MID HANTS FREIGHT DAY 5 FEB

U class 30506? Shouldn't that be 31806!

 

Why are they endeavouring to give the U light loads? Surely it is run in by now and as strong as anything else on the line? (Excepting 92212...)

 

No idea, it did stall outside Ropley on one Santa trip I was snapping.... but last weekend with a light dusting of snow it had a THREE coach set. In contrast on 2nd Jan, which was a frosty day, it was used alone on a six coach set

 

Curious. My only thought would be an issue with the sanders.

 

I don't think the loco dept are treating the U gently, espcially. When I was signalling at Medstead last Saturday, the U took the 4-coach Alton set and the Black Five had the 3-coach Alresford set. I think passenger numbers are rather light at this time of year, so train lengths have been reduced accordingly. No point using more coal than you need to. In the past, they've tended to use locos facing London on the first Alresford train, and locos facing Winchester on the first Alton train, but sometimes it's just a matter of which loco is ready to come off-shed first.

 

Yes the normal pattern of is to put loco smokebox forward on the first train from each end, but for a few weekends recently the opposite has been the case. As I said, the U ran really well with the left-over Santa rake of 6 for the New Year services. Back to the freight though, I hope Wadebridge is not u/s for long as she did look great with the remarkable goods rake that was turned out last week....

 

Isn't the other main reason why the more powerful loco is used on the Alresford set on Sunday is because of the Countryman coaches are add to the Alresford set. I remember is the 90s when an extra loco was used on the Countryman train giving us two service trains plus the Countryman train(Mk2 coaches) but I can't remember how long the rake was?

 

I think the Countryman set consisted of four coaches sometimes hauled by 41312.

 

Ashamed to say that although I did several Chef'ing turns on some of the very first runs of the Countryman, I can't remember the consist! I do recall cooking in the Griddle with 92203 on the front. The effect of such a powerful long stroke two cylinder engine on large saucepans of boiling soup and water was quite interesting! I also did a few mainline runs on the Green Train with CanPac and Bodmin.

 

Firstly Loadings.. Sunday was down to loadings . Coaches were dropped off as they wernt needed and also rail conditions . For those of you that dont know the Mid Hants well apart from the fact that its always up hill at 1/60-80 !! . We have some cuttings that are always damp and cause issues with all locos no matter what the external conditions are like.
Soldridge approaching Medstead coming from the Winchester direction is notorious even on a summers day to make a loco slip as can the reverse curves at Hampshire Hunt from the Alton direction.
Indeed going back some years the combined efforts of the WD 210 0 and S160 on a late night fireworks trip on a cold and frosty night in November stalled in Soldridge despite rather excellent sanders on the S160 !
On some Sundays when the Countryman is running the Alresford set becomes 6 coaches with two catering vehicles so more equal to 7 coaches so it does make sense to have the bigger locos on this working even if the U is more than capable.
On the Good train day on Sunday none of the engines were on the correct diagram due to 34007 not coming off shed on time,She would have been on the Us three coach set if she ran to roster.

 

The three set came about from the Saturday when there had been a problem with the Black 5 due to the cold conditions. We shunted the Alresford set back into the sidings and then looking at the visitors around, decided to cut the 5 set down to 3 when the Black 5 picked the set up and we didn't change it for the Sunday. On the Sunday, we shunted the first locos off the pit as there were three engines that needed it. It was the order that they came off the pit that then determined which engine went to which end of the line rather than coach loadings given Wadebridge was late off.

As Linesidephotos said, the cutting to Medstead can cause problems.. Many a train has required assistance in the cuttings, the Black 5 earlier this year is an example.. There have been problems on the RATs with the likes of the A4 and Standard 5 coming to a stand and thats why now, when the weather is not good, there is diesel assistance provided for the RAT at the start. Wadebridge, for example, doesn't have trailing sanders..

 

Yes, the S15 30506 is still in bits. Got a few film shots of her somewhere.....