Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

Just a question (i.e. not a working battle plan), but ..... with S15 Nos. 828, 830 and 841 (of the Maunsell locos) in need of tlc - and yes, I'm aware in the case of 841 that's putting it mildly - were agreement between owning bodies and funding solvable, is there any advantage, in either financial or engineering terms, to be had from taking the three in hand simultaneously?

It seems that two years of covid have played merry hell with the best laid plans of many lines, leaving no slack in availability of precisely those sorts of locos most useful to most lines .... and they don't come a lot more useful than the S15!

 

Will we see 2999 on a photo charter.

 

SVR certainly did some work on her and she ran a fair few services both last year and on a repeat visit again earlier this year. I have only had one run behind her, but it was very enjoyable - got a nice turn of speed and lovely bark.

 

It's an interesting suggestion, but one that would have to be paid for somehow, and I don't think the owners of 30830/30841 have the resources available to them, in particular they'd be a boiler short. Even if that were not an issue, I don't think they get much support from the NYMR because (for the moment, at least) they are not short of engines and the overhaul queue is quite healthy - there'd probably be no work for them so why make the space and facilities available only for them to go elsewhere. Everything is tight atm and charity begins at home!

 

Large wheels, on damp rails, i hope the sanders work, otherwise, you might be giving it a bit of rear end shoving, quite fitting especially being Green Wet & rusty,

 

Looking at it this morning in Alresford, yes the wheels are big and it's a very sparse cab!

Lady of Legend in the car park by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

I take it from your photo Steve, 2999 will be facing out of Alton.

 

Indeed

 

Only an inch and a half bigger than Cheltenham's

 

Wet Wheels by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

Maybe, I never said 925 had small wheels!

 

Cant pull it up. Rough in the boxes. Needs 3 hands to operate the exhaust injector. The SVR did some work to sort the valves out but not as much as was actually needed.

 

Sounds like it might end up needing work before it can be trusted to be reliable, Whats the odds, it does one run, then ends up having to have work done, ? Personally, if it were down to me, i would use 506, and 53808 for the bulk of the Steam illuminations, with 41312 and a 20 as back up, because, the engines are prooven to be able to operate the services as intended, i'm not sure if 2999 has had the fault free milage to be trusted without a period of testing, the MHR, Isn't a line for an untested engine, certainly if its still in need of fine tuning, depending on, how long its staying for, and Didcot are happy, for it to be away for an extended period of time, use it sparingly, until it's been sorted out, and any faults remedied, and hopefully, by the spring gala, with it fully sorted, and possibly given a decent paint job, it might show just what the Saints were capable of, .

 

Martin, how do I put this? I haven’t heard exactly glowing reviews from my friends at the SVR as @Southernman99 alludes to. @Steve has said something similar in another post.
It obviously still needs a bit more work doing to it, as ever though who’s going to pay for it?

 

Shall we all just see how it goes?

 

Regardless of how it runs, that cab looks skimpy. Hope we have good weather for the next 6 weeks.

 

Something, something stout mackintosh......

 

I was thinking the same thing.
The picture of the Saint sitting on the trailer at Alresford is interesting. For a loco that only entered traffic in 2019 the state of the paint work on the boiler and the rust patch at the front makes it look like it's near the end of a ten year ticket. What do they clean it with? Wet and dry paper?
I was glad to hear that Ropley had managed to get a hire loco for the busy Christmas period but after reports from footplate crews at other lines I do wonder if the Saint will be up to the job of climbing the Hampshire Alps. No doubt test runs will be required before hauling the Steam Illumination services.

A comment on the Didcot Facebook page (Under a video of the loco's departure on the low loader) says that the Saint is only visiting for the Christmas period but hopefully the Saint can be used on other services. Perhaps the MHR could hold a Winter Steam up event just after the Steam Illuminations season finishes? I am sure that there would be plenty of interest as there is not much to do in January for enthusiasts or families.

Talking of a decent paint job.....
How about turning her out like this




Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk

 

I’d heard 2999 needs work to properly set the valve timing but to do this requires the boiler off. As far aw I’m aware this hasn’t happened since it was at the SVR.