Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

This is, I believe, a recent acquisition. It also is mobile, by Sunday it had moved up the cabside.
Pat

 

It doesn’t stick very well to the blue paint but does like the brown inside the cab!

 

Some welcome news from the railway in the announcement that all of their Father Christmas Express trains have sold out. <BJ>

 

Watercress Line social media states that 4144 and 506 are rostered for this weekend.
4144 is on the Alton set and 506 is on the Alresford service. I am hoping to attend on Sunday for a trip behind 4144.
I see also from a picture on Instagram that 6695 is still at the railway. Will it be rostered for any more services over the Alps?


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Had a cracking run behind 4144 this afternoon. The crews are certainly enjoying themselves with some spirited attacks on Medstead bank.



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4144 on the Belle last night, Dave Wiseman driving

4144 heading the Belle by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

Prairie Belle by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

I'm back.........

To say the weather atop the hill yesterday was a mixed bag, is an understatement - it rained in the morning on aand off, and basically chucked it down in the afternoon until we were packing up to go home!!!

That didn't mean we didn't get anything done, that's not our style, we'll always find something that can be done, even if they're only small jobs!!

More red oxide was applied to the steel Highfit, once a tarp had been rigged up as a rain cover...... also, a new bush for the northside handbrake lever was fitted, the arm was fettled, greased and fitted, and play has now been reduced by a good 80%!

On the LMS van, bolts in the north side C sections were removed and chopped to size, and those easier to acccess, were also buzzed down to size, next stage, red oxide.

The new door for the south side also recieved some fettling before being brought into 1st undercoat.

To answer @Nick C 's question, both doors are actually different, the south side one being slightly shorter that the northside, though you wouldn't know it just by looking at them...... The north side door will be hung where is was built for, and so will the south side one, as the north side door only just clears the guides on the south side, and there's a danger it could jam.

Whilst all that was going on, Muggin's 'Ere had a meeting down at the 'Manor', which took all morning but at the end of it, I did get a chance to see what the Urie Lads were up to..... to that end, I did manage to have a chat with their Bodger in Chief......

Thet've now started to construct the water tank for the tender of 499...... and on top of that, they have aslo fettled both valve chests on the cylinders, something they're rightly proud of!

Some pics from yesterdays trains......

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54062478522/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54063354091/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54063681129/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54063675879/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54063605593/in/dateposted-public/

Some pics for last Saturday at the gala.....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54046935790/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54046492066/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54045625407/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54045626767/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54046820959/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54046937630/in/dateposted-public/

 

Below are a few low res shots from a most enjoyable day spent on the railway on Sunday.
The visit was the perfect tonic for my family after a very stressful week. A warm welcome from the staff and volunteers and another delicious meal in the West Country Buffet started off the visit very well for us. With our stomachs full we then went to capture 506 departing on the heavily delayed Royal Wessex.
Sometime later 4144 rolled in on the four coach set from Alton. We boarded the 13.45 service from Alresford. The crew of 4144 provided us with a very spirited run to Ropley and then on to Medstead. The departure from Ropley in particular was very loud with the Western Engine barking away in fine style. Returning from Alton with a vigorous attack on the first part of the bank, the regulator was eased for the part from the new Butts Bridge with a slower pace taking us up to Medstead.
Leaving the train at Ropley we had a nice wander around the station and yard before spending a fair bit in the Station Shop. We then joined 4144 for the final service back to Alton as far as Medstead. Another cracking climb of the bank from the large Prairie Tank followed before we changed trains at Medstead to head back to Alresford.
The railway was fairly busy for a normal service day and the West Country Buffet was getting a lot of custom from passengers, bikers and cyclists.
Thank you to everyone at the Railway for a great day out which lifted our spirits after a bad week and made up for missing the Gala the previous weekend.

Royal Wessex


Autumn Prairie


4144 run round


4144 calls at Ropley


4144 waiting to pass 506 at Medstead

 

Is The Watercress Line website working?

 

I've just tried it and can only get to the opening page as the MENU links didn't work for me.

Maybe someone in the Mid Hants is working late into the night updating it at present.

Bryan

 

Following the discussions the other day on the Swanage thread about Pull-Push trains - Will's latest video...

 

Another weeek, another mixed bag weather wise atop the hill yesterday, soaked in the morning & baked in the afternoon.......

Even if we were wondering just exactly what we'd be able to do over breakfast, we can always find something even if what was originally on the cards gets binned!!

To that end, Me Oppo and his mucker chose to do 6mth exams on some of the wagons in need of them - thankfully no nasties were found, so all are FTR until their 12 monthlys are due........

That left Muggin's 'Ere & me Mucker to reassess just what we'd be doing....... we were going to tackle the final internal cladding planks, but that involved drilling from the outside in, and with the wet stuff coming down, it wasn't a good idea!

Soooo....... we decided to tackle the southide door........ all joints and holes that we could find were caulked, and once that had gone off, undercoat was applied. After that. the subject of the end roof hoops cropped up........ for once, the hoops in the van are a single piece as opposed to being of composite construction, and as these would be load bearing without the support of a steel hoop, the thought of making them as composites went out the window!

So, to that end, time was spent sourcing a suitable piece of timber from stock........ nothing was found that suited our needs perfectly, but we did mange to find one that was a close match....... after retrieving the the steel hoop that is still being refurbed, the head scratching began as to just how we're going to fashion the hoops...... we think we've found the way we need to do them...... so watch this space!

A couple of pics of the S15 out to play.......

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54080298188/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54079172502/in/dateposted-public/

 

I see that there are some rare full line operations for "Dave" 3781 this week from Tuesday to Friday for the Wizard week event. 3781 is rostered for the Alton set while 506 is on the Alresford set. Has 3781 ever worked full line services before?
I would imagine it would have to take every opportunity for water that it can get.

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It worked some trains post COVID lockdown in 2020

 

It worked full line services yesterday, standing in for 506 on the Alresford set (albeit with the 47 on the back to help him up the hill)

 

3781 was out on the Belle last night, 47 on the back except for the final Ropley-Alresford run

3781 on a Murder Mystery Belle by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

Looks like it was "Dave" to the rescue on Saturday! So the little blue loco is a really useful engine as the story books say.

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It were a naff day atop the hill yesterday weather wise...... it were supposed to be bright & sunny according to the forecast, but that didn't turn up until we were packing up to go home! Instead, it was dull, dank & wet which meant at least one thing on the to-do list went out of the window!!!

So, for the the few hardy souls who gatheredwork was changed.......

One of our number spent most of the day oiling brake rigging & axleboxes on a couple of vehicles that are on the move to pastures new, as they haven't seen a drop of oil in a fair while & the last thing we want is for things to go wrong once their lifted out of Bennett's, what and where are not for me to say, but for the new owners to announce once they reach their new homes.......

The change in the workload meant that Muggin's 'Ere & me mucker picked up jobs that were in the pipeline...... namely, getting the new door for the north side of the LMS van into second undercoat, the final internal cladding planks fitted - a day we thought would never come, given the amount of time it has taken to fit the damn things, and getting the southside cladding more or less caulked up in readiness for painting.....

There was a joint effort to get the cross hangers for the steel highfit cleaned up as me Oppo has plans fpr them....... and whilst he weren't with us, he's been busy away from site sorting out the brake riggging for the highfit.

Some pics of yesterdays coming's and going's.......

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54097405645/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54096953066/in/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54097202413/in/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54096952646/in/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54097202038/in/photostream/

The cross hangers for the Highfit cleaned up.


Southside internal cladding in the process of being neatened up.


The new north side door now in undercoat.



The final internal cladding planks fitted!!!

 

Yes it did a 3 coach service post COVID.

 

And occasionally 4.
Water not a big issue provided the valves and pistons are in decent order (which they are).