MHR Autumn steam gala 7th-9th Sept

Were you, maybe I saw you and didn't know. I was in the last carriage and managed to get a seat.

 

What can I add to what has already been said? I attended on Friday both during the day and in the evening. Congratulations to the MHR for putting on such a great gala especially with two guests pulling out. It certainly is a credit to the Ropley gangs for keeping a healthy home fleet.

It was good to put a face to Chris (coalwagon) and thanks for the tour. It is a credit to you guys to have such a good rake of wagons available to the line and adds to the ambience. Oh and thanks for making my four year old Ethan feel so special! He loved the model railway and says he wants me to make him one just like it! Great!!!

I sure hope the line feels that the night photo shoot at Ropley was a success as it was great to have something that little bit different and thanks to the staff and volunteers on the night for continuously changing the line up. It made for some great cameos. I wonder if it would be possible to have the freight train berthed in the station next time instead of the coaching stock? I know space is very limited but the opportunity to place a different loco on the front every so often for a night freight shot would certainly be a real draw.

I haven't had a chance to upload any photos yet to the Flickr site but hope to soon so keep looking. A few are attached.

Once again, thanks.

Now for my first ever visit to the SVR in 2 weeks. After this weekend I'm really up for it!

 

Superb set of video clips from the gala, even saw myself and my Dad in the field at Bowers Grove Lane on the Saturday morning up our ladders for the Mogul & 9F double-heading and the U class runpast. As much as Cheltenham & 34051 took the headlines for me it was the GWR Mogul that stole the show with it's spirited runpasts and exhaust.

Cheers

 

Shaggy it was a pleasure to meet you too, young Ethan was a joy and a great credit to his parents.
I note your comments about the Freight being berthed in the platform for photography, and when the time is right I will drop the hint to the right people.

Kind regards
Chris:

 

Heres a couple of mine from Sunday..

 

Well now its all over and just the tidying up to do before " Peppa Pig" week kicks off !! here are my wanderings on Sunday on the lineside .
The Great Mid Hants Autumn Gala 07-9 Sept 2012 .

 

Very very nice as always David.

I especially like the last one with the long freight and I was going to add this to me screen saver. Sadly I already have one of your photographs as a screen saver so maybe next time.

Regards
Chris:

 

Chris, Were you the guy in shorts showing people around on Friday?

 

Thanks Chris Its a shame the light had died by then on the Sunday as the last two trains were the ones to do there oh well.
At least the brush cutter/stimming efforts of Lee and Dave were enjoyed by those wishing to watch the trains go by just a shame they only now have one strimmer ! .

 

Cheers Chris.

 

I was indeed, though with my knobbly knees I could have been arrested, and IMHO other things such as the tours offer more than just a train ride and allow people to see what we do up close.

May I ask where you were please?

Kind regards
Chris

 

In the party in the early afternoon which included the man and his rather elderly father who asked you about the brakevan and you spoke to him about your mum (not that I was in anyway connected with them). I asked you where the new arrival from the bluebell was.

 

Ah that was you?, if I had known I would have shook your hand, anyway nice to put aface to the written word.

Best regards
Chris:

 

Evening All,

I have finally got the rest of my pictures from last Friday onto my Flickr site and, if anyone would like to see them, this is the first one; as usual, clicking on it will enlarge it and take you to the others :


RD7351. CHELTENHAM arriving at Ropley. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

Hope that they are of interest.

 

On behalf of the Wagon Group

May I just say a big

Thank you

to all of you who de-trained at Medstead and came to see us at our fund raising stall, and to those who took the guided tours, we hope you found it an enjoyable, yet educational, insight into the "fun and games" we have in restoring battered old wrecks to their former glory, your generosity has helped our restoration funds no end, so once again thank you :clap2:

For those of you who came on Friday hoping to get one of the limited edition wagons, apologies, due to a cock up in communication these did not arrive until Saturday - if you are still interested then please PM Chris (Coalwagon) for further details

 

Just got some photos up from the Sunday; a video should follow later...

MHR - a set on Flickr

 

Had a very nice day Sunday, had an hour or so at Bighton Lane Bridge in the morning then mostly on the train with some shots at Medstead in between. Had a couple of brilliant runs from Ropley to Medstead behind the 9F in the afternoon.

Mid Hants Railway Autumn Steam Spectacular Gala Sunday 9th September 2012 - YouTube

Mid Hants Railway 2012 - a set on Flickr

 

Here's my pictures from Friday (Saturday's and Sunday's will be up soon seeing as uploading to Photobucket takes ages)

Mid Hants Railway Autumn Gala 7th September 2012 pictures by DanHill1991 - Photobucket

 

On behalf of Eastleigh railway Preservation Society -

Thank you for visiting our sales stand at Ropley and purchasing so many books and artefacts. That cash, together the generous donations left at the loco "down the yard" will help restoring S15 828 "Harry A Frith" to working order.

Best wishes, Neil

 

Just a few similar words from me to what others have said on here. Thanks to all involved for putting on the great show, the nightshoot was a welcome addition and hopefully something that could be continued in the future. Cheltenham looks stunning so well done to the teams that were involved in overhauling it.

Here's some photographs from me of the nightshoot on Saturday evening and Sunday during the gala:

Mid Hants Railway Autumn Steam Gala September 2012 - a set on Flickr