History made as Bluebell Railway chugs into East Grinstead
Hundreds of people came into town on Saturday to witness the historic moment.
Simon Kerr, the town’s tourist information officer, said: “I haven’t seen so many smiling, in fact ecstatic, faces in a crowd like this in my life.
“I’m sure that for long time Bluebell supporters it was a major milestone to bring the railway to East Grinstead.
“For many of us who have been deeply involved in the preparations for the Bluebell’s arrival it is another concrete sign that East Grinstead’s future as a major gateway to the country’s premier steam railway is so very nearly here.”
There was an awed silence as the four coach electric train pulled into East Grinstead station and onto Bluebell land as part of a £4m extension of the Bluebell line.
The slam door train was built in the early 1970s and named Gordon Pettitt, after the last general manager of the old Southern Region.
The train will stand near the station where the Bluebell platform will be.
Mr Pettitt sold the train to Bluebell chairman, Roy Watts, for just £1
It is hoped that the extended stretch of track will open next year.
Bluebell director Roger Kelly said: “It’s the first time a train has been south of East Grinstead for 50 years, and when we can get all the way to our station at Sheffield Park, it will be the first time it’s gone right down there for over that length of time.” BBC news presenter Nicholas Owen, a keen Bluebell Railway supporter, was among those to witness the historic event.
He said he was looking forward to the day when the link would be fully connected to “what is the first and the best preserved railway in the country.”
Town mayor Ginnie Waddingham, told the Courier and Observer: “I think a lot of people don’t realise what a momentous moment it was.
“The track had been finished only the day before, it was a huge leap forward and you could have heard a pin drop.”
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