MHR Spring Gala 12-14th February 2016

The Q has arrived - though it looks like someone forgot the tender

https://www.facebook.com/watercress...4188103617160/951434241559206/?type=3&theater

Tom

 

Don't worry Tom, loco and tender now safely attached in the cattle doc at Alresford (as of 30 mins ago!)

 

30120 and 30541 are now both in Ropley yard.

 

Looks like it will be a good gala, I'm on the GSN stand on Saturday so hopefully some of you will come and say hello

 

Okay, its shameless plug time on behalf of all the Wagonista's in the MHRWG!

Just to remind folks that we will have our fund raising stand at Medstead on all three days of the gala, with all sorts of railway related stuff to tempt you with, as well as the latest limited edition wagon to add to your model railway collection , sadly we not have any of our must have, world famous (?) mugs for you to get your hands on this time round - we've sold out and are working on a new design!

In addition to the fund raising stand, we will of course be conducting yard tours over all three days on a turn up & go basis, though we now ask for a £2 'donation' per adult ( I prefer that to the word charge!) and children under 15 go free, and for your generous donation you will receive an informative souvenir leaflet, giving a background to the railway and more importantly what we in the wagon group get up to....

The yard tour will take approx 30 minutes and you will be able to see various wagons that we are working on in various stages of restoration & repair - AND - if you time it right you'll also get the chance to witness/photograph loco's working hard up the bank from a perspective not normally afforded.

So please do come and pay us a visit and help us with maintaining the fleet of wagons that you all love to see running on the line.

 

I'd like to endorse DD's post, the MHR Wagon group do a great job, the wagons look amazing and are a great sight behind our locos. Plus Dave is a lovely chap (just drop the brown envelope off at the info office Dave, and make sure the notes are used)
Why not take a look at how the Queen Mary brake is getting on!

 

I'll accept the compliment on behalf of the whole group!

Awww thanks Steve though I'm not the only Dave, there's at least seven of us (I think!)

Oh. and the envelope is stuffed & ready

Last week it was in "Arctic Convoy" livery, this week.............. maybe not!

 

Are there more Daves or Steves on the railway on CanPac we have 2 of each.

 

You sure such info is fit for publication?

 

Shining on Shed by Arle Images, on Flickr

A very shiny 41312 at Ropley tonight......

 

Quite sure as it 'appens!

But ain't you got something more to say WRT the BBLS?.....................

 

Come Sunday, I doubt it will be...........

But she does look the mutt's

Shame I can't make it tomorrow.

 

A day not without problems on the Mid Hants - 10 minutes delay early on stretched to 30 minutes when the crew discovered that Wadebridge was running low on water before departure from Alresford and now at least 45 minutes thanks to breaks dragging on a carriage at Alton. Good engines, great noise in the wet, but quite chilly trains and a guard who incurred my wrath when refusing to let on several people running down the platform to his train! Oh well - I should have known that a 5 minute connection was optimistic.

 

Thank you.
Said wagon is now stabled in my sidings.

Looking at ebay, seems to be selling well !

 

We left early today at around 2.30 as it had been an unusually frustrating experience on the MHR.
The day got off to a bad start when we arrived at Aldershot station and found that the 8.50 SWT service we had intended to catch was delayed and the next service was the 9.20. That thwarted our attempt to get to Alton before the deluge of passengers arrived on the 9.20. So we arrived at Alton with the deluge of passengers and we wanted to travel on the first service with 34007. To speed things up we were told to buy our tickets in the shop and we were told not to panic as they were holding the MHR train so that passengers from the SWT service could catch it. Then, when we were buying our tickets they decided to dispatch the train anyway*
With this plan buggered we waited for the 10.55 with the Q which fortunately turned out to be the highlight of the day. A cracking run from the Q in both directions up the bank. A shame that there was no heating in the carriage on the down journey. Bloody freezing.
Spent the rest of the day at Medstead until I started to feel ill and the timetable went completely to pot. My Dad was also fed up with the weather and the cold so we called it a day when the delayed service to Alton eventually turned up behind the 9F. There were rather a lot of frustrated people at Medstead as no one seemed to know what had happened to cause the severe delays to the services. I had several people asking me what was going on.
A disappointing end to the day as we had intended to travel on the local with 41312 and the WC+9F doubleheader.

*Something really needs to be done about the time of the first train from Alton as the connection with the SWT is too tight for the amount of people arriving all in one go.

 

Just got back from the gala. Must say the weather wasn't that good apart from this morning. Nice to see 34007 Wadebridge turned out with white buffers and white lamp irons. 30120 and 30541 both made a great sound going up Medstead bank this morning on the first train out of Ropley.

 

Unfortunately that is par for the course at the MHR, many a time at Galas they will dispatch trains when it is obvious that people are still trying to catch them.

 

Only to happy to help, and thank you for contributing to our 'fighting funds' - material costs are only going North at the mo!

 

Very constrained for time this weekend, but I managed to get down this morning for a really brief visit. Down from Alton with the T9, nice smooth run up the bank with three Mk1s and a PMV. Hopped off at Ropley for a quick nose around and came back with the Q, which on five coaches was much louder than the T9 and felt somewhat slower on the bank.

Horrible day to be out and about, cold and wet off the trains, which may have dissuaded some visitors because getting seats was never a problem. The Ivatt does indeed look very shiny; it's nice to see it back. Everything seemed to be running within five minutes of time when I left.

By the way, spot the other Bluebell visitor in the attached photo. Unfortunately, they seem to have forgotten rather more of it than just the tender...

 

The Belle/Maroon set was pretty full on the way back from Alton this morning....brief snow shower at M4M earlier - about 5 mins down....plenty of people at Ropley this afternoon, plenty of spare parking at Medstead. Wadebridge had her last run on the freight for a few years this morning.