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BLUEBELL RAILWAY
PICTURES INDEX
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Before the Bluebell Railway
can achieve its aim of reattaching itself to the main line at East
Grinstead they have to remove the rubbish that was used to fill in a
300 metre cutting more than 30 years ago. If they don't complete the
job by April 2012 they will probably never get there as a tax
concession will expire and the cost will skyrocket from the present £2
Million or so to perhaps £10 Million or even more! If you can help
please do consider making a donation. For details
www.bluebell-railway.co.uk . In the mean time I hope to
publish pictures of the work as it progresses. Please bookmark this
page and look back frequently. There is now an appeal video here:
http://www.youtu.be/1HDeMmn-0J8 |
In all the following pictures south is to the
left and north to the right - I've had to put them horizontally to fit the
captions neatly.
Before it started! Compilation Bing Maps photo showing the state
of the cutting
near East Grinstead as it was in 2009 standing in the way of the Bluebell Railway
reconnecting with the main line. The "mole hills" are the positions of
test drillings that were made by the railway some time earlier. As can be
seen these seem to concentrate on one side of the tip, which is the area
originally planned to be extracted. This is a pity as
they are now digging a narrower cutting down the other side so what is
there must come as something of a surprise!
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Graphic to give an idea of the present position - last updated 5th December. REFRESH this page for the latest estimate, try pressing the
F5 key on your keyboard if it seems out of date.
For key please see below.
Above is a representation of the cutting top as it was
on the 5th December 2011. I hope the two grey ends join up soon as they
show where work is down to rail level. There is now to be an amended scheme which
will see some of the rubbish left in situ with a sort of "cutting within a
cutting". To give a better idea of progress I am also showing where
the capping has been removed - this is in green. Some capping has been
reinstated or smoothed out on the side that is not to be removed, whilst
this is shown as grass it does not mean that you will not see a sea of
mud on the real ground! The vertical red dotted line shows the approximate half way
point between the two bridges.
Please note: I have done my very best to show the work
as accurately as possible but these are diagrams, not Ordinance Survey
maps! Should the railway decide to publish their own
map of the work area then I will of course defer to their more accurate
knowledge. If you think this map is wrong do please let me know but I have
used my best endeavours to make it as accurate as possible.
Even from my vantage points on the two bridges it's
still hard to be exact with measurements but the above data is from my own observations
on the ground and after
studying photographs of the work. Using Google Earth and some jiggery-pokery
software my estimation is that the present rail to rail head gap is now
approximately 220 yards, perhaps a bit less. (It's really a lot more than
that as the rails have been temporally lifted at the southern end of the
work.) There are spots where I can see that the work is now almost down to the original rail track and the stuff that is left is
reported to be some waste but is mostly clay that can be disposed of locally.
The small red blob (which you probably can't even see
on the small picture) is the exact size and very roughly in the position
where as a youngster I saw a dust cart abandoned when it got stuck during
filling operations 30 or more years ago. Because it is off the new route
of the dig it will probably stay buried for archaeologists to find! I have not
marked the location of the Sherman tank, Lord Lucan or the missing
racehorses, all of whom are reputed to be buried in the waste!
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I am pleased to be able to add a large scale Ordinance
Survey map
showing the cutting before filling with rubbish began. As ever to see
the map full size please right click. This is a large download over 1
Meg in size but will hopefully give an idea of the scale of work
needed to complete the job once and for all and restore Bluebell
connection with the main line.
It should be noted that the cutting was probably
altered to make the tip area larger,
this map is therefore a guide only. The cutting is almost certainly
now much larger (perhaps up to 50%) than shown here 20 years before..
It took a matter of years to fill, so we must not be
surprised if it takes some time to empty.
©1936 Ordinance Survey; this is an A4 size extract
permitted by fair use. |
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