Bluebell Railway
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. It uses steam trains which operate between Sheffield Park and East Grinstead, with intermediate stations at Horsted Keynes and Kingscote.
| Bluebell Railway | |
|---|---|
British Railways Standard Class 4 No. 80151 and its train are seen at Horsted Keynes | |
| Terminus | East Grinstead |
| Commercial operations | |
| Built by | London, Brighton and South Coast Railway |
| Original gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Preserved operations | |
| Operated by | Bluebell Railway Preservation Society |
| Stations | 4 |
| Length | 11 mi (17.7 km) |
| Preserved gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Commercial history | |
| Opened | 1 August 1882 |
| Closed | 17 March 1958 |
| Preservation history | |
| 1960 | Re-opens to the public between Sheffield Park and Bluebell Halt |
| 1962 | Extension opens from Bluebell Halt to Horsted Keynes |
| 1994 | Extension to Kingscote re-opened |
| 2013 | Extension to East Grinstead re-opened |
| Headquarters | Sheffield Park station |
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It is the first preserved standard gauge steam-operated passenger railway in the world to operate a public service. 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.
On 23 March 2013, the Bluebell Railway started to run through to its new East Grinstead terminus station. 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. The Bluebell also has almost 150 carriages and wagons, most of them pre-1939.