Contact for freight train charters with 31806 or 30506

I imagine that for obvious reasons these events are not widely publicised, but I assume there must be individuals who organise them and take the payments. It would help if anyone here can please provide contact details for those individuals. By a PM if that is appopriate.

Many thanks,

Bryan

 

Martin,

Thanks for your response.

Yes I'd like to be involved in photographing a freight charter running from Alresford to Medstead and Four Marks behind 30506. Presumably participants travel in the brake van and get off at various locations en route? Which I should just about be able to manage these days. And, should 31806 do some travelling, the same on the Mid Hants for that loco, obviously chimney first. The Mid Hants is ok within my range these days, and is ok re my vision of authenticity of steam hauled freight going over the Alps!

They are my main aims at present.

Bryan

 

I doubt there's much chance of 31806 visiting the MHR in the foreseeable future TBH. As for 506, your best bet is probably to ask either Martin as above, or @Duty Druid or @Hampshire Unit on here.

 

Given the politics I doubt 31806 will return to MHR unless the owner decides to sell it. More chance of 506 going to Swanage

 

Do the politics only apply to 31806 going to the MHR please? Leaving open the chance of it visiting other SR heritage lines?

As for 506 I'd be happy for that to be on a freight charter on the Mid Hants, that line is much easier for me to get to these days.

Even better if the owning group would consider running it as 30506 was in the 1960s for a while, during which maybe a freight charter could run.

I have emailed the Urie group about the possibility of the 4-6-0 being repainted etc as 30506 and await their response.

And guys, many thanks for keeping this thread active, very much appreciated.

Bryan

 

Duty Druid is your best contact for MHR charters, As regards 506, I don't know if there are any plans to repaint her, but for a photo charter, it wouldn't be too hard to cover up the Southern lettering, If there is an overlap, between 499 entering service, and 506 's end of its ticket, it might be a worthwhile step to put 506 into its last operational livery as 30506, for a short while to show the two s15's as in the start of life to final days, Or even renumber her as the final Urie s15 in service 30512 wasn't it?

 

Well it visited the NYMR for the gala in 2015, but that was 10 years ago now. Would be a very handy engine for the Whitby trains, but I guess it is better off on its home turf at Swanage.

 

31806 visited GWSR a couple of years ago and went down very well, I had a couple of excellent days of flag waving behind it, one on the goods train with our Southern Railway Queen Mary brake van. So I don't think it's seen as off limits, just probably not at the MHR...

 

As I understand it, the Swanage Railway have control over where the U class can visit, and let's just say, that whilst the railway does have very good friendly relationships with the MHR, both know that the owner is very unlikely to look favourably on the Swanage Railway hiring the engine to the MHR, so no one is going to cause problems by asking, the closest the U class will get, is the Shunting neck at NR Alton, If it were to provide motive power to a charter from Swanage to Alton, assuming it now fits anywhere , but now that Eddystone is set to join the list of approved engines, if a charter were to be done, it would be Eddystone that would haul it,