was less successful, they may have been caught out by numbers but by the time I got in to the buffet there was a very limited choice of sandwiches available and I'd already decide I didn't want a hot meal.
Horsted Keynes is probably the most famous station on the heritage railways, and has featured in many films and TV series (I think it's Platform 2 that's regularly seen in Downtown). To get off the train there would have left me a 2 1/2 hour wait for the next service so I decided to drive up to get some photos and try the advertised buffet there instead. The guide leaflet didn't mention this is only open on weekends! As it happened they were doing some maintenance work so had turned the coffee machine on, at least I got something to drink.
The carriage works at HK have a good viewing gallery so you can see the work being carried out, I wish more railways would provide this level of access. The handrail across one part is made up of the different woods they use in the restoration work, with a note about how and where they fit in, an excellent idea.
There was also a demonstration panel and description of scumbling (artificially decorating cheap wood to look like something more expensive). This was a common technique in railways, canal boat decoration and domestic settings, our grandpa grained the interior doors in the house. Some years ago we were lucky to have a tour of the "hidden" parts of Bristol Temple Meads station including the GWR Boardroom. This had recently been restored, with scumbled panelling which, according to the tour guide, "Only 7 people in the country can do!" We called her out on this, saying there are plenty of people, including the boat painter who'd recently finished our pews at church. "Oh but this is grade 2 listed" she said. We pointed out the church is grade 2* (but didn't say there'd been quite a debate on how glossy the finish should be).
Still being in need of sustenance, and the 'van stocks being deliberately run down, I did pick up a nice fresh sandwich in the village shop then found a quiet car park to sit and eat it in. Had I been thinking I'd have headed back to a cafe near the caravan site as I've got a voucher for a free cheese toastie, it's an advertising trick to get you to buy their cheese, but I didn't think of it at the time.
Tomorrow it's through the Dartford Tunnel to the marina in Essex for the river festival, it'll be a lot easier in 20 years or so when they build the next bridge a few miles downstream of the existing crossing but for now it means tackling the M25 unfortunately.
No comments:
Post a Comment