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Friends of Sheffield Park - FOSP

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Friends of Sheffield Park - FOSP

The Friends of Sheffield Park (FoSP) are a group of volunteers devoted to the maintenance and upkeep of Sheffield Park station on the Bluebell Railway.

We are always looking for practical volunteers and armchair financial supporters.

15/04/2026

As well as the big projects undertaken by FoSP, ad hoc maintenance and repairs arise. On Wednesday the ‘To The Station’ finger adjacent to the overflow carpark was found to have rotted and detached from the post. John with major assistance from Ian, resolved and was also able to give it a cursory clean.

25/03/2026

Projects going on quietly in our yard include the preparation and painting of over 300 fence pales to provide new fencing and gates to the back of the south end of Platform 2. Each pale needs five coats of paint!

A few other little maintenance jobs including fence repairs to the carriage servicing platform and the walking route south of the maintenance shed.

Don't forget, we are always looking for new members; active or armchair. £15 per year membership helps us fund the upkeep of Sheffield Park Station.

28/01/2026

A couple of jobs progressing this week, firstly the continued freshen up of our front of house with painting of the ceiling and walls in the booking hall. Second job was a favour to S&T and the Atlantic House boys, we finished digging out the manhole that will allow a new LAN cable to be routed to Atlantic House in order to provide WiFi coverage and to support a contactless payment device. This will enable all their visitors to donate towards the overhaul of the B4 and the Radial Tank.

07/01/2026

You'll remember that just before Christmas we cleaned the underside of the canopy, today we cleaned the top (well all bar a couple of square feet that we couldn't reach safely).

Thanks to Sue for most of the pics.

Don't forget, we are always looking for new members; active or armchair. £15 per year membership helps us fund the upkeep of Sheffield Park Station.

17/12/2025

Our last FoSP Day before our Christmas break. Lots of odd jobs, as well as very wet session cleaning the underside of the Bessemer Canopy with the power washer.

Have a great Christmas, and don't forget we are always looking for new members; active or armchair. £15 per year membership helps us fund the upkeep of Sheffield Park Station.

14/11/2025

It's been a while since our last update. You'll be glad to hear we haven't been sitting on our hands.

Some of the things we've been up to,

Umpteen toilet and hand basin faults.

Built and erected new gates to the picnic area.

Five coats of paint on over one hundred fence pales before replacement of photo area fence.

Various interventions on the footbridge, including removing as much rust and flaking paint from the side facing the Bessemer. There is a much delayed plan for the Railway to properly grit blast and treat, but this is not now programmed due to current financial situation.

Repaint of platform edges ahead of the evening services; steamlights and Golden Arrow.

Repositioning of glazed panels to the canopy outside the Bessemer to provide dry seating area.

Continued servicing of the gas lights on the platforms and approach road.

Replacement of gate and fence to photo area is no in hand and should be finished bar some painting within the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, two of us attended ladder and access tower use certification courses.

If you love Sheffield Park Station please consider joining us as a working volunteer on a Wednesday, or join us as an "armchair" member for £15 per year. All funds go directly to the upkeep of the station.

30/01/2025

Busy day for FoSP yesterday with 11 of us in attendance. New pressure washer gets to work on Platform 2 fences, Bulleid Shop, dairy display and footbridge. Meanwhile a bunch of other tasks and projects in progress; batteries in smoke alarms, painting new gates for picnic area, new storage area for tools, new extension cables made up, fencing ariss rails fabricated from shorter scrap timber, labelling up of ladders etc following safety audit, gardening and general tidying around our Sheffield Park compound.

There's still plenty of work for anybody who'd like to join us. There is no requirement to be a Bluebell Railway member. Focus is getting the place smart and safe ahead of half-term operating period, and then onwards towards Railways 200.

24/11/2024

Over the last few weeks a small team have erected a replacement notice board for banners advertising events. This is much more sturdy than the old rickety board, here we have Dennis and John H. demolishing the old framework.

20/11/2024

Today a few of us started replacing some of the footbridge steps that have a bit of wet rot. Four done today, two more to do next Wednesday.

Meanwhile new gates for the picnic area are being built, sorry no pics yet.

13/11/2024

We don't want Santa tripping up the steps in the dark during Steamlights do we?

09/11/2024

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IoLId8kKGh0uqC9-qhykFuWEgcf7cgaV/view?usp=drivesdk

Here's our latest newsletter, it gives a bit of an insight to our team, but doesn't reflect the 1,001 different jobs we get involved in. For example this Wednesday included the following, construction of new gates for the picnic field, cut back of a tree and remediation to the marketing team's shed roof, painting the white line along Platform 1 ahead of Steamlights, digging out and planting of concrete spur posts for new publicity banners at the bottom of the drive, prep and painting of new fence palings, repairs to various leaking toilets, scoping replacement treads for part of the footbridge etc etc.

If you'd like to support the team either in person on a Wednesday or equally welcome as an armchair member the cost of FoSP membership is a very reasonable £15. Every £15 helps keep Sheffield Park looking its best.

14/10/2024

Called in to urgently rehang the door, one hinge broken and two worn down by 10mm.

Address

Uckfield
TN22 3QL

Website

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