MHR Restorations and Overhauls

A life-size statue of John Bunch....

 

Looks fab, I had a quick look around last time I was at Ropley and it looked brilliant.

 

Now now, meow. Put those claws back in. Lol

 

Ropley station has never had a shelter on the up side until now.

 

i can think of even more scary things to put in there,prehaps we should turn it into a waxworks of all the preserved railway s resident scariest,
Ropley for ages didn't have a passing loop , it was only put back in when the line re opened,

 

Perhaps Marples and Beeching might me be more apt, but then again if it wasn't for these two clowns there would be no Heritage Railway called the MHR.!

 

i think the MHR closed post-Beeching to be fair...more to do with building the M3 I think

 

I believe it was on his list. It survived as a diversionary route during the Bournemouth electrification and because there was quite a local fight for it I think. If it hadn't been on Beeching's list it maybe it might have been seen as a more strategic asset and the M3 bridged, but as it was on the list the MoT were able to use that as part of the justification...."oh well its a loss making branch and not worth saving so lets not build the bridge and save 0.05% of the cost of the M3".

 

At one point didn’t a 33/1 and a vep work over the branch to gauge clearances, because it was earmarked for possible electrification this was sometime in the early 70's wasnt it,

 

Possibly, but I'm not sure electrification was ever really a serious proposition. I'd have thought the time when it might have been considered semi-seriously was in 1957 instead of the DEMUs - but that predates the 33/1s and 4TCs as the prototype D6580 wasn't converted until 1965 or 1966 (sources differ), and the "series" conversions weren't carried out until 1967 by which time the closure notices had already been issued. There were occasions that 33/1s and 4TCs were seen on the line including the last weekend of operation whenD6511 pushed two 4TCs over the line on the "Hampshire Ferret" tour (that must have been slow up the bank out of Alton). After Beeching in 1962 the line's fate was a foregone conclusion (BRB and MoT were quite determined about closures), but it survived a while to facilitate the mainline being electrified.

Incidentally as I write this it is exactly 42years, 1 hour and 30 minutes since DEMU 1130 left Alton with the last service train at 2208 4/2/1973

 

RIP to the lost bits

 

I'm unfamiliar with the current state of play, but I always fantasised that the Mid Hants could extend west as far as the A31 (as was) and have a park and ride facility there.

If Chiltern were running SWT then they'd be pushing for commuter services at least to Medstead and Four Marks I'd imagine

 

The A31 is south of the trackbed, maybe you meant A34? In any case, the owners of all the houses built on the trackbed might object.
It is a shame it never made it to Itchen Abbas as there was lots of land there (again now built on) but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Who knows, maybe one day the mainline will give up Alton station and let MHR have ownership of the track to Farnham!

 

I cant see that being a popular move with these guys & girls http://www.altonlineusers.com/ especially as they are pushing for the line to be double tracked!

 

No I mean the old Winchester road just west of Alresford which was bypassed a few years back....this used to be the A31. Looking at google maps there are 2 houses in the way

 

Perins school have extended their playing fields over the line and the landowner of the cutting between bridge road and New Farm road has partially filled it in and has planning permission for houses IIRC.

My boss lives in a house on the old trackbed at Itchen Abbas, nearly on the old station site! I sometimes walk a dog along the old line from Martyr Worthy towards IA, quite unobstructed there.

 

Don't think this is correct. According to the Mid Hants archivist there was a shelter on the up side until the loop was removed in the early 1930s. Photos of it are very rare and I have only ever seen it in a poor quality photo of the general station scene. It seems to have been quite a small structure, nothing like the magnificent building which stands there now.

 

The MHR has announced that an agreement has been reached regarding the demolition of Butts Bridge in Alton, it seems to be that the railway is due to benefit significantly from the decision.

The Long running saga of the Butts Bridge over Whitedown Lane, Alton was finally resolved at an EHDC Planning meeting last night when the scheme to demolish the brick arch section and widen with a new steel girder bridge was approved.

The MHR Ltd has been in negotiation with the two groups of landowners on the old Treloars Hospital and Borovere farm site for over 3 years and is fully supportive of this scheme; and has reached, with the aid of professional advisors, a deal which is of significant financial benefit to the Railway.

The funds generated will facilitate substantial Capital investment in the Railway’s infrastructure over the next few years. Temporary disruption to the operations of MHR services between Alton and Medstead will be minimal and negotiations have included proper provision for this.

Source - http://www.watercressline.co.uk/article.php/923/regarding-butts-bridge-over-whitedown-lane

Information on the new widened bridge can be found here - http://southalton.com/butts-bridge-highway-enhancement/

 

that makes sense...odd looking bridge the original isn't it