New MHR C&W Works

With the opening of the new Carriage and Wagon facility, how is the wagon side of the building going to be used.
ie. Is the bulk of the restoration for each item of rolling stock now going to be moving down from Medstead to the new building at Ropley, leaving Medstead for initial preparation and maintenance.

Also now that carriages have moved out of the main shed, is the loco works going to be used for loco chassis overhaul primarily.

 

Hello Andrew:

Under the terms of the HLF, I understand that 50% will be used for the service stock, 25% for vintage coaches ,(and in this case the LSWR dining coach and the two Bullieds), and the other 25% for wagons, the latter being an amendment from the previous application that had included a separate shed that wa going to be built at Medstead.

The first vehicle in for us will be the second 20T Brake Van to be finished off followed by SECR PMV s1995 to be re-clad now that it is a rolling chassis. We also have some four wheel vans to re-roof safely undercover using the roof harness for safety as some of us are getting too doddery to do them out in the open and of course the weather recently has been apalling.

The last coach that Duncan Richardson completed in the old shed was the Real Ale Bar in maroon. What he will do next in the new shed after his holidays only the almighty knows.

Does this help?

Regards
Chris

 

Thanks Chris for the info, it certainly helps paint a picture of how the new facility will be used.

Look forward to seeing the LSWR dining coach restoration, if my memory serves me correct it was one of the first carriages to arrive at the MHR in the early years.

My father used to help out with the C&W team, way back in 1976. One of the first tasks he carried out with the late Dave Evans was conversion of the now running Bulleid coach, to a buffet coach.

This was to keep the early years punters refreshed at Alresford cattle dock siding. The conversion was such that no structural alterations were needed and could be easily reversed, as was later to be the case.

 

are any of the early coaches still on the line , i can remember the ex chapman chemical coach and the ex army one with the driving position in the place of the gangway ,at one time there were quite a few southern coaches on the line, but there was never the facilities or the desire to do anything with them at the time because the running fleet had to come first , at least now there is a chance that a short bulleid rake could be assembled one day

 

This page on the VCT carriage survey site should answer your questions. It seems there's still a fair few SR coaches on the line.

Chris

 

The two Bullieds and the LSWR dining car are all that is left Matin.

However it is a start of a small vintage rake , and now that we have the new C&W who knows what the future holds now that we have this wonderful facility and the experise that has been built up over the last five years.

Regards
Chris

 

why dont you do an agreement with swanage or bluebell and hire one of their unrestored coaches and restore and run it for a few years on the line.

 

My own personnal view is that this is unlikely to happen with these two Railways, anyway thats not up to me but you never know.

Regards
Chris

 

Its a shame that the owners of LSWR dining cars no`s 70 and 76 sold them off the railway, however at the time no facilities existed to restore them. Details for those interested are here: http://www.pontypool-and-blaenavon.co.uk/lswr

Also i believe the railway had at least 2 or 3 more Bulleid coaches a few years back, some went to Swanage and 1 was broken for spares at Medstead i believe.

 

Correct Andre. I know The one of the LSWR dining care is under resoration by John Down at the moment.

Regards
Chris

 

This Wikipedia page has list of stock that is still on the line and a partial list of stock that has left.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_stock_of_the_Watercress_Line

 

I think alot of the Mid Hants's maunsell carriages are now part of the intended 'Heritage' fleet, while others were broken up. Including the last short framed Bullied sadly, but its was proberley a heap of scrap.