Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

I think the word is failure, rather than blow up......

 

Thanks, we had a good day out. Shame the Thomas shuttle doesn't go all the way to Alresford and I've never heard a steam loco whistle, or should that be chop, quite as much as Thomas!

 

D8188 will be joining D8059 after the formers period at the Spa Valley Railway comes to an end.

 

They’re both owned by the same group, so it’s no surprise. To quote a certain Mr Hatt they most definitely are ‘really useful engines’

 

Do I understand from the website that for a normal day you have to pre book still and can only travel on the train you choose The Climber or The Adventurer?
It seems a little unclear from the website.

 

I was looking at the new website in detail the other day. If you click on the timetable and prices page (under the visit option) on the drop down menu it says this:

So you can pay on the day but I would guess you can pick a service to travel on but you would have to stick to this train under the current Covid situation.

Sent from my I3312 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for that, I guess it comes down to each line Covid risk assessment. Which of course like everywhere else in current life appears to be different from one place to the next. The mask rules for transport being a prime example, mandatory in Wales, Scotland and TFL, but a free for all in England.
I did find it strange that, as it stands on September 26 (the last 2 train day) I have to choose a train, but the following weekend at the (far more populated gala) it goes back to the old normal. But I do understand there will always be a "tip over point" back towards what was normal.

 

I think that blow up, burst and failure mean different things to those who use the terms from a technical point and certainly very different from 'a blow up'.
In our field:
Blow up is an explosion causing damage, usually of a boiler
Burst is a failure of a pipe/tube under pressure.
Failure is anything unexpected that prevents a piece of equipment being used.
A blow up is simply running out of steam and stopping to regain sufficient pressure.

 

Sometimes, we question our collective sanity.........

According to all the weather reports, we weren't supposed to get wet until about 15:00......... so why did we all endure difficult driving contitions 1st thing?...... Jeez, the forecasters got that one spectacually wrong!!!!!!!

So five hardy (or should that be certifiably mad?) souls gathered atop the hill yesterday, in torrential rain!!!

The usual morning brew & catch up took longer than usual as we waited in hope for the rain to abate.......... when it finally eased off, it was time to check on last weeks work, ie the painting...... thankfully the paint had gone off enough not to be affected by last weeks downpour, and it was also nice to discover that, despite the biblical amounts of rain, the inside of the van was completely dry!!!!

Tasks on the GPV van were small, but important to get right.

The cladding one door #1 was finished off.

It was also decided that it would be a good idea for each door to be fitted with kickboards, these were duly made from recycled timbers.

It has also been noted over the last few weeks that door #1&2 were getting harder to close flush, so we reckon that moisture was getting between the frame & skin, this was rectified by running a bead of caulk between the two planing the mating faces - so far this seems to have cured the problem........

Doors #3&4 have also been proving hard to close flush, and despite a lot of gentle planing was not solving the problem....... until that is, quite by accident that what we thought was a joint on the bottom angle iron, was actually a protrudance that had been part of the vehicle from day dot & one which had caused the original construction to have a rebate along the inside of the door....... Luckily for us, it just so happened that this protrustion proved easy to remove & now the doors close snuggly together.

Something that was noted on checking last weeks paint jobs, were rust spots on some of the step plates..... on investigation, it was found that there was no rust underneath, so the cause remains a mystery....... however, more treatment was applied, so the headstocks can be bought up to 2nd undercoat next week.

One last job that has been on the cards for a while is the swan necks on the vac pipe, when the expired hoses were removed, it was found that the collars were not in a good condition & the necks had to come off.... the only way to do this, was to drop the whole lot on to the deck & then remove the swan necks with gentle persuassion from the gas axe.

One of number has taken the necks home, so that he can hopefully sort them out at work & make them good.....

The plus side of this exercise, is that the vac pipe can be properly treated before being reattached, we are also thinking that fitting rubber collars one the pipe underneath, where it is clamped to the underside would be a good idea........

So, not a bad days work in between waving at the trains full of happy families enjoying a trip during their day out with Thomas.

A mixture of the two loco's on the sevice trains & some troulblesome trucks......

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/51364042192/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/51365024058/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/51365538644/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/51364041317/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/51365816105/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/51365540124/in/dateposted-public/

Frames #1&2 in the process of being planed.


Kickboards fitted. (not my photo)


Vac pipe removed.


Swan necks removed.

 

From a diesel crank's perspective, blow up, burst, expire, jack etc. are all interchangeable terms for failure.

Speaking of diesels, good to see the Hampshire Unit has finally arrived at its new home at the Ropley Diesel Depot. After helping to move the last few bits from the unit to the stores it now also has significantly less **** in the guttering although there's still a carriage side and a little bit to do!

 

Talking of Diesels, "Lion" was out on Friday with Messrs Bentley and Baggot doing a spot of pre Thomas shunting

50027 Shunts at Alresford by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

Looking very smart in the sun!

 

They sometimes run a third set as the Watercress Wanderer. That acts as a rover. Again, the ticket is only valid for that set, it can't be used on the other two branded offerings.

 

D8188 at the Mid-Hants on 16th August 2000.

 

Photos on Facebook suggest that the chopper has landed at Alresford (20188)

 

It has indeed
D8188 Arrives at Alresford by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

D8188 departs for Ropley by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

Now there’s a pair of class 20s on the railway maybe the wagon group at Medstead could rustle up a rake of mgr hoppers. Just joking Dave.

Great to see another diesel loco on the railway.

 

Red lights leading! Tut, tut.
Pat

 

Had a very enjoyable visit last Monday. Nice ride behind the standard 4 from Alresford.

 

We had another enjoyable day out with Thomas and the grandchildren yesterday. Seemingly a huge number of people in attendance but it all felt very safe and well organised, and didn't seem at all crowded due to the excellent layout over a large site. A lot of thought had obviously gone into the organisation - thank you to everyone involved.

 

Great to see the latest YouTube video has been released. Nice to see an update on 35005 boiler in this video.