Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

It’s a good loco and goes well once you get the big valve open. I hope the firemen are used to a rat trap door.

 

506 on duty today

Urie in Spring by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

It's not "overexposed" if you've never seen it before. And only one of those lines is in the south.

 

It also hasn’t visited the SVR yet!

 

An excellent roving ambassador

 

Dave Wiseman celebrated 30 years of driving on the Mid Hants today. The 13:00 and 15:00 departures from Alresford aso included a Fish and Chip portion in a new venture for the Watercress Line

Fish and Chips depart from Alresford by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

That’s a nice photo Steve.

 

Yesterday, dear reader, was one of those atop the hill where you didn't know how many layers to have on or take off....... when the sun came out it was a warm spring day, but when it went in and the wind picked up, it was a different story!!!

Still, that didn't stop eight intrepid souls from doing battle with the troublesome trucks on various fronts........

The underneath of the meat van continues to be painted whilst we await the vac cylinder to go to Ropley for testing, and come back again....... the screw couplings also recieved some attention as they needed cleaning up thanks to someone painting the screws......... they will probably need some more attention as the screws are still binding!

We were also asked to help progress finishing the milk tank, as this has been in the yard for some TLC to the timber baulks...... so two of the lads got out the black gloss to help progress its repainting.

Muggin's 'Ere and me muckers carried on things with LMS van M517317...... one mucker, who's handy at wood work managed to fashion the final two fillets for the south side cladding, so that means we can now remove the London end section, and get all the steelwork into paint......... so that left two of us to progress the roof hoops, getting the two from last week into undercoat...... Leyland paint should be banned, it's next to useless, it doesn't take well, and you need to use twice as much than you would of Dulux to get to the same stage, and the finish is awful!

After that, we decided to investigate just how and where the two door stops for the north side door needed to sit....... cue head scratching due to lack of bolt holes, thanks to steel having been replaced!!!

Thankfully, with the LMS van sitting in Bennett's, we had a point of reference, so in between trains, we could nip over to the van, and work things out........ meaning that by the end of the day, two door stops had been drilled and bolted into place!

The two lads who've been painting internal cladding planks for months which they finally finished last week, got their reward this week - something I alluded too the other week...... they now have their own project to get their teeth into - Steel Highfit B481682...... its not in a good state, the floor is shot and the brakes are too slack to be safe, so its in for some major TLC - they will be doing this with help and guidance, but it's their project, so we'll let them get on with it......

The first job for them, was to get the jet wash out and hose all the crud and loose paint off it.......... they'd been warned the week before that they'd get wet and to dress accordingly........ they didn't, so ended up at the end of the day like drowned rats!!!

Maybe next week when they have jet wash everything underneath, they'll be dressed to suit working conditions......

The two door stops trial fitted.



The steel Highfit at the start of its overhaul, after jet washing...... we're still waiting to hear when the crane grab will be lifted out.......

 

According to information on the web, the Mid Hants now has a third MK1 FO (3063). Not sure what they are going to do with it, because they already have 3067 and 3070 in the Watercress Belle.

 

All three FOs were in use at last year's Autumn Gala - the third one was also in the formation for service trains on some days so it is getting used.

This leads me to ask a question - the railway now seems to have three dining trains, the Watercress Belle, the Countryman and now the Wessex Belle. Is the same set of coaches now used for all these trains? I assume the Sunday trains run as part of the Alresford set rather than as a separate train.

 

Yes, it's the same stock for all three - the Sunday lunch ones run as you surmised, in the Alresford set.

 

There are two FO's (S30xx) and two SO's (S48xx). The SO's finished & painted up as FOs.

These don't include the third FO (E3063), which is the more recent arrival and only in a semi-restored state.

 

Some very sad news just posted on Twitter:


Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk

 

Tonight was a RAT sort of Night

 

R.I.P. Mark, you were a true Gent and a good friend, I will miss you.

 

On Saturday 506 ran with a wreath to commemorate Mark. Seen here on the RAT at Alresford

Real Ale at Alresford by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

"Leander" worked service trains today. Seen here just after arrival at Alresford with D3462 waiting on platform 1 on the Ropley shuttle

"Leander" at Alresford by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

So much for the MHR telling me it wouldn’t work before the Gala!

 

It was mainly a test run in the morning that ended up being on passenger duties for the day in preparation for a charter on Monday.

 

When you have a new toy to play with…