MHR Goods Weekend 16/17 January 2010

Im with you there Matt, i hated the fact that there were 4 brake vans. I was there the wednesday before and thought they would have reshunted the goods train, but no such luck.

BTW 60019 also faces north at the moment, it came back on 23rd december facing north. So 2 north engines and 1 south.

 

I think 850 is going to be out of service for a bit in January as I read somewhere she needs a bit of regular maintenance and the rear driving wheels are being dropped out for some work to be carried out.

 

Well folks it does not look too promising for this weekend although "never say never".

Talking to one of the paid staff yesterday morning, he informed me that it has taken a week to get the diesel with the snowplough started, and tried to clear some of the line up to Ropley but could not see safely any of the track, and no shunting has been done either.

I would suggest that this event will be put back one or two weeks but certainly not cancelled.

Apologies for the bad news.

Regards
Chris

 

Chris - don't give up yet! It is starting to melt here in south London, and although the temperatures will remain low for the rest of the week, I expect the situation on the ground to have improved by then.

Regards,

Dan

 

Morning Dan:

I also live in South London,(Wimbledon), and yes you are correct in saying that it is starting to melt in this area.

However once you get out of greater London it is a different story as I found out yesterday morning, but as you say lets not give up hope.

Regards
Chris

 

There is supposedly some heavy snow forecast for tonight in Kent/Sussex. It has melted a bit in Portsmouth but the side streets are still very icy & dangerous. If the event does still go ahead this weekend it may still put some people off who have a fair distance to travel if it hasn't totally cleared by late next week. I personally think if it is postponed for a week or two there's a better chance of a higher attendence.
Steve

 

Still plenty of snow in Hampshire with more forecast but fingers crossed it starts to clear in time of the weekend. Problem with delaying the event you run the risk of clashing with other events which will also affect numbers.

 

I've been looking forward to this, however, as Matt suggests, I won't be able to attend for various reasons if it is postponed. If it is re-arranged people often need several weeks notice and of course there is the publicity side of announcing a postponed event together with a new date. Fingers crossed it still happens next week.

Cheers,

Paul

 

It would be a big shame if the event was to be cancelled because of the weather with all the hard work Chris and his group have put in to this event. There would be no point in putting this event back a week because we could still be in the same situation with the weather.

 

Lee my friend:

Not for one minute am I saying it will be postponed, just that if the weather continues to down turn , I would not be suprised.

But it proberbly will never come to that.

Regards
Chris

 

Hi Chris can't wait until next weekend. All the people I’ve been speaking too are attending the event. It's going to be a great weekend and will be a good crowd puller. Let’s hope the sun comes out over the following week and put pay to the snow.

 

That's some good re-assurance Chris. It will be great to come along to see and appreciate the hard work put in by you and your colleagues.

Cheers,

Paul

 

Yippee, a good sign as it has started to rain in South London and clearing much of the snow.

Regards
Chris

 

Temps for Hampshire look like being around freezing for the next few days, Fridays forecast (clearly they're never wrong) is 6 degrees, but that's leaving it mighty tight for the gala. I;m guessing a decision will need to be made by the middle of the week. Let's hope the warmer air arrives sooner.

 

Don't be a wuss Martin, I made it to the SVR on Saturday...

 

Weather around winchester (very near to the line) is still snowy and if it starts thawing today, will only just be gone by the end of the week.

Event would be good in the snow. Something new to phot.

 

Just winding you up Martin. I did indeed take the Scooby, Northwood Lane was interesting (and let's not mention the locals). We where actually disappointed with the snow at the SVR, certainly compared to down here. The back roads around Basingstoke are still quite bad. I fear the MHR have got really unlucky with the weather. Looking at the pics on the MHR website the snow there is VERY deep indeed.