Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

The MHR does seem to be short of locos these days, but aren't they reassembling 92212 following overhaul - is that a possible replacement for 41312?

 

92212 is:
a) a long way from being finished;
b) a contract job for Mr Hosking;
c) no idea what his plan for it is.
Pat

 

I think 75079 is more likely to be completed first. Perhaps sometime in 2027. In the latest Ropley round up on the Watercress Line film units, In the loop series on YouTube. Will gives an up to date progress report.
It appears the boiler is now coming on well and the firebox rebuild is progressing nicely. Although there is still a way to go.

I for one are really looking forward to its completion, it has been a long time coming. I remember seeing it regularly in its early preservation days at the Plym Valley Railway in the 1980's. One volunteer I spoke to at the time optimistically expected it to be running down there in about 3 to 4 years! Incidentally they'd only just started restoring 34007 then.

 

I would probably also suspect that once 75079 is up and running it'll probably be the loco out the most frequently. Good size for the line, regardless of the service, cheaper to run I would expect then some of the other locos on the line and if it's just come out of a major overhaul it'll be in good shape.

 

Hopefully thos isn't too "political" a question, but why has the MHR found itself short of locos as traditionally Ropley has been a good "churner outer" of overhauls? Have the current / recent ones just taken longer than planned?

 

I would put it down to mainly Can Pac being such a huge undertaking and probably took up more time then expected and then Covid. It really set alot of Railways back, Mid Hants is no exception.

 

Ok, so how many steam engines are fit to run on the MHR?

 

Five:
35005 CanPac
30506
41312 (until end of the year)
Dave
Kilmersden

 

We also "lost" a couple of operational locos when 31806 and 76017 were taken away from the railway by the owners.

 

Thanks. Isn't Dave an industrial though, Kilmersden certainly is

 

And there was a legal headache involving one of the Bulleids under active overhaul over ownership?

 

Sad to learn on the excellent 80150 Facebook blog that there was a recent post Easter break in at Ropley, several containers were forced open and loco parts stolen.
There really are some low life's around and sadly it is unlikely the parts will ever be recovered, leaving the owners of the missing parts with hefty replacement costs.
I hope the railway are now taking the time to reassess the security across the railway estate and act on any potential areas where things can be improved.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1cJWNtzDw6/

 

Correct, so if you discount those two, then it leaves three ex-main line locos available for service.

 

'Dave' may be an industrial and is essentially a Hunslet Austerity. Similar Hunslet Austerity 'Antwerp' used tl handle 6 coach trains on the NYMR, which is a steeper and longer line than the MHR so there's no reason why Dave shouldn't do the same on the MHR. Having said that, I'm not sure what the water situation is at Alton which may be a deciding factor.

 

No problem with water at Alton. Dave has been used for lighter services many times.

 

Owner. Not owners, it was the same individual in each case.

 

Was thinking about the comment on loading. The issue with the MHR is being shorter and therefore the stations being closer together, the problem isn’t that Dave couldn’t haul 6 coaches, but that it cannot keep time with that number. 3, possibly 4 on a dry day. The deep cuttings have a habit on a damp day of causing slipping on every trip. A small engine on a big load becomes an operational liability for a line with tight timings at that point.

The other peculiarity of the line is the 1:60 up to 1:60 down gradient change in a couple of loco lengths at the summit. The consequence of that is the need in one direction to not only climb the hill, but arrive at the top with a full enough pot to go down the other side. As I know you will appreciate that means you need a bit in hand because you can’t mortgage the boiler like you could if the line was flat at the summit.

Dave might just keep time on a dry day with 5 on and a crew that was really on it, but it would be far from easy. 41312 can, though it takes “commitment” (sounds good though).

 

Prodigious loads up lengthy, twisty, steep gradients was the bread and butter for an Austerity at many NCB locations, just without the pesky timetable to worry about ........
Does 'Linda', aka 'Dave', have any of the blastpipe mods which have been fitted to some classmates?

 

John Bunch I believe

 

Yes likewise. It's heartbreaking. We have to fight back somehow because this has happened before at this location. I hope there are now good quality cameras monitoring the two access routes to the site because if there aren't, well it's going to happen again. Secondly and I speak as someone who has to leave a lot of expensive plant in my wood, you can't stop the thieves coming on site so all you can do is make life as awkward as possible for someone wanting to take things away eg if there are forklifts on site always leave them blocking access routes when you go home, as even thieves baulk at multiple journeys back to their van lugging heavy items. It is extremely likely that someone came on site with legitimate visitors and "cased the joint" during the day and observed where valued onjects were stored, so this won't just be opportunistic. The question is whether parts were stolen for future use or just for scrap. These lessons are always hard learned, but make sure they don't happen again.