[Oct 1, 2021] Watercress Line Autumn Steam Gala "The Somerset & Dorset" (Watercress Line)

Thanks Andy

 

Great day today despite the weather. The double headed 10 coach Pines was my highlight. Wonderful as we went through Ropley at line speed. That must have taken some organising. Got photos of 34092 early before the rain came. Well done and thank all of you at MHR, even the driver who prefers Standard Class 5s to Bulleids.

Don

 

Railway business continues despite the rain! Medstead and Four Marks this morning

Token Exchange in the Rain by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

Ah yes you were standing right in front of me. Decent shot but I didn’t bother and went back to the other platform for a cuppa in the nice warm waiting room with good company of MHR staff while waiting for 80151

 

My sympathies go out to anyone on car parking duty at Ropley today. When I was there yesterday, the gentlemen dealing with marshalling cars into the field told me that so many people parked in it at the last gala without buying a ticket that they were monitoring the cars more closely. Fine for yesterday's marshals but today's must have been absolutely drowned. When l lived in Gloucestershire, I volunteered to help with the car parking at Cheltenham Race Course during the GWSR's Santa Specials and chose a day when a gale blew up. I have never ended up so wet in my life! Even wearing two waterproofs one on top of the other failed to save me from a complete drenching.

 

Well that was about the wettest Steam Gala I've been to but very enjoyable nonetheless. All seemed to go well (apart from 53808 being a little slow to get out of bed this morning meaning a Class 20 had to deputise for a short while). All the locos seemed to perform well. I've now seen City of Wells on 5 different railways but it sounded really great working hard "over the alps". 80151 was good too - always been one of my favourites at the Bluebell but it was good to see it working away from home. Performance on the 17:00 ex Alton particularly impressive. Many thanks as ever to all the loco crews and other staff at the Mid Hants for putting on a good show.

 

The gala comes to a close.....
80151 in evening light by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

Enjoyable day today and weather good until a downpour at Medstead as The Pines approached. Still, not a bad result

 

Had a fantastic day at the gala today. I thought all the locos were looking and sounding great. I particularly enjoyed 80151 which I had out of Alton twice.
The timetable was interesting and varied, with the non stop runs and the shuttle giving some shunting action at Ropley too. Weather was generally good though I was glad I was on the Pines not trying to photograph it - slightly unfortunate that the worst moment of the day weather wise coincided with that, but you can't have everything. It mostlyseemed to run to time, I started on the first train out of Alton and ended on the last train back, both of which were pretty much bang on Right Time.
So all in all well done to the organisers and staff/volunteers. There were plenty of people there but it didn't seem packed so I hope the ticket sales were enough to make it worth it.
I joined as a member while I was there so hopefully back again soon!

 

Afternoon All,

I, too, was there yesterday (Sunday) and enjoyed a splendid day riding on, and videoing, the trains. It will take me a while to edit all the footage that I took as I've got several other things on the go at the moment, but Part One, Ropley to Medstead behind 34092, is now on my YouTube channel:



Hope you like it.

TTFN,

Ron.

 

Very nice day Sunday, apart from an absolute soaking just as the Pines Express came through Ropley! Video below, photos to follow. Thanks as always to everyone involved in organizing the event!

 

Photos from Sunday... https://www.flickr.com/photos/alts1985/albums/72157719114970421

 

Bit late, but here's my footage from the Friday and Sunday. I hope you enjoy it