Bluebell Giants of Steam

The bus that brought us here (left) and the bus that took us home (right)

Bluebell's Giants of Steam usually this clashes with the ELR Autumn Steam Gala, but this year I was able to get there, hot-footing it from my Euro trip (blog to follow). It was also one of the few days that free vintage bus rides were available, So I joined Pete and Lisa at St Peter's church to flag one down, just after mid-day.

925 Cheltenham

For the record, the locos in steam were:

Visiting locomotives:

• Schools Class No. 925 Cheltenham.
• LNER A4 Class No. 4464 Bittern (from the Mid Hants Railway and going out of service after this event for overhaul!)

73082 Camelot

Bluebell locos:

• Southern Railway S15 Class No. 847
• Southern Railway Q Class No. 30541
• British Railways Standard Class 5 No. 73082 Camelot
• South Eastern & Chatham Railway H Class No. 263

4464 Bittern

We arrived just in time to catch the 13.30 to East Grinstead, hauled by Cheltenham, and we joined Tarquin and Tamsin, who had been there all day. Pete and Lisa went to explore East Grinstead and we returned to Horsted Keynes to photograph Camelot (I'd never seen in steam before) and Bittern. Then it was onto a train pulled by 847 back to Sheffield Park, a quick look round the sheds where another tank (H Class 263) was in steam,  and home on a different bus just as it was getting dark.

847