Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

Thanks. So they are short of steam power. Both locos good today but quiet considering it is half term. We were in the gallery of the old shed and no locos in there. Web site not up to date. Slightly concerned about our local heritage line. Hope they survive.

 

If they had 3 locos in steam today maybe just be thankful! It would appear that other railways are severely cutting the number of steam locos they are using, so 3 seems pretty good!

 

I agree, I hope they get through these current difficult times, but they really need to up their game on the website. It maybe a great tool for managing bookings and finances through its integration with the booking and accounting systems, however whoever updates it or doesn't as the case maybe, it is woefully inadequate at being an information tool at the moment.


They also need to address the lag, it can take up to 10 seconds after typing the Web address into a browser for the website to load up. Not acceptable nowadays I'm afraid.

 

This old lady did us proud tonight on the first RAT of the year.

 

Can’t count Kilmersdon as it would not be able to haul a train. So just two which I agree is ok considering etc

 

It's a steam loco and it was in steam so of course it counts. I'm sure it's capable of pulling something, else the MHR wouldn't have overhauled it.

 

Should raise some income, and provide some kids some fun, as Percy for Thomas the Tank days.
Also a historical representative of quarry locos (maybe one day will appear in weathered black with some wagons!).

 

1600 brake van trip to Ropley with £5 tickets not count then ?

 

No sign of 2999 at Didcot today and my understanding is that is was going from MHR to ELR avoiding the DRC access charges .

 

Doesn't the MHR have an Austerity 0-6-0ST of some description? Shorten its train to 4 coaches (lose the buffet to reduce weight, the catering lost sales would probably not be equal to the coal savings) and hey presto there's a 4th steam engine!

 

If you mean Dave the Not-Thomas Engine, that's currently out of traffic for an overhaul.

 

I believe it primarily got overhauled to act as Percy at Thomas events, and secondarily to hire out to smaller lines to generate some income. Obviously it does get some other use at the MHR too, as has been seen over half term.

 

Anyone got some Rice Pudding that needs a skin taking off?

 

As far as I am aware, last week 2999 was in the shed at Didcot getting it's planned repaint that was delayed by it's MHR vacation.

 

Naughty!
He / it has more grunt than I imagined. Apparently it took 2 Mk1s and a GBV to Four Marks the other day (3 miles at 1 in 60). Yes it had to stop once for a blow-up, but for a small engine with a small firebox (no brick arch) I don't think that is too shabby.
Pat

 

Just got home after an enjoyable day at the Mid Hants with steam haulage by 506, 41312 and Kilmersdon. I travelled in the Queen Mary brake van hauled by Kilmersdon - the 16:00 Alresford to Ropley. And the journey at 16:00 was most enjoyable. Thanks MHR for a great day.

 

Could have been at the front of the works where couldn’t see then,thanks .

 

One of these days the local weather presenter will get the forecast correct........ if we'd heeded their advice & shed a layer of clothing, we'd have frozen our nuts off uesterday morn as seven nutters gathered atop the hill!!!

Thankfully, we didn't heed the forecast and donned enough layers to keep the biting wind at bay.

And so, once breakfast had been consumed, it was off down the yard to go and tame some truoblesome trucks & we had unfinished business with one of them!!!

In our sights were LMS van M517317 and the Lowfit, but the Milk tank also drew our attention, which come back to Bennett's, due to the handbrake levers being right down..... this was inspected before start of services and a problem found, which was rectified after the service trains had finished.

Back in the yard, on M517317, the plan was to finish fettling the bolts on the gusset plates and weld in some steel on one of the uprights...... the latter didn't happen anf only one of the two remaining sets of bolts got done due to someone hanging a door in the way......

Our unfinished business, however, was with the country end drawbar on the Lowfit...... it was resisting all our atempts to free it!! BUT we are a stubborn bunch, and don't give up that easy.....

Amd so, it was out with the gas axe & Stilson........ the retaining nut was proving to be a stubborn bugger, and last weeks dowaing with WD40 hadn't helped to improve things as it steadfastly refused to budge! So, it was out with gas axe to warm it enough to hope that it expanded enough to aloow the Stilson to free it....... not this time, as there was too much in the way underneath to allow the Stilson to do anything meaningful....... so we concluded that we'd have to attemptits removal from above..... simples, not as the D container was sat on the one plank we needed to lift......

After a bit of head scratching and wishful thinking, we concluded the only way open to us was to pusg the D container out of the way & so the first attempt was to get a scissor jack and see what happened...... answer, it was going to tske more than one - so two more were found, and before you knew it the D container was out of the way!!

Once the plank had been removed, it was back to the Stilson with an extension on the handle - but still no joy....... so out with the gas axe again, plus a proctive plate for the floor planks, and heat the nut as much as we dare, seeing how the nut was seriously rusted on..... eventually the nut finally gave and was off!!

Next up was the collar, this should have just slid off, but like the nut, was rusted on!! So the order of the day was to get the lump hammers and jemmies out and beat it off..... eventually it too gave in and was off!

After that getting the dampers off was a walk in the park!

Once the components had been cleaned up and greased, the drawbar was back in situ within 10 minutes, meaning the vehicle is fit to be moved as and when it needs to go down to Ropley.......

It was good to see folks out enjoying a day out on the line,and I believe the driver for a tenner with 1788 have proved very popular with Joe Public, as well as the brake van rides...... and also good to see @Stinch again later on at Ropley. Hope you had a trouble free night on the RAT.......

Some steamy goings on yesterday........ @30667 you may be able to spot yourself in one of the pics.... or not!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52698199051/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52697685952/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52697683907/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52698200311/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52698691928/in/dateposted-public/

The only way we had to move the D container.....



The offending nut, resisitng all attempts to remove it!



The rather hot, offending nut finally off the drawbar!



The collar being eased off, you can see just how rusted on things were.......

 

My Son, daughter-in-law and grandaughter (aged 1.36 years) visited today and had a great time on the railway. The little'un enjoyed Kilmersdon scuttling around Alresford.
Yesterday AM I was on PW duties and was able to observe both an Alresford departure with 508 and also evidence of some nocturnal visitors
506 exits Alresford by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

It's undergoing a partial repaint in the loco works before leaving to ELR next week