Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

The paint was looking tired, especially over the firebox. Refreshing the black was the quickest (and cheapest - v v important) answer. I am not aware of any plan to return to a Maunsell livery scheme.
Pat

 

Normally would agree about losing a loco in pre-nat livery but it has been 20+ years since we saw an S15 in Br black; 825 and 847 have been flying the flag for Maunsell green so a change is nice (IMO).

 

Looking on the bright side (if more happiness is required) 506 had Southern on the tender when we had the biggest gathering of Bullied coaches since withdrawal from BR, 6, back in early 2020. Now it is in the same livery as the mk1 carriage fleet.

 

Bulleid!

 

Wow, a discussion about a loco that ran a great deal in BR days and is going to re-appear, after some work, in BR black and BR numbering - 30506. And I've somehow missed it up until now!

I will adjust my radar software to make sure I don' t miss the chance of this happening again. Can you imagine if the Bluebell put their C, H, O1 and S15 out in 1960s form, and let the Q and Adams radial tanks stay as they were in BR 1960s form, and I missed it!

I shall be emailing the International Space Station to keep an eye out for that for me . . . . . .

And @60019 Bittern I will of course be recommending you for a Knighthood in the next set of honours.

Bryan

 

And so, another Saturday atop the hill has come and gone!

With Muggin's 'Ere, Me Oppo and Me Mucker, plus two other lads in attendance, after the usual morning ritual, work was divided on two fronts, BY Van (C) S 653 is in the yard for a refresh, so at the behest of the midweek guys, the two lads were tasked with cleaning up the solebar in readiness fo painting, this took thwm all day amd they still didn't finish the job, as the solebar was thick with grime, and there's more surface area than you think.

That left Muggin's & Co to do battle with LMS van M517317....... top of the list was to sort out the southside, the paint for whatever reason has cracked and the caulk has bulged - not good, so it was decided that the best course of action was to rake out all the caulk and start again - a long laborious process, but with plenty of banter and passing trains, the seams were soon raked out, the pain in the ar*e bit is the caulking, you have to have patience of a saint, and take breaks and again, banter and passing trains helps, especially when you hear @21B coming up the bank with 35005, and giving you a wave & smile as he glides past - good to see you having fun..........

Once all the caulking had been done, it was time to work things out with the latch plate for the door, a job that's been on the back burner for quite awhile...... and as ever with troublesome trucks, nothing is ever straight forward, we spent the best aprt of an hour getting nowhere, but instead figuring out just why things aren't as they should be!

That said, we now know what we need to do next time to rectify things........

A few pics......

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54682543014/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54681485227/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54682638685/in/dateposted-public/

The south side of M517317 recaulked ready for the paintwork to be sorted out.

 

Another great YouTube video.

 

Good to see the boiler back on 30506. Hopefully all the work is on schedule for a return to service soon including the early September freight charter.

Bryan

 

Well I would say because it is something new.
The current livery existed in 2000, the green Southern livery in 1990 and although I cannot lay my hands on an image at the moment my spreadsheet says I have images of it as 30506 in 2004. I believe this was with the later BR logo on the tender, not the cycling Lion, which still seems uncommon in preservation (and in my view far more pleasant). I understand from what I have read that is what will be carried going forward. Seems a good course of action to me.

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/19xduM6gTm/

Make way for a Heritage Rail 'First' at The Watercress Line!

We’re thrilled to announce that Class 150 Sprinter Unit 150231 is joining our running fleet, making us the first heritage railway in the UK to operate a second-generation Diesel Multiple Unit.

Originally built in 1987 and donated by Porterbrook, this iconic ‘Sprinter’ has been unveiled today at the sold-out Railway 200: The Greatest Gathering in Derby - and is now ready for its next chapter on our rails, proudly restored to its original livery by the incredible Aura Brand Solutions.

This marks a major milestone for The Watercress Line, filling a key gap in our operations. Look out for earlier departures from Alton as 150231 joins service soon!

ALSTOM Railway200

#Class150 #Railway200 #WatercressLine #HeritageRailway #DieselDays #PreservingModernRail #RailwayHistory #DMU #BritishRail

 

Interesting addition. I thought the Midhants was seriously short of undercover storage space.

 

I'll bet that will wind a few enthusiasts up! ( And it's not even 1st April.)
Positives to be taken from this - Engines, gearboxes and final drives will be available for quite a few years to come, while mainline TOC's are still running compatible rolling stock of classes 150, 153 and 156. Spare windows, opening vents and internal cladding panels will be available for a few years during the scrapping of SWR 455 units.
Much of the difficulty preserving first generation dmmu's was that engine and transmission spares were no longer available within a few years of purchase.

Being picky, 150's were not common working into Hampshire, they normally appeared on odd out of pattern services or substituting for 155's or 158's on Portsmouth - Bristol - Cardiff services.

Cheers, Neil

 

Probably. But will non-enthusiasts be wondering why, what they consider a contemporary DMU, is running on a heritage line?

 

It feels perverse for a line which focuses on 1960s Southern Region atmosphere / heritage to bring in a 150 while a Thumper sits ide in the sidings, I get there are other issues there but even so it's an odd look

 

The Thumper is not sitting idle. It is receiving work to return it to service and there is a very successful appeal running to fund that work.

Twenty years ago, Porterbrook were kind enough to donate the Hampshire Unit, and this unit having itself worked over the line provided a key part of the story of the LSWR/SR and the Watercressline itself.

The donation of 150231 continues the story of the LSWR/SR/BR(S). Sadly (or fortunately for us) the Watercressline was no longer part of that story as it had closed. But, the 150s were critical over the last nearly 40 years, enjoying a longer service life than many of their predecessors. I cannot think of a more representative type of train to bring the story up to date.

Reaction from visitors will no doubt be varied. Twenty years ago I can very clearly recall that the Hampshire Unit was viewed with similar doubts by many. That it has now become a key part of the railway and the story we tell simply underlines how important it it is to keep moving on. 150231 will allow a greater variety of services to be operated, although I don’t think there are plans for a commuter service.

I think this is splendid news and massive thanks go to Porterbrook for selecting this unit which is I believe in particularly good condition. And well done to the small team at the railway who made this happen.

 

At least it's not a National Railbus, or is that the next announcement, I would image that the 150 will be used on earlier starts from Alton, will there be later trains than at present ? How though will the unit cope with the 1in 60 on a damp morning?

 

A 159 would be nice...
If the line had kept open but not electrified they would likely to have been used (or possibly a 171)

 

If today's newspaper is tomorrows chip paper, then today's DMU's are tomorrows heritage. As already shown by HST's amongst others. Although personally a Pacer would have appealed to me (and @Victor ) I suspect.

 

30506 with later BR insignia at Ropley in 1993