Bluebell Railway: Spring Gala 2026

As is now traditional for me at a Bluebell gala, I attended the Friday and Saturday of the event, and would once again mostly be rolling with Sharpthorne Steam and 72B Photography (although our little lineside crew is getting bigger, with both Chailey Stowe and SouthEast Classic Rail now also holders of the orange vest).

We started the weekend at Freshfield Bank, which is also a very popular spot for people on the fence side of the line. There are usually a couple of choices when shooting here: out in the field for a wide shot, or lineside with a more front-on shot. This time out I went for the lineside shot. Although it was a sunny day it was a hazy morning, so I decided to edit this shot in monochrome to cover up the slightly pale colours. The first locomotive was one of the visitors for the event, British Railways standard 4 75069.

As has also now become standard, I was shooting in Manual Mode (with auto ISO) and mostly using my 28-300mm “railway lens” for the freedom to shoot both zoomed in (as above) and wide angle (so below).

The good thing about spring galas is the weather is still usually good for lovely exhaust.

We headed north to a spot known as Holywell. It’s just south of the s-bend near Waterworks I’m quite partial to. There we readied for the arrival of 75069’s big sister, resident locomotive 73082 Camelot.

As I opened up the angle, all the factors aligned for this next shot.

Lovely exhaust, beautiful morning light, blue skies, a locomotive perfectly matched to a set of gorgeous rolling stock, and if you’re really picky (and I’m usually not, but I can’t help but notice it) the wheel connecting rod is in the more aesthetically pleasing downward position. I didn’t realise it at the time, but this is probably one of the better shots I got all weekend.

One of the challenges of this gala was that several of the locomotives running would be facing south. There aren’t as many spots to capture a south-facing steam engine working as there are north-facing ones, so it’s harder to get into the right spots. We tried to make it south to shoot 80151 at a decent spot but decided we had ran out of time, so we ended up shooting her coasting.

We then travelled by car up to Horsted Keynes and headed north, so shoot the next northbound train, which would be 34059 Sir Archibald Sinclair on a stonking run, come under Horsted House Bridge.

This was one of the best runs of the weekend. My photos don’t really do it justice, but luckily as ever I also took some video too.

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We headed north, eventually meeting up with The Southerner who was also out. We trekked up in the general direction of the southern portal of Sharpthorne Tunnel. The idea was to try shooting a locomotive coming out of Courtland Wood. That locomotive ended up being 80151, which as she would be coming bunker-first, made it a little bit of a throwaway shot. It worked quite nicely though – definitely one to try again.

We then headed back south a little, to catch 75069 just north of Vaux End Bridge, running through the s-bend where we’d shot Sir Archie on New Year’s Day. With the longer shot, I broke out my bigger 100-500mm telephoto.

On the footplate of this locomotive over the weekend was a Bluebell volunteer who originally fired this very engine back in the BR days, making this a nice reunion of man and locomotive. He can be seen on the right of the shot below.

From here, we returned to the car and headed up the line towards Kingscote station. We headed to just south of the station, where we encountered SouthEast Classic Rail, and waited for the other visitor, W8 Freshwater, doubleheading with 72 Fenchurch, to arrive from the south.

The plentiful daffodils also served as an interesting framing device when 75069 went back towards Sheffield Park, tender-first.

We continued south, with the intention of getting into a spot ready for both Fenchurch and Freshwater to come back south, which they’d be doing in a triple header with 80151, facing the right way and hopefully working hard. On the way we met up with Chailey, because that sort of thing seems to happen often when you’re lineside at the moment. In the meantime, we had another run from Sir Archibald Sinclair to enjoy. For this, 72B, SouthEast and myself positioned ourselves north of Birchstone Bridge, whilst Sharpthorne and Chailey headed to the south. Luckily, Archie got signal checked, meaning we actually had some exhaust where we were, unlike the unfortunate pair south of the bridge.

The question then became where to go for the triple header. We ended up scattered across this section of the line. SouthEast and I decided the light would be better slightly north, on an embankment that would also give us a wider angle and some elevation (which is nice for a train pulled by three locomotives). Sharpthorne and Chailey remained south near Birch Farm crossing hoping the engines would be working harder there, and 72B chose somewhere in the middle. In the event, the locos didn’t work particularly hard on this run, so I’m glad I chose to go where I ended up, because at least I got some decent photographs out of it.

With the triple header done, focus shifted back to locomotives facing north, so we headed back to the Horsted Keynes footpath, there to capture 75069. This remains a shot where I prefer to use my bigger telephoto.

We then headed to Freshfield Bank for the last trains of the day, the first of which would be Sir Archibald Sinclair, which I elected to shoot lineside, exactly where I’d started the day.

The last train we planned to shoot this day would be pulled by Freshwater and Fenchurch, albeit bunker-first. For this, I decided I wanted to head out into the field and get a slow shutter panning shot. Whilst I waited, Camelot came back south, which presented a nice opportunity to further practice the technique (which is to shoot in shutter mode at a speed of 1/25th or thereabouts, and pan smoothly with the locomotive).

Soon Fenchurch and Freshwater arrived.

This run marked the end of the first day of the gala for most of us. Apart from me, because (much like during Giants of Steam the previous October) I stayed on to do a night shoot with Freshwater at Horsted Keynes – although the results of that will be coming in a separate post.

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The next morning, for various logistical reasons, I made my own way to the lineside to meet up with 72B and Sharpthorne. The first locomotive was due to be Sir Archibald Sinclair making a light engine movement down to Horsted Keynes to pick up a set of coaches and forms the first service of the day from there. When I entered the lineside at the Tremains foot crossing I decided I didn’t have the time to make it down to Holywell to meet them before the locomotive came up, so instead I positioned myself at Rock Cutting for the light, knowing full well the engine probably wouldn’t be working that hard (there was also another photographer there, so I could check whether I’d missed the run entirely).

It was then safe to head up the line to meet up with Sharpthorne and 72B at Holywell, where we prepared for the next service, which would be 2999 Lady of Legend leading Camelot in a doubleheader. Lady visited the railway for Giants of Steam last October and hasn’t actually left yet, although for whatever reason she hasn’t been in steam for most of that period. Hopefully she’ll be out a bit more over the coming weeks, especially once the bluebells start sprouting.

My shooting at 1/2000th was an error. I suspect I knocked a setting somewhere. AAs it didn’t lead to any crazy ISO settings or me missing the shot, it’s not that much of an issue – certainly it didn’t cause as much headache as another settings whoopsie I’d make later in the day.

After this it was back to Freshfield Bank for 75069, where again I decided I wanted to get a panning shot. Unfortunately as it’s so exposed, Freshfield can sometimes be a bit breezy, and on this occasion the wind was blowing towards us, so the exhaust did obscure the locomotive a little bit.

Then it was up to Horsted Keynes, where we headed north with only a vague idea of what we were going to do. In the end we went our separate ways, with 72B heading further north towards Vaux End Bridge and Sharpthorne and I staying near Horsted House Bridge. I wanted to try a shot I’ve been thinking about for a few months, involving looking up at a locomotive as it passes under a bridge, with the exhaust pluming around the arch of the bridge. I had done a couple of test shots in the weeks leading up to the gala, so I had an idea of what I wanted to do and how it would work. Sharpthorne stayed south of the bridge so he wasn’t in my shot, and I sat just north of the bridge with my wide angle lens ready for Sir Archibald Sinclair to arrive. The shot just before the one I was aiming for actually had the engine and her exhaust nicely framed by the arch of the bridge.

But this next one is pretty much the shot I was after.

I’m happy with the result, but it’s not as dramatic as the shot I was visualising. More than anything the exhaust was not as voluminous as I was hoping. I think the next time I try this shot (and try it I will) it’ll need to be somewhere like Leamland Bridge, where locomotives are moving slower and working harder to get moving. It’s the bridge that inspired the shot in the first place, with this run during the New Year’s Day gala. I might also need to wait until winter comes back before giving it a proper go again.

For our next shot we headed down to the footpath north of Horsted Keynes station for another run by Lady of Legend, where we bumped into a bunch of other shooters. This is where I made my second settings-related boo-boo of the weekend. At some point, presumably when I was switching over to my big telephoto (which is my go-to lens for this bit of track), I knocked my camera into Shutter Priority mode, which was still set up for a slow shutter panning shots, and didn’t notice. Some shots came out completely blurry and unusable, as expected. A few, though, came out pretty decent, and a bit different because the exhaust was smoothed out a little, rather than frozen in time.

Although it makes a nice change, I’d definitely have been happier with the shot I was going for, which was capturing the texture in the exhaust. Even so, I’m glad I got something useable and a bit different out of my error.

We then hopped back to Freshfield Bank, where a BR standard doubleheader was in the offing, with standard 4 75069 leading standard 5 Camelot. With a doubleheader such as this, it makes sense to get wide of the track where you can see both locomotives clearly.

Unfortunately the wind was still blowing in the same direction as earlier and so the exhaust started to obscure Camelot.

Then it was back in the car to head all the way up to the other end of the line, to photograph a repeat of the previous day’s triple header from Imberhorne Bridge as it departed from East Grinstead. This is another public spot, as linesiders aren’t allowed on the section of track north of Kingscote.

We continued hopping about, this time heading back to Tremains to head to Lindfield Wood. The sun was starting to get a little low so it wasn’t entirely clear how much light would be shining on the next locomotive, which would be Lady of Legend. As it turned out, it wasn’t too bad, but Lady wasn’t working hard when she came through.

In this light she looks really nice with the Pullman dining coaches. Only thing this shot is missing is a nice thick exhaust.

We then headed back to Rock Cutting, as both Fenchurch and Freshwater were due to come back south light engine. This spot is usually not bad for locos heading south, but can sometimes be hit and miss, and this time they were taking things easy.

At this point, we split up again to shoot the upcoming doubleheader of Camelot and 75069. Sharpthorne headed north back towards Holywell, whereas 72B and I headed south towards the broken bridge. For both groups, timing would be tight.

With the tightness of time, unfortunately 72B and I didn’t pick quite the right spot. Going for a shot through the bridge, sadly the locomotives shut off before they passed through, so we got some nice light, but not much exhaust.

For the next train, we moved only a few feet up the track, for 80151 to come back down.

Considering I don’t have too many great shots of 80151 the conditions for this run were pretty spot on, with exhaust, clear skies, and lovely golden hour light.

You might have also spotted the second exhaust plume in the shots above. This service was top and tailed, with № 65 sitting on the back. The locomotive caught the light nicely too so I made sure to get a shot, and it’s one I can might be able to pass off as an engine going forwards, if I were so inclined.

We then headed south to Freshfield Bank again for our last booked photograph of the day, Sir Archibald Sinclair. Unfortunately she was pulling the metropolitan coach set, which is a very odd pairing. Even so, the golden light was continuing to impress.

With that, all our planned shooting for the day was done, and we started walking back to Tremains to meet up with Sharpthorne and head back to Sheffield Park. Inevitably on the way we encountered another locomotive coming the wrong way, but given the light remained lovely shooting it was inevitable.

The glint off the tender is lovely, but a little bit blown out. Turns out, it is possible to have too much glint on a locomotive.

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Now, this was planned to be the end of my time at the Spring Gala, but unfortunately when we got back to Sheffield Park, the offices were shut and we weren’t able to return our hi viz vests, which necessitated a trip back to Sheffield Park for me on Sunday to return my vest. Of course, I wasn’t about to leave my camera at home, even if I had every intention of being good, and not going lineside (I even handed in my vest as soon as I arrived).

Inevitably, I ended up spending a little bit of time around the station, photographing some of the sights and comings and goings. Firstly, the crew of 75069 were taking on water.

I also had the opportunity to do some of the more abstract railway photography that I just don’t get when lineside shooting running trains.

With the venting steam, this shot of the engine cab takes on a lovely atmosphere.

Soon 75069 backed down into her coaches, giving me a chance to shoot this member of crew watching proceedings. In monochrome it could almost be from 60 years ago. As long as you don’t notice the modern shunting signal.

Out near the loco shed, Lady of Legend was sitting steaming away in a siding, complete with The Merchant Venturer headboard.

Lady soon moved out behind the loco shed, so I headed in to see the sights. There, Lady was steaming away alongside Fenchurch, also being prepared for the day, and № 65, who had the day off.

Atlantic House was open too, meaning I could pop in and give my regards to the Adams Radial 30583, patiently waiting for her own overhaul (which sadly isn’t any time soon).

From here I could also see Freshwater getting ready for the day.

As well as a clearer view of Fenchurch and Lady.

Not that it was the most visible, I also got a shot of the current state of 21C123 Blackmoor Vale, whose boiler is off in Devon. This is a locomotive I’m looking forward to seeing back in steam.

I walked back into the engine shed and caught sight of Camelot lined up nicely with the window slats.

I got back out onto the platform in time to see 75069 getting ready to go. She let off a big plume of steam which contrasted nicely against the now blue sky.

Soon she was off, making a nicely dramatic departure.

It after two hectic days of shooting running locomotives, it was nice to spend a calm hour or so watching steam engines shunting about. The perfect way to end the weekend – technically the first gala where I’ve attended all three days. But with the station now quiet, it seemed like the perfect time to head back home.

But since it was gala season, it would only be a week before I was out at another railway, and their own spring gala. But that, obviously, will be another post entirely.

As always, there are a lot of shots that didn’t make the cut above, which are in the gallery below. A video montage of the weekend can be seen on my Instagram account.