Hello there Warren, the Metropolitan Railway carriages were used on the main line between Baker Street - Harrow on The Hill - Amersham - Aylesbury and then during their later years were used on the Chalfont & Latimer - Chesham branch line. There is a regular hourly bus service, Route 270 run by Metrobus, which links Haywards Heath with Horsted Keynes on weekends. Following the extension of the Bluebell Railway north of Kingscote to East Grinstead in March 2013, there are now no bus service to Kingscote station. Both British Railways 2-10-0 Class 9F No. 92240 and Southern Railway 4-6-2 West Country Class No. 34023 'Blackmoor Vale' actually require heavy general overhauls with work needing to be undertaken on the boiler (replacing the tubes and checking the thickness of the boiler), firebox, cylinders, motion parts (including connecting rods) and wheels. Best wishes and take care. Kind regards, Peter Skuce, St Albans. Hertfordshire.
Hey Peter, this is another great set of notes. I really appreciate the trouble you have gone to adding this. I used to live on the Met line and remember the A60 stock. They were my daily train link to school. Long gone now, of course. I hadn't realised the bus service to Kinscote has changed. Has it really been 10 years since the EG extension.... I remember when the first short extension was laid north of Horsted Keynes. I was one of the first guards to operate the push-pull service out from HK, up the short piece of track. The maintenance demands on these old locos is intense, and very expensive. Thank you again for your notes, Warren :)
Great to hear from you! I have been visiting the Bluebell Railway for about 50 years. My dad used to take me as a little kid. Then about 35 years ago I started working as a guard and managed just over 10 years doing that but when my parent got sick it just got too much to cope with. I still go as regularly as I can and absolutely love each day I go! I visited again more recently during the Giants of Steam - I hope you like that video as well (see the my Heritage Railways playlist). Take care and maybe see you along there next year. All the best for 2023. Warren
The history behind the Metropolitan carriages is fascinating. Most heritage railways have a collection of standard old carriages but this set are unique! Thanks for your support, cheers, Warren :)
The men at the Blue Bell Railway are wearing the old Conductors uniform’s, so much smarter than what people wear in today’s world, they should really bring them back.
Ahh well, I was a bit worried you would rant at me! Nahh, I had an idea you were close there somewhere but it was a last minute plan to do a visit so didn't contact you. I will be back later in the year and maybe we could met up. I think Mr CLB would like a trackside camp location too sometime! Might be something different to do a camp during an afternoon with "toot toot" and "chuff chuff" in the background! Cheers mate, Warren :)
Oh my goodness, thank you for this. I have been visiting the railway since I was about 10, so about 50 years, and I have probably been saying it wrongly all that time. I will try my hardest to get it right in the future but, sorry, I have another video due out in a few weeks which I filmed a while ago at the Bluebell. Forgive me for saying it wrongly in that. Cheers, Warren :)
