We were due to be busy this weekend helping our brother-in-law with his bouncy castle business but due to expected rain we found some time on our hands. Originally we were going to head of to Knowle House in Kent, but after seeing an advert in the local paper we decided to head of to the Bluebell Railway instead.
This weekend was a special event with a Southern at War theme. The highlight for us was to be a fly past of a Dakota at Horsted Keynes during Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately the weather was a bit overcast so this had been cancelled.
This didn't stop our enjoyment of the day which started early from Sheffield Park. After a visit to the engine shed, we then boarded the train.
Many years ago, I was one of the volunteers at the Bluebell Railway and worked on many of the carriages. However in all my years working there, I never once travelled on the Observation Car (see below).
For only a £1 supplement, we were able to view the line as we travelled all the way to Kingscote. Once there, we spent a short while looking at all the attractions before heading back to Horsted Keynes.
A number of different 'situations' had been set up here, and it was great seeing all the people getting dressed up and into the spirit of the occasion. We had the Home Guard doing they bayonet practice on one of the platforms, a gun emplacement configured at the end of another platform, and a number of demonstrations of vehicles, air raid shelters and cooking with minimal ingredients.
After viewing all the 'shows' we then headed back to Sheffield Park to collect the car. All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable day, and reminded me of why I loved working there, and the thrill the engines gave as they travelled the line. Hopefully my favourite engine (75027) will be overhauled soon as I'll once again be able to travel the line behind it.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the Giants in Steam weekend in October when Tornado will be making a visit.
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