Bluebell Railway

Bluebell Railway
British Railways Standard Class 4 No. 80151 and its train are seen at Horsted Keynes
TerminusEast Grinstead
Commercial operations
Built byLondon, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Original gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Preserved operations
Operated byBluebell Railway Preservation Society
Stations4
Length11 mi (17.7 km)
Preserved gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Commercial history
Opened1 August 1882
Closed17 March 1958
Preservation history
1960Re-opens to the public between Sheffield Park and Bluebell Halt
1962Extension opens from Bluebell Halt to Horsted Keynes
1994Extension to Kingscote re-opened
2013Extension to East Grinstead re-opened
HeadquartersSheffield Park station
Bluebell Railway
Legend
Oxted line
to Hurst Green
St Margaret's Junction
Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line
to Three Bridges │ to Groombridge
 E. Grinstead H.L. (1883) │
Second Station (1866)
Original Station (1855)
E. Grinstead Low Level (1882)
East Grinstead National Rail (1970)
│ Goods yard
East Grinstead
(
Bluebell
Railway
) (2013)
National
Rail
┇
Bluebell
Railway
Imberhorne Viaduct
Imberhorne cutting
 Kingscote
River Medway
 West Hoathly
Sharpthorne Tunnel (
731 yd
668 m
)
 Horsted Keynes
Ardingly spur
Current limit of operation
Sheriff Mill Viaduct (demolished)
Lywood Tunnel (
218 yd
199 m
)
 Ardingly
(now aggregates depot)
Brighton Main Line
to Three Bridges
Copyhold Junction
 Haywards Heath
National Rail
Brighton Main Line
to Wivelsfield
River Ouse
 Bluebell Halt
Holywell Waterworks
Freshfield Halt
Ketches Halt
Sheffield Park
Newick and Chailey
Cinder Hill Tunnel
 Barcombe
Wealden Line to Uckfield
Culver Junction
East Coastway line
to Wivelsfield
Hamsey Loop (closed 1868)
River Ouse
Lewes Tunnel (
395 yd
361 m
)
River Ouse
 Lewes National Rail
East Coastway line
to Brighton
East Coastway line
to Eastbourne and Hastings
&
Seaford branch line
to Seaford

The Bluebell Railway is an 11 mi (17.7 km) heritage line in West Sussex in England. It is managed by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society.[1] It uses steam trains which operate between Sheffield Park and East Grinstead, with intermediate stations at Horsted Keynes and Kingscote.

It is the first preserved standard gauge steam-operated passenger railway in the world to operate a public service.[1] The society ran its first train on 7 August 1960, less than three years after the line from East Grinstead to Lewes had been closed by British Railways.[1]

On 23 March 2013, the Bluebell Railway started to run through to its new East Grinstead terminus station.[2] At East Grinstead there is a connection to the national rail network, the first connection of the Bluebell Railway to the national network in 50 years, since the Horsted Keynes – Haywards Heath line closed in 1963.

Today the railway is managed and run largely by volunteers. Having preserved a number of steam locomotives even before steam stopped running on British mainline railways in 1968, today it has over 30 steam locomotives, the 2nd largest collection in the UK after the National Railway Museum.[1] The Bluebell also has almost 150 carriages and wagons, most of them pre-1939.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference Welch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Sussex sees first steam train on extended Bluebell Railway". BBC News. 23 March 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2013.