Bluebell Railway 1905 H Class Steam Locomotive 263 returns to service

 

H Class 263 of 1905

 After a number of years out of service, the Bluebell Railway's 1905 built H Class steam locomotive 263, built in Ashford, Kent for the South Eastern & Chatham Railway, returned to service this past weekend. To celebrate, the Bluebell Railway which is in Sussex and has a large collection of Victorian and Edwardian locomotives and rolling stock, had a bit of a mini-event.

 

H Class 263 and C Class 592 lead a train out of Sheffield Park

 

Train consisting of 1900 built Metropolitan Railway coaches led by P Class 323 and E4 Class B473

Five locomotives were in service, the oldest dating form 1877 and the youngest from 1910. They were;

1877 built 'Captain Baxter' Fletcher Jennings built 0-4-0T industrial tank engine

1898 built London, Brighton & South Coast Railway (LBSCR) number B473 0-6-2T E4 Class tank engine (originally numbered 473 and named 'Birch Grove' in 1920's Southern Railway olive green

1902 built South Eastern & Chatham Railway (SECR) number 592 0-6-0 C Class tender engine in original SECR livery

1905 built South Eastern & Chatham Railway (SECR) number 263 0-4-4T H Class tank engine in original SECR livery

1910 built South Eastern & Chatham Railway (SECR) number 323 0-6-0T P class tank engine 'Bluebell' in preservation Bluebell Railway blue livery, similar to the original SECR livery

 

E4 Class B473 of 1898

 

P Class 323 'Bluebell' of 1910

Another 1910 built P class, 178, was also due to operate but unfortunately came out of service with a problem the week beforehand. Most of the carriages used were built in the Victorian or Edwardian era. More photos will follow of the individual Edwardian engines and rolling stock, so these serve as a taster for a superb preserved railway with a great late Victorian/Edwardian atmosphere and is well worth a visit, especially with such a large number of Edwardian era locomotives in use. Out of all the preserved railways in the UK there's very few where you can ride in wooden Victorian/Edwardian carriages, and especially behind a suitable locomotive too

 

C Class 592 of 1902

 

B473 getting a top-up of water

1877 built 'Captain Baxter' with P Class 'Bluebell'

South Shields Ferry, 1911

This is a scale model of the South Shields, a twin screw vehicular ferry built by Wood, Skinner and Company Ltd in Gateshead. It operated ferry services between North Shields and South Shields, originally owned by the Tyne Improvement Commission, on the River Tyne from 1911 up until the 1970's

Rowley Railway Station, 1913

 This old photograph in my collection, most likely dating from the 1990's, shows the recreated North Eastern Railway Station at Beamish Open Air Museum, using the relocated Rowley Station, and showing a Railway Station of 1913. The green locomotive is a North Eastern Railway C Class 876, more often known as a J21 class Locomotive, which is now awaiting restoration to working order - http://www.lclt.org.uk/ For more information on the recreated North Eastern Railway Station at Beamish, see these dedicated posts;
 http://electric-edwardians.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/north-eastern-railway-goods-shed-1913.html
 http://electric-edwardians.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/north-eastern-railway-signal-box-1913.html
 http://electric-edwardians.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/north-eastern-railway-station-1913.html

Foster Traction Engine 2821 'Beryl', 1903

This typical late Victorian/Edwardian Traction Engine 'Beryl' was built by Fosters of Lincoln in 1903, makers number 2821. Traction Engines of this type were typically used on farms to power machinery such as threshing machines, saws etc, as well as able to tow machinery or wagons, as opposed to employing large numbers of horses. It is on display at the Bressingham Steam Museum, Diss, Norfolk

French Railway Poster Paris to London, 1904

French poster advertising fast trains between Paris and London, 1904. A reproduction of the poster can be bought from - http://www.past-reflections.co.uk/Paris_to_London.html

Explore Shackleton and Scott's Antarctic Expedition Huts

Thanks to google it's possible to use 360 degree photographs to see the interior of the Shackleton and Scott Antarctic Expedition huts, which still have most of the original clothing, food stuffs etc there from over a hundred years ago, almost identical to how they were left - see below;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18868354

http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/become-antarctic-explorer-with.html

BSA Motorcycle, 1911

Hawthorn & Leslie 0-4-0ST Steam Locomotive No 2, 1911

This is Hawthorn & Leslie 0-4-0ST (ST meaning 'Saddle Tank', meaning the water tank sits like a saddle around the top of the boiler) No 2, built in 1911 at their Forth Bank Works at Newcastle-upon-Tyne for Keighley Corporation Gas Department in the West Riding of Yorkshire where it received the number 2 in their fleet. In 1940 it went to the Ministry of Supply to work at the Royal Ordnance Factory at Dumfries, Scotland. It then worked at various munitions factories, Grangeston in Girvan, Ayrshire from 1949-1954, then Powfoot, Annan, Dumfriesshire from 1949-1976 (where it was again numbered No 2), before entering preservation in 1976 when it arrived at the Tanfield Railway.

 The locomotive does not have a rear to the upper half of the cab meaning it is possible to view the goings-on on the footplate when in use. It is seen here in the later stages of an overhaul, later on the day this was took it was moved outside in preparation for it's overhauled boiler, seen undergoing a steam test here; http://www.tanfield-railway.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/hl-no2-steam-test.html 

 Hopefully No 2 will be back in service soon and i'll have a photograph of the entire locomotive in action

Southampton Corporation Tramways Tram 45, 1903

This is Southampton Tram No 45, built in 1903 by Hurst Nelson for the Southampton Corporation Tramways, and is a typical double deck, open top electric Tram of the Edwardian era as seen in most large towns and cities in the UK. After many years of service, it was retired in 1949, and promptly bought by the Light Railway Transport League after a tour of Southampton's Tramway network. It is slightly lower than most Trams of this type as it had to be able to go under the Bargate arch in Southampton, which restricted the size of the Tram. It also, to cater for this restriction, has the seats on the top deck located down the centre of the Tram facing outwards, this is called 'knifeboard' style. The upper deck placed strain on the Tram's body which, as originally built, the three windows on each side, so within four years Tram 45 and the 11 other Southampton Trams of the same design were rebuilt with four windows on each side as seen today, so Tram 45 now represents it's 1907 (at the latest) condition onwards.

This was the first Tram to be privately preserved in the UK and kick-started the preservation of Trams. The Wikipedia page for the Southampton Tram network has a good description and images of the problems faced by the Bargate arch, and how they were overcome - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southampton_Corporation_Tramways

Watch 'The Acrobatic Fly', 1910

Pretty self-explanatory title - an acrobatic fly, propped up on the end of a match stick, filmed in 1910