Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

Was that with 2020 coal prices? Presumably even more extra now?
Looking at CanPac's boiler in the shop, you could almost fit the whole of "Kilmersdon" into the firebox of 35005!

 

I

Im curious about that- (not in any way disputing it).

What was factored into the costings?

Just coal usage, or oil, maintenance and overhaul costs attributed over the 10 yearly cycle?

Anyone from the GWSR got any input at all- they presumably can draw a direct (and recent) comparison between 35006 and Hall/manor/GW 2-8-0s and a 2mt!

Chris

 

It was pre covid coal prices. As I say it was a fairly comprehensive assessment. Beyond that I have no further comment

 

As far as the MHR is concerned, at least, I'm in fairly robust agreement with PaulHitch - an Ivatt classs 2 seems to be all that is needed. I've wcertainly been on 4-coach trains hauled by 41312 where it didn't seem to be working particularly hard, For most railways something in the class 2-4 range is more than adequate.

 

I would agree too. With two "buts"

1. There is some heritage/charitable objects met by running particular engines to tell a story

2. An ivatt tank is too small for regular non-summer use on more than 4 coaches. On a wet November night with a heavy 5 or 6 for a Rat or belle, the Ivatt would need assistance or would stall.

 

She is a bit of an Ivatt GTi though.....

 

Actually two more buts.....

1. The MHR has only got one Ivatt Tank and is unlikely to be able to buy more

2. Money is sometimes available for the overhaul of a specific loco (e.g. 34007) which no amount of discussion is going to divert to another loco. Given the 500k to 1M cost of an overhaul do you turn this away so that you can work on a smaller more suitable engine which doesn't get the funding? No. Of course not .

 

Indeed, and point number 1 is one that certain people on here always seem to miss. i.e that the preservation world has to operate with whatever locos are available to it, rather than those that are most sensible/economical that would have been chosen in an ideal world.

 

Also there appears to me a lot of politics involved with-in the new build world, may be we should have a register of what a good all round main line ticket new build should it be like a black five?

 

It's that long since I was on a Bulleid light pacific except for one day on 34092 that I can't remember much about them.
I was going to say that I doubt that anyone has any detailed figures on coal consumption as it is a time consuming and manpower intensive job weighing off coal in a tender but 21B has stated above that a detailed study of an MN over a mid power engine put the cost at about £50K /year and I am in no position to doubt this nor would I feel the need to. What in any case probably has more effect on coal consumption is the day to day variation in quality of crews. In my experience there are those who appear to shovel twice as much as their colleagues but I've not actually sat in a corner and counted shovelfuls to prove it.

 

Indeed she is.
41312 was very impressive when she ventured out onto the Main Line in the early 2000's with the MHR Green Train. She handled six carriages very well. I had the pleasure of travelling behind her on The March Hare excursion to Windsor. The stewards in our coach (MHR volunteers) were getting worried as we headed towards Camberley and the formidable 1 in 60 bank up through the station. The outcome they feared happened. 41312 was signal checked at the foot of the bank with rain falling. What followed was a superb display of driving as the crew enticed a brilliant performance out of 41312 as she forged up the bank with six on. Can't find any clips of the climb of Camberley Bank on YouTube but there are other clips from the day showing 41312 to be master of the job:





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I agree to a certain extent, but the MidHants has always been more towards the extreme end of "Big Chufferitis". If I were in charge of planning their overhaul program I'd be looking at getting another s15 finished as quickly as possible, as fast a turnaround on 30923 as possible, then 75079, 73096 and 80151 done. 35005 and 34007 are going to get done anyway but 35005 is not an ideal day to day engine and the MHR may well not see a lot of 34007 once it is running again - it seems as though nowadays NR registered engines tend to do the bulk of their work there. Remember how "Braunton" was going to be a WSR engine with occasional main line trips?

 

30923 isn’t owned by the railway though is it? I imagine an overhaul regarding that isn’t going to be exactly straightforward.

 

An overhaul of 30923 would indeed be very difficult. It was scrapped 60 years ago.

The complication with 30925 is getting the NRM to agree to an overhaul. Not too difficult to achieve if the NRM are agreeable.

 

Any Railway can only use what is available to it, and is in ticket, and as regards the MHR, its all about cost's, and what each engine has in the pot, as so to speak, without the funding, either from past donations, fees that the engine has earnt, during its last active spell, it can't be overhauled, 73096, will not have any past fees put to one side, because those fees went elsewhere, because she was not owned by the railway at the time, so the money has to come from donations, and whatever funds can be found, hopefully 925, might have a pool of money from its last ticket, 80150 whilst it's an ideal engine for the line, will need a lot more money behind it before its overhaul can start, i do have one question though, does the MHR owned engines go into ear marked funds, or are they general overhaul funds, ?

 

I don't think 30923 ("Bradfield") is owned by anybody - it was cut up in 1963.

Peter

 

That easy, eh? No reason why the NRM would not agree to the MHR giving it another overhaul, provided they can show that they have the means and finance in place to do the job in a timely manner - that is likely to be the stumbling block. That, and the need to keep the loco stored under cover meanwhile. I suspect that the ball is in the Mid Hants court at present.

Peter

 

850 has been stored undercover for 7 years at the MHR with no sign of an overhaul starting, so they are hardly doing that in a timely manner.

Yes I suppose it comes down to does the MHR have the funds, capacity and will to overhaul 925, and the space to store it in the meantime. Or have they got enough on their plate without wanting to look after a second NRM loco too.

 

I don't think that there is an agreement in place for the MHR to overhaul 850, it is just stored there at present. Given the discussion in recent posts about 35005 it is even less of an ideal loco for the line than a MN - pity but that is the way it is. If Ropley wanted to overhaul an NRM loco I guess that they would tackle 925 rather than 850. I suspect that both locos will remain in storage on the MHR as I do not think that there are any other railways clamouring to get their hands on them. They all have more than enough locos of their own waiting overhaul without taking on an NRM one to add to their list.

Peter

 

For what purpose?