TOURING : UK SPECIAL , which houses the INFORMATION View from the footbridge at Sheffield Park station Bluebell’s carriage and wagon workshop SITE and a variety of exhibitions, recreates the Full details of Broomfield atmosphere of a station from the 1920s, the Farm (right) and Gatwick heyday of rail travel. Viewers of Downton Caravan Club Sites can be Abbey may well recognise this station, found on p68 and p76 of which has also been used in the new the Sites Directory & Handbook 2013/14 Railway Children film. . To book, call 01342 327490 The terminus offers a or see caravanclub.co.uk/ lovely café in an old train carriage which searchandbook. gives a flavour of bygone days alongside the modern mainline station – it is hoped that a more substantial heritage building can be FIRE HER UP! built over the coming seasons. You can almost The Bluebell is open every day from smell the steam! the last weekend in March to the end of October. During the rest of the year you can visit during weekends and school holidays. Between three and six locomotives run daily with more on special event days, when local history re-enactment groups and vintage vehicle owners provide a real sense of occasion. As you’d expect, the Bluebell Railway has a comprehensive collection of locomotives, from Fenchurch, an LB&SCR A1 Class Stroudley Terrier dating from 1872 to the huge Sir Archibald Sinclair, a SR West Country and Battle of Britain Class engine designed for the Southern Railway in the 1940s. This particular locomotive was rescued from scrappage in 1979 minus her . She was restored and a new tender built from scratch for her at Sheffield Park. One of the best times to visit is during DID YOU April and May, when the flowers after KNOW? The Bluebell Railway which the line is named are in bloom. But has a collection of approximately 150 Full whenever you visit, you are sure to come carriageswagons. and away with wonderful memories and a smile on your face. ■ Sheffield See bluebell-railway.co.uk for Park Station further details GOING LOCO! steamSuzanne Reid makes tracks for The aptly-named Bluebell the Bluebell Railway in West Photos: by kind permission ahead to enjoy a trip back in time of The Bluebell Railway t the end of March this year, remains of a line once linking East Metropolitan Line coaches from Sheffield are thinking of visiting the railway at its the Bluebell Railway Grinstead and . The line was closed Park to the capital to take part in the 100th northern end, the closest Club site to East celebrated its long-awaited in 1958 but the Bluebell Railway anniversary of the opening of the Grinstead is Gatwick, about a 20-minute return to East Grinstead in Preservation Society managed to reopen Underground. The coaches were hauled a drive away. which, a section heading northwards from short distance by steam in a replica run of Aincidentally, is the home town of The Sheffield Park as early as 1962. the first trains in 1913. TIME TRAVEL Caravan Club. This heritage line’s best The Club’s Broomfield Farm site near By 1994 the heritage line had been At 11 miles, the Bluebell Railway is one of coaches and engines were all pressed into East Hoathly is conveniently close to extended as far as Kingscote but there had the longest heritage lines in the country. It action for a gala event which lasted a Sheffield Park where you’ll find a gift shop always been ambitions to return to East has four stations, each of which has been Ordnance Survey Landranger Map 187 fortnight, as train enthusiasts from miles and museum as well as workshops where Grinstead, the original northern terminus. restored to represent a different period in around came to drink in the nostalgia that carriages and other rolling stock await Following years of hard work by the railway’s history: for example, visitors only steam locomotives can offer. restoration from expert volunteers . fundraisers and volunteers, the Bluebell are whisked back to Victorian times at The Bluebell, which meanders through On a visit with my son earlier this year, Railway platform at East Grinstead was Sheffield Park, while Kingscote models a the Sussex countryside, runs on the two low-loaders were in the yard taking formally opened in September 2010. If you late-1940s look.

28 www.caravanclub.co.uk December 2013 The Caravan Club Magazine 29