MHR Autumn Steam Gala 6th-8th October 2023

Double post, oops!

 

Saturday full line round trip with Fenchurch now sold out.

 

Perfect, thanks @Ben Jenden and @AaronT much appreciated!

 

Only four left for tomorrow now too...

 

Fenchurch in the sun at Alton today!

 

How did the event go today?

 

Numbers and weather were good, about 10-15 minutes late now but was spot on for most of the day. Tomorrow's bookings are higher than today's apparently, Sunday looking a little quieter at the mo. All those (staff, volunteers and passengers) I spoke to seemed in a good mood. Fenchurch the star of the show in my eyes!

 

Only popped into Alton station for a couple hours but all seemed busy and only running around 5 minutes late when I left!

 

I was curious about the water tank wagon that was set up at Alton, Vulcan was making use of it when I first arrived but Fenchurch used the normal Alton water tower, is it just a back-up/reserve?

 

Don’t forget that parking at Alresford will be limited tomorrow as the Farmers Market is being
held in the station car park

 

How did Fenchurch do on the full line trip?

 

Don't know how thirsty she was but she sounded lovely as she passed me just outside Ropley!

 

I've seen photos of Vulcan using the tower, so maybe it's to do with how long it takes the tank to refill?

 

A far as I know, the water supplied to the water columns at Ropley are treated water (reverse osmosis). Alton and Alresford are not favoured for use as they supply untreated mains water complete with calcium salts, chlorine and any other chemicals added to our drinking water.

Cheers, Neil

 

"Fenchurch" on its full line trip today, seen here outside Ropley

Terrier at Large by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

Good day today with only minor delays. Last trains of the day less than 15 mins adrift. Only very minor gripe was that passengers (certainly at Ropley) were issued with wristbands and tickets. The only TTI that I was was only interested in seeing tickets and not armbands and inferred that armbands were not actually valid for travel! If this was to be believed, what was the point of issuing armbands in the first place? Surely an unnecessary duplication of effort and resources. As I said only a small issue from a very enjoyable day.

 

Indeed this is the case. I think likely the tanker is filled from Ropley and is the preferred option for filling up but takes longer, as suggested by @5944 therefore when there was limited time at Alton the water tower was being used.

 

That is a superb picture. Looking forward to tomorrow.



Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk

 

Action from the Gala yesterday, all of the locos on top form!

 

I had a great day yesterday - thanks to everyone involved for putting on such a fantastic show!

Stand out performances from Fenchurch and Goliath - which absolutely flew up the bank from Ropley to Medstead - incredible!

My video is now here