MHR Restorations and Overhauls

I have no argument with what you've said, you know better than I - if you've found her to be a "pig" all day, then I doff my cap to your skills as an engine man!

I think its well known on the line, she needs a lot of TLC..........

 

Working on the Belle, we get to experience a wide range of crews on all sorts of locos (although recently Cheltenham and to a certain extent 31806) have been the mainstay of our motive power) and I have nothing but admiration for the MHR footplate volunteers. Even when conditions are against them - e.g frosty rails and non-operative sanding gear (on Cheltenham last Spring) or "leaves on the line" (with 41312 many times in the past) we rarely lose more than 10 minutes (more than that is normally due to a late running RAT)

 

I couldn't agree more, the Belle & RAT crews do a sterling job, heavy trains in all conditions and fairly tight timetables with SWT connections to hit. I wonder if the Diesel Gala weekend will allow Ropley some time to give Wadebridge some of the TLC she needs.

 

I think Wadebridge needs more than a weekends rest for some TLC!

I don't think she will ever be truly reliable during the remainder of this current boiler certificate as its plain that the problems that keep cropping up seem to be to a set pattern probably relating to the fact that she is now in her 8th year of service and pretty tired.

How many times has she had valve gear going out of timing, injector/slack valve problems recently? More than I can be bothered to remember to count.

 

Thanks for that Hampshire Unit. I didn't know you did RATs, so might get to sample that one day

 

8 years?! Crikey, the time has flown by. I hope she makes it to the return of 34105. What a sight that will be to have the two MHR resident Spamcans in service together.

 

Cynic in me says the only time you'll see that double header will be when 34105 shunts 34007 in to the formers old place on the scrap line.

 

Oh, you really are a cynic! LOL. Seriously your probably right in that the chances of 34105 making it before the boiler certificate on 34007 runs out must be narrow. I don't know exactly when 34007`s certificate started from in 2006, but it must have been some months prior to the rededication ceremony at the B&WR, which was 29/10/2006.

It is possible that the MHR could seek a small extension depending on boiler condition, to take into account the lost months that 34007 was out of service after the cab fire, but I think this is extremely unlikely. 34105 would need to return to service before I think April 2016 for the two locos to stand a chance of working together, which I think is unlikely but not impossible.

 

Given that most of the Mid Hants fleet is under overhaul/restoration (isn't it everything bar 34058 and 80150 that's being worked on in some capacity) could a quick overhaul be done to 34007 so it gets at least a few years in steam with 34105.

 

I had a conversation about this recently, the gist of it is that Wadebridge will need a lot of work at the next overhaul to really "get it right" so it is unlikely to be a lightening overhaul, also 34105 is very unlikely to be in service before 34007 is out of ticket.

 

Would there be any will to overhaul 34007 in the short term ?

in the next years MHR will have 34059, 34105 and 35005... of course there's always possibility of more joining the fleet too

if it's a bag of spanners, and theres half dozen other loco's coming on stream, it sounds like its not going to be needed nor cheap to fix.. those kind of jobs usually end up at the end of the headshunt...

I had a good trip riding behind 34007 a year back, sounded great between Alton and Medstead.. that is until the drain cock stuck open for half the climb and continued all the way to Ropley until some large metal objects were used to persuade it to close.
I remember the driver then telling me she was quite tired.

Could 34007 come a source of spares for 34059 ?

 

Speaking very personally I was ready to cut 34007 up by 0030 Sunday morning. It was one of the hardest evenings work I've ever done. We struggled with everything on it. If I mention that we used in the region of 7000 gallons of water, but cumulatively lost less than 1 minute until our enforced hiatus at Medstead on the last UP it might give some of you an idea. The RAT is 220tons tare, rammed to rafters with passengers (235 gross perhaps), so in the dark on a 1 in 60 with tight timings presents some challenge (not that similar or greater ones cannot be found elsewhere before anyone starts on about Little Snorings annual cider festival train that loads to 12 coaches on a 1 in 40 hauled by two austerities at never less than 20mph, despite the left hand cylinder on one blowing up and the fireman of the other having to fire with a teaspoon owing to the General Manager having forgotten to order a fresh supply of the right type of short handled south African shovel in time - probably because he was too busy advising on a dodgy golf course deal at the other end of the line).

The biggest issue on Saturday was that the small jet was inoperative all evening. (Cone now replaced in small jet). Made braking entertaining as the big jet was pulling 25" .....sometimes. (Just to explain that....it means the train brakes were dragging quite a lot of the time going uphill and that braking downhill, of which we have lots, was really a matter of judging how much big jet to stop using, not how much air to let in). That and the off-beat front end I think accounts for most of the issue, and the rest was wastage from the injectors, which are hard to trim accurately in the dark, but hand on heart we might have done a better job on had I worked out what might be going on there - which I didn't in time. Don't bother providing me with lectures on listening for the right sound etc....there is too much "background" noise on her, but I do wonder if we could have slowed some of the wastage, that said it was a pitch black night most of the time with little or no moon making it impossible to see the overflow most of the time.

We didn't delay the Belle despite having to take water 3 times during the night (in fact we waited for it on the first train) and we made the connection (just). All in all that was an achievement in the circumstances. I shan't weep when 007 comes out of service, and I'll not campaign for an early return either. It needs a lot of work, and even then it will still be a unrebuilt WC.

 

*Childish Laughter*

Nice-excellent way of shooting down the 'my dad is bigger than yours' arguements!

Chris

 

They won't miss it.... They can have 58 instead

 

We could feel your pain, it was very well done to make the connection.

 

Bet you can't wait for 34105! LOL. Campaign and champion for 34058 then. We may then just about see 35005, 34058 and 34105 in service together in the not too distant future.

 

I was on the RAT on Saturday, sitting in the front coach. Even as a passenger it was obvious that the loco was not in good shape. It clearly didn't sound well.
But we had a good evening. Thanks to the crew for getting all their hard work and getting us back to Alton in time for the connection.

There have been long standing problems with Wadebridge. It will be good once one of the other Bulleids is back in steam, either Can Pac or Swanage.

 

with the loss of 31806 what is the state of the loco fleet now? 34007 sounds like it may not even reach the end of its ticket if its in such poor condition, and 76017 isnt expected to be back till next year, i dont expect that either Can Pac or Swanage will be ready before 2016 /17 when is 30506 due to return to steam? because if 34007 has to come out early, at least 30506 will be able to fill that gap