Rides on the VOP proved extremely popular on 'Southern Saturday'. If you weren't able to get to Barrow Hill, here we see 3905, topped and tailed by 33108 and 71001.

The VOP, which was about to be scrapped, will yield the essential spares package needed to sustain long term mainline running by the Brighton Belle. All un-needed material will be recycled free of charge to other restoration and preservation groups to help them to complete their projects.

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The Brighton Belle Bookshop offers a huge selection of books, CDs and DVDs. Do browse around the store! Each item is sold and dispatched by Amazon UK. Every single item purchased via our links to Amazon - no matter whether this is a book, clothes, a CD or a TV - produces commissions to support the restoration project. At no extra cost to yourself. For non-book items just click on the 'Powered by Amazon' logo to enter Amazon's UK site.

Click here to visit the Brighton Belle Bookshop. And encourage your friends to use this link!

A new edition of the excellent book on the Brighton Belle by Simon Jeffs and Stephen Grant has just been published. Not only is this revised and updated book a fascinating reference source on all things Brighton Belle, but you can meet Simon Jeffs - who will be signing copies - at 'Southern Saturday' at Barrow Hill on 30 March. Terrific value at £12.50. 

Come to Barrow Hill on Saturday 30 March to celebrate 'Southern Saturday'! You'll not only find five Brighton Belle cars together for the first time in forty years, but you can ride in an ultra-rare 4-VOP unit hauled by 33108 and 71001! You can inspect progress with the restoration project in the Brighton Belle shed and chat to our friendly team of engineers and stall-holders. And, if that's not enough, the Deltic Shed will be open and you can see 30075 USA Tank on the turntable, along with Peppercorn A2 Class No. 60532 'Blue Peter' and many others! A great day out for all the family!

Barrow Hill will be open from 10 am until 4 pm - tickets (on the door) priced £8 (kids £4). There's a free bus service from Chesterfield Station or you can park on-site (download directions from here). Click on the image for full details.

Come and meet the 5BEL team at the amazing Brighton Modelword Exhibition! Our stand is supported by our friends from the world-famous Brighton Toy & Model Museum. Brighton Modelworld runs from 22 - 24 February (Friday to Sunday); in it's 35th year, this will be the biggest Modelworld Exhibition ever, with more than 150 stands. We are located right in the foyer of the Brighton Centre, near the entrance door, so it's hard to miss us! Do drop by for a chat. Click on the image to see some of the activity in just one of the exhibition halls. For opening times and ticket prices, visit the Brighton Modelworld website.

We had visits from both the BBC and ITV in the week before Christmas. Here we see Transport Correspondent Paul Clifton reviewing progress at Barrow Hill.

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To mark the 80th anniversary of the Belle's entry into service on New Year's Day, 1933, we have commissioned an evocative painting of the Brighton Belle in 1960, waiting to leave Brighton Station. How would you like to have the original signed and framed painting on your wall? Just click on the image and donate a minimum of £5 using our secure online payment link. All funds received will go towards the restoration of Pullman First 'Hazel'. The draw will be held on 31 January 2013.

Footnote: The winner is Bill Parker of Lydney, Gloucestershire - apparently he has never won a raffle before "despite an anoying habit of frequently buying raffle tickets"!

After 40 years of service as a restaurant in the Yorkshire Dales, Pullman First Car 'Hazel' was removed by two of the country's largest mobile cranes. It was a difficult task - with less than a metre of free play on the track, the cranes had to delicately lift 'Hazel' between them without causing damage to the building it had been attached to. After setting down on an Allelys' low-loader, the 80 year old Pullman Car was driven slowly down the A1 to the Brighton Belle Shed at Barrow Hill.

How quickly she can be restored will depend on the level of donations made by the public. We need to raise £300,000 to get this marvellous old girl back on the mainline by 2014 - please help us to get her back in service.....where she belongs.

Click on the images below to see 'Hazel' being extracted from The Black Bull.

Brighton Belle Pullman First Car 79 'Hazel' served as a restaurant for 40 years at the rear of The Black Bull in Moulton, Yorkshire.

Now she's gone. 

Where's 'Hazel'?

Despite the rain, and only half the anticipated level of attendence, Car 88 - specially re-named as "Diamond Jubilee" - proved to be a huge hit at Railfest 2012. 

The motor third was visited by several thousand enthusiasts, many new to the programme - the biggest restoration project currently underway in Britain. Visitors were particularly taken by Chief Engineer Simon Hartshorne's extensive visual display of the engineering programme necessary to return the train to the mainline.

Car 88 looked splendid in her temporary coachwork; once back at Barrow Hill she will await a slot in the dedicated Brighton Belle shed to begin the delicate surgery to her underframes to allow '60s stock bogies to be fitted, along with control gear, braking systems etc, all of which were removed and scrapped by British Rail after withdrawal of the train in 1972.

Click on the images below to see Car 88 at Railfest 2012.