The Bluebell Line.....

We found a buyer for the caravan so we decided to have a day out, and as we have never been to the Bluebell Railway we headed of for East Grinstead and Sheffield Park Station. The engine sheds were great as I am an Engineer first and Production Manager (EX) second, it was great to see some of the engines being worked upon in the machine shop.

The museum is good too, for this was the first preserved railway in Britain, it shut as a British Rail Line in 1958, after a long battle to save it when it was ear marked for closure in 1955, long before Dr Becham came along in the mid '60's. The Southern steam loco's were very distinctive with their green Livery and much smaller engine that those on God's Wonderful Railway (GWR), no King and A4 Pacific classes here. They did have the Golden Arrow, a stream liner that did the Southern Coastal runs, the Bluebell Line still uses this as an attraction, but we didn't see any large engines that were working today, just this little one here.

I think we will return for a longer trip on this, perhaps we will take little Maddi for another train ride.