With its variety of veteran locomotives and exquisite pre-Grouping carriages, the Bluebell Railway has often played this to its advantage over the years at its branch line weekends, where the smaller engines of preservation take centre stage to recreate scenes long confined to the past. After a four-year hiatus (for obvious and well-documented reasons), over April 21-23, the Sussex heritage line pulled out all the stops to lay on another impressive branch line weekend that saw six locomotives in steam. Where some lines are scaling back on hiring in guest locomotives, the Bluebell did the opposite and hired three for the occasion. Built at Horwich in 1910, 0-4-0ST ‘Pug’ (previously Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway No. 19 but now turned out as LMS No. 11243) has been a crowd-puller at its East Lancashire Railway home since returning to steam at the start of 2022 (issue 293), the first time it had moved under its own power in some 52 years. Its charm and appeal followed it all the way down south for the event, which was only the second visit away
