Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

I'm not sure if anything is happening with 76017, the last time I was down at Southall it was looking in a very sorry state but I was there yesterday and its been cleaned up and all the motion greased. Maybe a move is imminent

 

And all the while the ticket is ticking away, its not earning any money, costing storage fees, Soon it will be time for an overhaul, Had it stayed on the MHR, it would at least have been earning money, and then talks could have happened amicably about its next overhaul, agreements drawn up, but instead, its no longer an asset, its now a liability and with the pressures over finances the Swanage railway has, the rest of the Bunch collection could soon be looking for new homes, in an climate where everyone's now having to look very hard at their outgoings, and not willing to take on new liabilities with hiring engines.

 

Interesting

 

How long since it’s moved there? Just over a year?

 

Just under a year, but I think the last commercial use was Bluebell Giants of Steam in mid October 2022. It then hung around at Sheffield Park until I believe 29 November.

Tom

 

Do you know it is costing storage fees?
I do not know the ins and out of the what I understand rather poor relationship between the owner and the MHR, but like me if I was in that position he may prefer for them just not to have access to it.

 

I don’t know if he owns it but the party dismantled USA from the Bluebell is also there

 

I have been told that he does.

 

C - C - C - Crumbs Chief, it weren't half fesh atop the hill yesterday morning as 10, yes 10 of us gathered to do battle with the troublesome trucks!!!

After the usual breakfast & ctach up, taken in the S&D road van with a roaring stove, it were time to venture down the yard and actually do summat to keep warm outside......

Splitting into pairs, jobs on the to-do list were ticked off & folks cracked on with them......

More planks for the internal cladding for LMS van were trimmed to size.

The overhaul of the meat van vac cylinder was progressed some more.....

But top priority lies into trying to make M 517317 a bit more weather proof so that we can use it as a work space as well as working on it as winter closes in....... so to that end, the south side main longitudinal beam was finally tackled, to the point of a trial fit and then and then to fettled, all was going well until the router blew up, so the guys working on it resorted to old fashioned methods, as needs dictated - all it does is slow the job down......

Also on the south side, the country end bottom angle iron was finally fitted, and the cladding planks drilled & bolted into place - the job being slowed down by the guys having to placy 'Pickford's' inside the van first to shift stuff out of the way before they could get on with the job!

That left Muggin's 'ere & his Oppo with the job of sorting out the south side London end wrap round...... again a job that's simple, but was impeded by others needing help & guidance, but by the end of the day, the new piece was tack welded in, and taken from the last piece of the old door skin on the the GPV which we'd replaced with new!

In amongst all this four of us had PTS exams - 2 renewals & 2 first timers - all passed!

As there were no trains running - just the PWay assisting the S&T guys in the commissioning of Med Temp and the newpoint motors etc, here's a few more pics from the charter with the 7F........

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53327125039/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53327123144/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53327124444/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53326780056/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53326778151/in/dateposted-public/

The new south side main longitudinal beam trial fitted & then being fettled.....





The south side country end cladding in place, bar the final one that needs to be trimmed to size, but can't be until the longitudinal is in place!



The south side London end wrap round almost complete again....

 

Newest video suggests they hope to keep 53808 at the MHR!

 

does anyone know, did Dave have his boiler steam test this last week? it was lit up earlier in the week, with the steam test hoping to be done later in the week, if so, that's another large step closer to another loco coming back into service, one that early season, makes most sense to use and should be cheaper to run than one of the larger engines, especially if you only need 3, or 4 coaches, then the next big moment has to be the steaming of can pac's boiler, and arrival of the chassis from Eastleigh,

 

And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou have breakfast in the mess room atop the hill then Shalt thou count to three no more no less
Three shalt be the number thou shalt count And the number of The counting shall be three four Shalt thou not count Nor either count thou two Excepting that thou then proceed to Three five is right out Once the number three, being the third Number, be reached, then Lobbest thyselve's towards the troublesome trucks, which being naughty in thy sight shall succumb.....

With apologies to Monty Python!

And so dear reader, if you haven't already guessed, after last weeks mass turnout - this week we only three in number!

But even with low numbers, we still managed to progress things on LMS van M517317, I wouldn't say we were men possessed, but we just got on with the jobs in hand!

Me oppp picked up where we'd left off last week and continued welding in the new piece of steel on the London end south side, that was until he hit a patch where he was blowing holes in the exisiting steel, turns out it were rice paper thin, so that was cut out and a piece of what was left of one of the original GPV doors was welded into place, and the welds ultimately ground back.

Whilst me oppo was welding, Muggin's 'ere & his mucker were determined to chew through all the remaining internal cladding planks that still needed to be trimmed to size...... after a quick count up, we just cracked on and by the end of the day 50+ planks had been done & the job was a good 'un!

We all left site feeling we'd achieved something.

As we're in the lull before trains start up again, a few more pics of the 7F's last few days in traffic.......

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53340923837/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53341811451/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53340938237/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53342264685/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53342152264/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/53342031818/in/dateposted-public/

The new steel on the wrap round welded into place.



The internal cladding planks trimmed & now in need of painting......

 

I see you've got a ready supply of lighting up timber for the locos there

 

There is a post on the Ropley MPD FB today showing Dave's boiler reaching full working pressure this afternoon as part of its out of frame steam test.

 

Please excuse my ignorance but what is Dave?

Peter

 

The austerity Thomas

 

Dave is the Mid Hants Austerity 0-6-0 Thomas lookalike, I’m not sure where the Dave nickname comes from but I’m guessing it’s something to do with copyright issues?
I’m sure someone in Hampshire can give you a bit more detail than myself Peter.

 

Dave...
I knew I had a photo somewhere of Dave carrying his original nameplate...


Hunslet 3781 - Dave by Tim White, on Flickr

 

Dave is normally Thomas, but used to be Linda.

 

Since we are on the subject of Hunslet locos. The other Austerity loco previously owned by the MHR was Barbara which turned in to Douglas tender loco.

https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/2890-hunslet/