The Bluebell Railway has left the starting blocks with the two-mile western extension that will link it with the London-Brighton main line at Haywards Heath, thereby realising its 60-year ambition to become a through route.
Two public consultation sessions were held at Ardingly on September 9/10, to set out the proposals, which have been submitted to Mid-Sussex District Council.
They entail reinstalling the missing link from Horsted Keynes to the operational Network Rail-owned branch from Copyhold Junction to Hanson Aggregates (Ardingly).
It is hoped to gain approval early in 2023 to proceed to the next stage - a request to the Government for a Transport & Works Act Order, which will allow construction to begin.
However, no price estimate has so far been published, and there has been no explanation of where the many millions will come from. Recruiting a Parliamentary agent alone could cost around £500,000.
To read the full story, see RAIL 966
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Güntürk Üstün - 06/11/2022 22:31
Built by London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, and opened in 1882, then closed to train traffic in 1958; the Bluebell Railway's preservation history began in 1960 with its re-opening to the public between Sheffield Park and Bluebell Halt. It is the first preserved standard gauge steam-operated passenger railway in the world to operate a public service. The 11 mi (17.7 km) heritage line almost entirely in West Sussex in England, except for Sheffield Park which is in East Sussex. It uses steam trains which operate between Sheffield Park and East Grinstead, with intermediate stations at Horsted Keynes and Kingscote. Dr. Güntürk Üstün
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Güntürk Üstün - 06/11/2022 22:31
Today the Bluebell Railway is managed and run largely by volunteers within the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society. 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 era. In 2010, the Bluebell Railway is twinned with the Museumstoomtram Hoorn – Medemblik, which links Hoorn and Medemblik, North Holland, the Netherlands. Dr. Güntürk Üstün
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