Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

I think you mean Eastleigh, and yes I have been told there is a plan, hopefully will be implemented soon.

 

Brake Van Ballast
For something completely different - the Urie Loco Society have been asked to do some preliminary ironwork on the Dance Hall brake van. 2 weekends work has removed the verandah floor plates (wasted 50+%) and given us a look at 1926 scrap metal. So please could anyone recognise this lump. The scrap is identifiable as from Eastleigh and Ashford Works (nothing Brighton so far). My guess is that one of the Bluebell cohort may be able to help, with their Wainwright and Adams collection.
Be warned there is more to come, but we have identified some of it.
(BTW back in the latter 1970s Woking C&W broke up 2 pillbox brakes - one was the sole MoS van on the SR, the other a 1934 build. From the 1934 van I salvaged a motion pin, L 0515, which I believe was from the Adams Jumbo withdrawn in 1933. So its always worth a look!)
Pat

 

More Ballast!
2 identifiable items we found: . The first is the collar from the LT crankpin of 736, the first N15 built (8/1918). Design was modified to a screw-on collar later on, hence this going in the bin. The other two pics are of a part of the Eastleigh Superheater, patented by RW Urie in 1914.
Now part of the ULS relics collection, of course.
Pat

 

And so dear reader, another day dawned atop the hill yesterday morn as four like minded nutters gathered to continue the battle with LMS van M517317....... the forecast was for a nice day, but we got wet more than once, as when it rained, it came down - thus slowing our progress!

Jobs on the to-do list didn't involve any painting for once, as everything on the outside of the van was wet! Soooooo........ the main item on the agenda was to remove the south side door runner and the longitudinals so that the London end wrap round can finally have new steel welded in.plus we have a complete length of C section to replace........ which you'd think would be easy & fairly cheap to source - nah, it isn't & its expensive - so we've made our own! It's not on site yet, as it's over length...... but at least it's coast peanuts!

Also on the list, was fitting the ironmongary back on to the north side door - not as simple as it sounds, as it was a case of making sure each piece didn't foul on the van as the door is opened & closed..........

By the end of the day, the south side was bereft of tunner & beams - though it did snow a lot with rust & rotten wood! Plus the ironmongary was back on the door which opens & closes smoothly.

Oh, and the refurbished piston rod was refitted to the cattle van, and tested - it works OK, but ultimately has to be hooked up to a lco to make sure.........

The south side sans fittings.......


The ironmongary back on the north side door.



The newly constructed C section.

 

I did the inspection walk to Alton-dry all the way, but I rode "on the cushions" back to Alresford and the heavens opened at about 10:50. I did see dripping wagons as I passed M4M!

 

Lol Yes indeed!

 

How big is it?

Tom

 

Looking to start a new build?

 

Ha - no! But hard to identify if you don’t have any scale.

Loco parts are interesting, I thought it was more common you got things like scrap chairs, fishplates etc.

Tom

 

The collar: 7in OD; 43/8in ID.
The superheater 'bolt'*: 10 1/2in long. The threaded end of the element screws into the hex end, the bolt passes through the 'pipe' (I call it the finger) carrying the steam to/ from the headers. The threaded portion is for a cap to seal the whole shebang.
See the attached photo (from Bob Urie's collection.) The hex ends visible are the caps.
Pat
* The patent refers to 'the bolt or the like'.

 

I meant - how big is the bit you can't identify!

Tom

 

We have found the corner of a SECR rail chair and a broken LSWR spanner, but mostly it is offcuts and debris from stripping engines / boilers and basically unidentifiable. These showed up, the stepped stud is 5in long; diameters are 1in & 1 1/8in.

 

Didn't measure it (and didn't bring it home!) but of the order of 12in long.
Pat

 

Is it a washout plug?

 

No.
Its a two-handed lift - I wouldn't want to carry it too far. It's possible that it just a bit of a dead machine out of the works, not actually railway at all. Who knows?
Pat

 

Could be from a press? Was thinking this earlier and this just popped up on my feed:

 

Fascinating. Thanks, I had not heard of this project.
As to my 'lump', I doubt that it was a press (or part of one), at least not like that one. It was scrap in 1925, so it will probably remain a mystery.
Pat

 

Whatever it is, it looks bent.

I'm also wondering what is going on at the square end - been gas axed off something else, perhaps?

Tom

 

Visited the Wizard Week event today and brought along my Sister and Dad who both wanted to see what the event was like after I had attended last year for the first time. We all had an excellent, very enjoyable day out which started with a very warm welcome from the volunteers at Alresford. We boarded the second train from Alresford for a round trip back as far as Ropley. 41312 was in charge of the three coach set. The climb from Ropley to Medstead was a bit slippery with 41312 going into a big slip in the long cutting. The Ivatt was then carefully handled up to Four Marks station. The return climb from Alton saw the Ivatt Tank in fine form with a wonderful, noisy attack of the bank. At Ropley we left the train to visit the impressive collection of Birds of prey. After admiring the owls and hawks we headed to the refreshment hut for some rather good portions of chips and hot drinks. The hut was doing a roaring trade today with the hot food being very popular. Suitably refreshed we spent a fair bit of cash on the stalls on Ropley platform and in the station shop before going to catch the 3.15pm service with 5239 as the weather was beginning to change. I had previously attempted to travel behind Goliath at the two steam Galas but circumstances dictated otherwise. Now was my chance. As 5239 rolled into the station the heavens opened. We finished the day with a lively run behind 5239. She certainly makes light work of the grades.
Overall an excellent day out. The food went down very well. We will definitely be back again next year. Thanks to everyone involved today for a really great day out.
A few shots from the day:

 

7F and Ivatt out this weekend