Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

It's not really the noise under load but more the idling. The whistling noise can travel for miles!

 

I know! It’s lovely! Although I may be little biased!

 

Latest on the Peckett that shall be nameless!
Boilersmith at work today. Hydraulic booked for Tuesday, I am reliably informed.
Pat

 

It were not a nice day atop the hill yesterday, it were already on the warm side when three of us gathered & it just kept on getting hotter!!!

Soooooo...... after a brew & brekkie, it was rapidly agreed that anything too strenuous was off the menu. And to that end, we agreed it would be a good idea to head for Alresford as we'd been asked to give some rolling stock the once over & take pics as went. All fine & dandy,except when we got there, the humidity down the headshunt proved to be energy sapping & even lifting off tarps became a struggle , still we got the job done, so we hope our findings will prove useful.....

On the way back to safe ground, we called in at Ropley to see if the ULS lads had managed to find enough spare steel to make the three gusset plates we need on LMS van M517317.... luckily for us, they have & they are more than happy to make them for us, so thanks lads - we owe you one!

And if my Ropley Spy is reading this, yes we will make a donation towards 499, as he was not impressed when we rocked up & he found out none of us had amy money on us.... apparently he's now threatening to have an ATM installed at Ropley for anyone who doesn't have any cash in their wallets......

Also we discovered Traincare were also working in the carriage shed, on the refurb of the kitchen car for the Slurp & Burp (its going to look very smart inside & out ) so took the chance that they might have the various seals & diaphragm for the vac cylinder release valve that we need for the Banana van.... & they did, so that's another troublesome truck back off the naughty step, next week when we get it sorted.

So a fruitful morning was had & we were glad to get back atop the hill, where the humdity wasn't noticed, but the heat was & it was full on, so in between seeking shade & a welcome breeze, we made more progress on M517317, namely finally getting the chassis completely into 1st topcoat, sorting out some awkward holes in the country end, north side wrap round with the magic putty & getting the best part of another dozen planks into 1st undercoat, before calling it a day. I think the kettle might have done slightly more work than us, as frequent breaks for a brew were taken, meaning that we stayed hydrated!!!

Some pics from the day.....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52206584801/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52205572537/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52206851409/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52206585476/in/dateposted-public/

A couple of pics from the work carried out atop the hill, the ones from Alresford aren't for public consumption.

The chassis of M517317 completed up to 1st topcoat.



More planks in to 1st undercoat.

 

What are the arrangements to charge the MLV's?

 

Steve B

 

Another ECS positioning move tomorrow for the Diesel Gala:
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:K21902/2022-07-14/detailed

There is also a move off the MHR on Sunday evening:
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:R52569/2022-07-17/detailed

Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk

 

I thought that was how Class 25’s worked?

 

Gil Shelton proposed something similar during the petrol shortages of the 1970s ..... and there seems to be a bottle of water/amphetamine mix missing from that illustration!

 

66415 is the booked visitor it seems. Never worked a passenger train before, so that should keep the red pen men happy.

 

2x MLVs and the 2EPB arrived this afternoon.

 

MLVs charged? Does the juice still work on the Plat2 road at Alton?

 

Yes. Platform 1 and 2 roads (used by SWR) are juiced. Platform 3 road (used only by the MHR) is not.

 

Yep, there's a regular half-hourly SWR service from Alton most of the day now, using both NR platforms as they cross there. The units arrived behind a 33, and someone on Facebook got a photo of the full lineup - SWR EMU in 1, 33 in 2 and the S15 in 3...

 

The latest YouTube video is available to watch.

 

Worth mentioning here:

Spotted over on WNXX that Andy the owner of 50027 is fundraising for the work to repair the main gen and the auxiliaries of lifting it etc: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfun...=offline&utm_medium=qrcode&utm_term=MpB8zyrV5

 

Oh, does this mean that He who's name we never say, might be running Alresford to Ropley shuttles during the October gala, possibly with "Dave" with an special, one off, never to be repeated trip with two coaches to Alton, special charter at very high prices to raise funds for 53808's overhaul of course it would have to be either a day when there is nothing else running, due to the pecketts small wheels, and extended water stops at every station.

 

Peckett latest. Tuesday's hydraulic was OK. Steam Test booked for this Tuesday, into the frames on Wednesday. Fingers, toes, &c., crossed.
Pat