11201 arrives at Horsted Keynes

On Tuesday 18th January 2005 driving motor brake open third car 11201 was collected from St. Leonards Engineering by low loader, departing at 1600 and arriving at Sheffield Park at 1800. It was unloaded by 1845.   It then remained on the tramway until Thursday 20th January when as part of the "Thursday shunt" it was propelled to Horsted Keynes  by SECR class 01 locomotive number 65. The trip move departed Sheffield Park around 1005 and arrived at Horsted Keynes around 1030.  11201 was then shunted into its position at the south end of Platform 1.  Platform 1 at Horsted Keynes was formerly electrified to receive trains off the Ardingly branch, however this was not the current platform 1.  For a Southern EMU to be at Horsted Keynes is entirely prototypical, indeed in the Bluebell Railway's early days it was still possible to reach Horsted Keynes by an electric train.  Although electric services to Horsted Keynes were mostly worked by 2 Bil and 2 Hal units it is believed that on at least one occasion a Cor unit formation visited the station.  More details will appear on this website when available.

The propelling movement from Sheffield Park started at 10mph with two stops to ensure the axles were not overheating.  The checks having proved satisfactory the remainder of the move was made at 25mph.
Here (left) 11201 is being propelled into platform 3 where the car remained

Once the stock had been cleared from platform 1, that from the north end to another siding, that from the south end either onto the Ardingly branch or to the middle of platform 2, 11201 was then shunted from platform 3 to the south end of platform 2 (right).  This was to permit a subsequent shunt into the south end of platform 1.