Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

The August Thomas event continues....
Thomas in Sun Lane cutting by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

Mattel paid a lot of money for the rights, which has made prices high, but otherwise a good day out for families after a rough year and hope some kids get to read (or have read to them ) the original Thomas books by Wilbert Awdry (rather than the CGI videos)?.

 

It were a cracking day atop the hill yesterday Gromit!!

Six of the Saturday gang gathered in weather much more amenable than last week, and all with a desire to make as much progress on the Gunpowder van as possible in a day.....

So, after sorting out who was going to do what over the usual morning brew, works commenced with gusto, one of the more pressing jobs that now needed doing, was to fettle the cross beams over the doors - these had beeen made before we pulled the roof back into shape, so it was now a case of trimming them to fit & allow the doors to fit snuggly, sounds staright forward, but nothing with this van ever is, it took two to see the job through, but it is now done!

Next on the list was to get door frames #3 & 4 into primer and up to 2nd undercoat so that they can be re-hung next week & the cladding fitted....... the headstocks were also bought up to 2nd undercoat, so can now be glossed.

The vac pipe also recieved attention, the swan necks having been sorted during the week were reftitted, and the pipe rubbed down, oxided, undercoated & glossed - the last wheel was also bought up to scratch along with the underside of the van along the pipe run, W irons, axle boxes & brake levers!

The 'fun' job of the day was to gloss as much of the bodyside as possible, a nice easy job - not!! It involved a lot of lifting & shifting of scaffold, as well a rubbing down....... plus given the heat, the paint needed constamt wetting, as, as soon as it hit the bodyside it was going off & prone to pulling! Problem was solved with a very wet gloss that went on like a dream, the downside being chasing runs....... reckon we'd do England proud, as we got more runs than an Aussie batsman!!!

Only doors #3&4 are yet to recieve any gloss, as they were finally bought to 2nd undercoat & now need some 50/50 before the black stuff can be aplied.

At the end of the day, there were six very happy blokes who can now finally see the finishing line & if the weather plays ball, we reckon by mid September we could well be there, if everything falls into place.........

All tis took place in between waving at the passing trains full of happy families enjoying their day with the little blue engine......

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The completed vac pipe.



Frames #3&4 up to 2nd undercoat drying in the sun.



The North side cross beam fettled & fitted in position across the door.



The bodysides looking rather black & shiny in 1st gloss!

 

Looking good Dave, can't wait to see the lettering going on!

 

Thanks Alex,

Just wait until you see the finished article....... we still have a few tricks up our sleeves!!!!

 

You will see it Alex, I heard that Dave and Crew are going to hire a car with blacked out windows, drive up to Winchcombe, grab you, bring you back to Medstead and hold you there with lettering paint, all the food and ale, you can eat and drink, and a laptop, so your univ studies don't get affected, and drop you off at Winchester stn once its done,

 

Dave did ask me if I knew my way round Gloucestershire the other day.....

 

Is there any news on what the second visitor for the Autumn gala may be?

 

Another day spent with the 2H today. Unloaded some more equipment before giving it a proper wash over with a team of 4 of us. Now looking a lot better externally but still a fair amount of work to go!

In other news, The RAT replacement, The BARNOWL is now live: https://watercressline.co.uk/barnowl/

 

£3:50 a pint! £3:50! Bargain

 

Why the change of name, were to many people getting RAT arsed sounds very good value, calling it the barn owl, its a pity Kent Yeti Doesn't post on here any more, he would be in paradise, " i'm out owl watching my dear" i'll sleep in the car, but saying that,i would imagine late evening, the wildlife you might see along the line can be quite interesting, is there another market to be tapped there?

 

Beer At Ropley Night Out (on the) Watercress Line.
The web site spells out the difference between this and a traditional RAT:
"Drinks and food can be bought at Ropley ‘Beer Junction’ on the picnic area and enjoyed at Ropley, or taken on the train up and down the line. Hop on and off the trains as you like."
The queues at the bar on the RAT aren't really Covid friendly, this format gives everyone the chance to spread out.

 

This weeks video is all about hot riveting.

 

Yesterday atop the hill was one of those days of do you, don't you?..... given the weather forecast & right on cue, it rained as we gathered for our early morning brew & catch up!

So, plan B was hatched, and whilst we were doing that, the wet stuff stopped falling, but the skies remained threatening......

The 1st job was to finally fix door frames #3&4 in position, a simple enough task, except the brass screws from the original doors, didn't want to play ball, even with pilot drilling!!!

Whilst that was going on, and with the continued threat of rain, jobs underneath the GPV were found......

The deadstop at both ends of the drawbar were removed, what remained of the split pins drilled out, then cleaned up & refitted with new split pins.

Areas that were thought to have been missed when the underside was orginally done, were sorted out.

Once the underside was done, two of us took a trip to Ropley to have a shufty at the next big project to soon be atop the hill ( a joint venture bewteen the Saturday gang & midweek) - The class 50 lads were, by the llok of it busy tinkering with both the 50 & the Thumper.... The ULS lads were found in the main workshop, making a right old racket & even my Ropley spy seemed to actually be doing something.......

It also gave us the chance to catch up with folks who we haven't seen in a while!

Upon returning to the top of the hill, lunch was taken, and then those charged with fitting the doorframes finished off the fitting & then proceeded to start fitting the cladding.

The 'brave' decision was also taken to start painting on the outside.......

One of us started glossing the couplings, along with rectifying marks to the buffers that weren't there last week........ the inside of the northside reveal was also bought up to 50/50.

The one who drew the short straw, had the pleasure of bringing the roof up to 2nd gloss!!

So, another good day was had, and thankfully thanks to the weather forecast being wide of the mark, more of those fiddly little jobs were ticked off the list!!

It was also nice to see the 7F out to play on a short goods & the passenger services, with 30925 & 76017 in charge were well patronised with lots of happy people returning our waves!

A few observations from yesterday......

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The couplings looking a lot smarter.


The inside of the door reveal into 50/50



Frames #3&4 dinal fixed with frame#3 clad.

 

I will be paying a visit to the Watercress Line on Saturday for the 50s event. I can't see a timetable on the Watercress Line website. Anyone have the link to the timetable. It's quite possible it is hidden somewhere on the site and I have missed it.

 

It's the standard timetables: Saturday and Monday, 3-train; Sunday 2-train

 

41312 returned today(actually arrived yesterday evening I believe, unloaded today)

 

Steve,

Is 41312 still facing towards Alton.

thanks

 

Many thanks

 

Looking on the MHR YouTube channel today I see a promo video has been put up today for this years steam
Illuminations.