S&D Railway Trust

I fear that's only answerable if the detritus resulting from years of internecine strife is washed clear and we can readily see it for the fantastic line it actually is.

I've extremely fond memories of the WSR and feel deeply for the dedicated volunteer base, whose sterling efforts and acheivements are all too often drowned out by whatever seismic ruckus is exercising all and sundry, at any given point.

Of course, I could just have cited the stated GW-oriented stock policy of the WSR (not itself all that contentious, in fact, eminently sensible, given it's location) and pointed to the dualistic LMS/SR nature of the S&D, but where would the fun be in that?

 

Just want whats best for the loco & the trust at the end of the day.

 

Looks like SDRT members are in for a treat and special train on the Watercress/MHR on Sunday 6th March hopefully with 53808!

 

I've booked my seat for the 6th March special train for SDRT members, plus a few lottery draws for a cab ride.

Excellent arrangements for SDRT members, and excellent contact with SDRT members in respect of this special event.

Very well done to the SDRT board and the Watercress/MHR in arranging all of this. Fingers crossed for 53808 being available!

 

Same here. I am very much looking forward to it.
Thanks for drawing it to my attention, as my emails from the trust were missing and i eventually found that they had ended up in my Spam folder.

 

One door closes, another opens.

A well patronised day on the Mid Hants to see 53808: brilliant!

 

Good to see that the Engineering staff got her done then, When i went to the gala when she first arrived, the 7F just looked right at home, Lets hope that the management of the MHR, now see the S&DJRT as an long term part of the plans for the railway, I make no secret of my desire for 53808 to become one of the home engines and that she does get overhauled on the MHR, It's a pity that 92212 Isnt back from overhaul yet, because an freight engine gala, with an S15, 7F 8F and an 9F, would be the complete set

 

Myself & @Hampshire Unit had a fun day yesterday out 'playing' with 53808 & the troublesome trucks.

It was full dull all day with an increasingly biting wind, but the gallery enjoyed themselves & left happy, thanks to the crews putting on a show.

Some pics from the morning.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/51921594933/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/51921503676/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/51921599018/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/51920533637/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/51921595858/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/51921500611/in/dateposted-public/

 

I recently joined the S&DJRT in February to give them my support after the despicable way they have been treated by the WSR. Hopefully they will decide to stay at the MHR and will keep their rolling stock and collection of S&D items based on the line. 53808 really does fit in well in the Hampshire Alps.
I would have been at the event at the MHR today if I knew about it but my S&DJRT membership is still being processed at the moment so don't have my membership details yet.

Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk

 

I went with not only middle son bit my wife and youngest as well.

We were suitably impressed by the catering on offer at Alresford and in addition to drinks & cake to take on the train ordered chips for lunch to add to the impressive Picnic my wife had organised.

While it was cold outside the train was tolerably warm, although Sid The Sadist, the Alresford Carriage Shunter had added a PMV with no steam heat line to the Alresford end of the train so no heat on the trip

Good to see that on the second run it had been removed.

While it was nice to have a run past at Ropley, my wife wasn't impressed by the lack of anywhere to get out of the cold - no heating in the station building and as she said the ladies would not have been any colder if it didn't have a roof.

Her comment was that she would like to visit again, ideally when the weather is warmer and that Alresford looked very nice and we should spend some time exploring it.

So thank you to both the Watercress Line & the S&DRT - oh and the young woman who came round with the rubbish bag

 

The PMV belongs to the S&DRT, so actually it was a nice touch to include it.
Pat

 

I do wonder though, Had the S&DRT not been forced to move, and 53808 had remained on the WSR, would the present management of the WSR, have pushed the boat out for The S&D in the same way as the MHR has, I suspect that there would have been no special charter, or running day for 53808 , That the MHR, didn't have to do this, but chose to, and has really made an effort to make the trust feel at home on the Railway, is something to be proud of next highlight hopefully will be when Kilmersdon steams, and hopefully undertake a test run with the S&D coach and brake van i just hope someone on the line is looking at those brighton 4 wheelers with a plan to get some of those restored,

 

It has to be remembered that five years to recover a grounded body to operating condition is not untypical. I know of one vehicle which took very much less time but with the advantage of teak construction plus gaining a thatched roof when grounded!

 

I agree: the MHR are to be commended for all that they have done.

As to the WSR: they have only themselves to blame for any fallout.

Time to move on.

 

Is there still a will to restore the LBSCR 4 wheelers, with the LSWR dining saloons coming to the line?

Even if the LSWR coaches are being restored by a separate group, they will take away much of the volunteer effort that might otherwise have helped with the LBSCR coaches.

The LSWR coaches are also far more suitable for the MHR, both historically and operationally.

 

I would hope that the LSWR coaches might give birth to an vintage coaches restoration team, and that in time, once the Ironclads are done, might look towards, the unrestored S&D coach, and the Brighton bodies, the 4 wheelers especially would be very suitable and something different and i would say ideal for Alresford to Ropley shuttles, the home based smaller locos such as Dave, and Kilmensdon would be ideal motive power

 

And the perennial problem of covered storage would definitely have to be addressed

 

TL/DR: No-one would like to see more vintage carriages in use than me. But you have to be pragmatic about what is actually feasible and spend resources accordingly. I can't see 4 wheelers meeting that criterion on the MHR.

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While I would love to see the MHR restore lots of vintage carriages, just take a step back and look at the realities.

On the Bluebell we have I believe about 18 or 19 operational non-Mark 1 bogie carriages and 4 Victorian four wheelers. The IoWSR has about 6 bogie carriages and 6 or 7 four wheelers. The Severn Valley has about 15 - 20 or so bogie carriages (LMS and GWR). The NYMR has about 10 bogie carriages I believe (mainly Gresleys and Thompsons with some Pullmans).

All of those lines have been at it for 50+ years; all of them have well appointed workshops; all of them have covered storage for wooden carriages; all of them are probably at the limit of what they can actually keep operational. (Restoring a carriage is one thing; keeping it so is another; in practice no sooner do you have a big fanfare about a carriage entering traffic than it seems an existing one is quietly withdrawn).

So it would be lovely for the MHR to restore the Brighton carriages, or the S&D ones; or for that matter the LSWR restaurant vehicles; or increase their number of operational Bulleids - but doing all of them? That's a bigger ask. And all of that is before you ask about the elephant in the room, which is under cover storage.

Specifically on the Brighton 4 wheelers: AFAIK, there is only one Stroudley carriage currently operational anywhere in the country, which is 661 on the Bluebell. Two more are likely to join it this year and next year. That is after probably 20 years of effort. There are a couple of reasons why Stroudley carriages in particular are difficult: they are full of fiendish curves that makes woodworking very challenging; and add to that they were made of Mahogany which didn't stand up well to decades out in the open. Get an LCDR carriage out of a field and you find the frame structure is pretty sound. Get an LBSCR one out of the same field and you find it has no bottom rail, all the uprights are missing the lower 18 inches and the doors are rotted to hell. At which point your restoration is either incredibly involved if you try to keep as much of the upper portion as you can save; or else you are basically building a new carriage. No. 949 at Horsted Keynes has been in the works at least ten years, and is only now approaching the finish line.

So I think you have got to be realistic. For the MHR, Bulleids would seem a good compromise between "vintage" but operationally fitting into the core, and prototypical for the line; and appropriate for the mainly 1950s period they portray. Maunsells would be nice, but they haven't beaten a path to the door to get a couple that are available to a good home, which suggests they don't see them as core. The LBSCR carriages on the other hand look like you could spend a vast amount of time restoring coaches that don't fit the ambience of the line and aren't even the geographic correct area. At least the LSWR carriages would be correct for the line, though I wait to see if they plan to restore them as 1930s vehicles or play up the Titanic connection and restore them as Edwardian vehicles, which would seem to me to involve a massive reconstruction given how they were rebuilt by the SR.

Tom