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Bluebell Railway
Terrier
Gala - 2006
The weekend was primarily for the six members of the famous Terrier class but unfortunately the outcome was
that five made it to the event with Number 70 "Poplar" better known as "Bodiam"
failing due to a serious crack on the cylinder cover. Never-the-less the four
days had plenty of action with five Terriers sharing the load with a helping
hand from two other Brighton locomotives E4 No. 32473 and Standard Class 4 Tank
80154 (really 80151), also standing in for the missing Terrier was SECR O1 Class
No.65.
For the record the five Terriers
that worked throughout the weekend were Fenchurch No. 72, Martello No.62,
Stepney No.55, Newington No46 (known as Freshwater ) and Knowle No78. Friday
saw three freight runs from Freshwater during the day and she also participated
in
the evening photo shoot along with Knowle. The two larger Southern locomotives
ran on Saturday and Sunday with the E4 running on Monday as well.
The traffic was mixed with some
trains running between Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes with the newly
completed No.114 built in 1889 and LBSCR No.661 built in 1880. Horsted
Keynes to Kingscote was served by the Observation car No.1553 and a single
Terrier. These ran between the full service trains that double headed in various
configurations.
The final day saw a line up of all
the Terriers just north of the platforms at Horsted Keynes station, which was
witnessed by a large number of people as was the whole event. The Gala was again
a credit to the railway with the balance of keeping 120 year old
locomotives running and operating a full service coming together. The shorter
days left it tight for photography but when the sun shines at this time of year, it
is glorious.
(Click on picture to enlarge)
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