East Grinstead / Bluebell Railway

My partner’s youngest son had his birthday and, as he is completely crazy about trains, we went to East Grinstead. We went there by train from London’s Victoria station and en route we passed several small villages in Sussex. During our trip, we saw some beautiful scenary and close to East Grinstead, we saw several beautiful rock formations made from chalk.

Just outside East Grinstead’s train station we took the shuttle bus to Kingscote station. En route we were able to see the beautiful centre of the town with its old buildings (several timber-framed houses also known as Tudor … and St. Swithun’s Church, which dates back to the 14th century). Once outside the town, again we could admire the beautiful Sussex country. The shuttle service certainly was value for money at approximately £1.50p return for Adults and 75p for children.

We arrived at Kingscote station, one of the train stations of Bluebell Railway. Here we bought tickets for the museum and the trip by steam train to Sheffield Park( Family of four 2 adults and upto 3 children for £20.00. The station was bought in 1984 and completely restored. I think they did a really good job here; even the ticket office was brought back to its original style. We got onboard of our train, which was eminent to leave. En route we passed several of old coaches, vans and wagons parked just outside the station. About 15 minutes later we arrived at Hornsted Keynes station. At this station the trains are restored and maintained.

A few minutes later the train departed towards Sheffield Park station, where we arrived about 15 minutes later. The trip was, in my opinion, a wonderful experience. When I was a kid we used to have a steam train in Holland, which operated between Tilburg and Baarle-Nassau. I have travelled on that train several times and it was almost as good as this one. The only thing I missed on this one was the smell of the coal fire, smoke and steam but then it might be my nose was a bit blocked :+) ( nope there was no smell!).

At Sheffield Park station, a small museum is located, where several of the trains and coaches are on display, for instance, some original Pullman coaches (which are well known because of their comfort and style). When we arrived at Sheffield Park, we only had about half an hour to look around and visit the shop (we had to catch the last train back to Kingscote :+( ) Which leaves at the very early hour of 4pm so the message here is get there early.

The trains have an onboard buffet where you can buy drinks and snacks. However, it was quite a warm day and most of the drinks were not really cold. This might have to do with the lack of electricity on board of the train :+).

I can recommend the Bluebell Railway to train spotters, people who are just crazy about trains and families with children. It is a very nice experience and it certainly is value for money.