Funding for the Future – Keep Up The Pressure Campaign

The opening of the Extension to East Grinstead has, we are pleased to report, significantly increased our passenger numbers. The success of the extension has allowed us the opportunity to commit additional resources towards the maintenance of infrastructure, locomotives and rolling stock, previously deferred due to tight budgets during the recession.  Projects have been completed to prevent the icing up of the tunnel in winter and for a canopy on the platform at East Grinstead.

The additional passenger numbers require us to run longer trains and hence an increased use of larger locomotives.  Thus we launched the “Keep Up The Pressure” appeal to create a fund for which the target was £400,000. The excellent start shown on this page means that with increased revenue from the Extension, and the terrific efforts of the Camelot Society and Battle of Britain Locomotive Group, we have nearly received enough money to pay for the overhaul of the boiler for 34059 “Sir Archibald Sinclair”. The revised target now shown on this page should be sufficient for the estimated costs of overhauling the boilers for Nos.65 and 34059, using outside contractors, plus the boiler of Standard Tank No.80151 which is being overhauled in-house.

Thanks to the financial support of donors to KUTP, the repair and refurbishment of four boilers has been carried out simultaneously, and that for 73082 and 65 now completed. We do not wish to stop there and further funding is also being applied to No.928 “Stowe”. The Maunsell Locomotive Society has also been working hard to raise the money for “Stowe”.  The cost of Stowe's boiler refurbishment has been reduced significantly, since the work is to be undertaken in-house, and although still under the umbrella of KUTP, has now been separated off onto a separate JustGiving page specifically for Stowe. To find out more see this video introduced by Nicholas Owen.  It explains what is involved in the overhaul of “Stowe" . The work is similar (but not exactly the same) on all locomotives being overhauled so do please have a look.

We still need to keep the pressure up to reach our target! Any donation, small or large, will be very welcome, in support of the Bluebell Railway’s motto of Floreat Vapor.

If you are able to support this campaign, since JustGiving deduct a percentage administration charge, for larger amounts a cheque is preferred. Donations can be sent via the KUTP appeal page on the Bluebell's Web Site. Thank you in advance for your support.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please help us keep our boilers at full pressure, and donate now.