Bluebell Railway’s 60th anniversary souvenir proves to be just the ticket
The Bluebell Railway has produced a limited edition souvenir ticket to mark its 60th birthday.
The heritage line has printed 2,000 individually numbered cardboard tickets on its special printing press at its Sheffield Park headquarters.
The tickets have been produced by the railway’s museum team to mark 60 years of operation from when the line was reopened by volunteers in August 1960. The souvenirs are now on sale in the railway’s online shop for £5 with all the proceeds going to its emergency appeal to fund the costs of reopening. They come in a special plastic folder with a letter of authenticity from the Bluebell Railway museum’s curator.
The cardboard tickets are known as Edmondson tickets after Thomas Edmondson who invented the printing system which was in use on Britain’s railways from 1842 to 1990. The Bluebell Railway uses a 1941 printing press to produce the Edmondson tickets for use on its services and many other heritage railways.
The tickets can be bought from the railway’s shop at https://www.bluebell-railway.com/product/60th-anniversary-platform-ticket/
The Bluebell Railway is planning on reopening on Friday 7 August after being closed since March due to the global pandemic. Its emergency appeal for funding has raised more than £350,000 so far and is still accepting donations because of the continued uncertainty over coronavirus.
The first public trains on the reopened Bluebell Railway operating as a heritage line were on 7 August 1960.