MHR Restorations and Overhauls

I am not underestimating anything but this illustrates the Achilles heel of railway enthusiasm.

Just imagine if you were mortgaged up to the hilt in order to buy a house in up-market Alresford. The station looks quite attractive and the presence, now and again during the day of noisy, smoke belching, machinery is tolerable and is reflected in the purchase price of your house. Then someone dumps a decrepit piece of machinery there which is present 24/7. Similarly, the coach parties, be they W.I., U3A, or gardening societies. They will be looking for a sanitised version of the steam railway of the past for a jolly afternoon out. Neither the resident nor the visitor are likely to be, although a few may be, turned on by having a view of a version of a dealer in second hand machinery. It is the sort of situation I have described in the past as the "linear scrapyard". I had hoped these were on the decline!

So get your springs in, tow the beast up to Ropley and tidy up behind. Best wishes with what is a most suitable machine for tourist railway use.

PH

 

It shouldn't matter as a temporary measure for moving 80150, but note that the bogie bearing springs on 75079 have 21 leaves, whereas those that should be on 80150 have 24 leaves.
With regard to a new roof. This should not be made until the refurbished/new side tanks and bunker are secured firmly in place on the frames. There is no guarantee that the front to back and side to side dimensions now will be the same after refurbishment.

 

Well Paul.
It's in the heads hunt at Alresford, cannot be seen from the station, or the school and it's at the end of @Hampshire Unit's garden, so not an eyesore.

I guess you don't know the layout of Alresford that well.

 

It must have been moved from the time the picture was
taken. All tourist railways need to be aware of the effect their engineering operations have upon their surroundings.

PH

 

Yes, that photo was from when it arrived, it looks very different now, and there is no way it would be left in the cattle dock siding, as that is the siding used for loco / lorry transfers.

 

Personally, I'm just delighted another of these extremely useful locos is returning to the land of the living and wish all involved every success.

 

Pending workshop space, would that be into a "linear scrapyard" (a.k.a. outdoor workshop) at Ropley?

 

Very possibly. Far from ideal though

PH

 

unfortunately not every railway has the luxury of having land owners who are prepared to sell land to their neighboring steam railway so they can build a shed in which to keep such engines and their service rakes under cover , if the MHR had been able to aquire extra land at Ropley they would have by now have had somewhere undercover, out of the public's eye to store such engines.

 

Here's a thought........ (having read the last few pages.....)

I wonder if Mr Hitch would care to take the Red Jet to Soton from his little Island & less than perfect railway & come & show us how things should be done with 80150 & actually get his hands dirty?.........

Nope, thought not!

In that case, Sir, put a sock in it & let them that are doing stuff to get 80150 from A to R, get on with it!

I've seen just how much has been achieved since it arrived & its quite impressive.

 

You're not shooting from the hip Paul without understanding the situation are you?

A great effort from the friends and a large piece of the loco being made is a big step forward. I'll try to get along and help you Widge when I can find the time. Keep up the good work.

 

Now here's a thought, just read properly what has been said and avoid standard issue gricer's indignation when someone says "it's a mess in a far too visible area." I was glad to accept it was not longer in that particular location and that work had progressed.

For your information, I have had a lifetimes involvement in railway preservation, very much of it with the dirty jobs. Thus I am very well aware of how "stuff" can accumulate, sometimes with insufficient consideration being given to it's effect upon others or care given to its mitigation. The MHR has made great strides latterly (e.g. Ropley upside and station presentation generally) It was good to learn that the picture only showed a transient situation.

PH

 

deleted

 

Correct. I took that photo on 6th Feb 2011, less than a week after it had arrived at the line. Although I'm not involved with its restoration, I have seen it down the head shunt since on several occasions and can confirm that she is looking a lot more respectable now. The team responsible are doing a great conservation job in very similar circumstances as to those that rebuilt the likes of 31874, 31806 and 34016 back in the '70's. 80150 will be a loco fit for the line both historically, economically and aesthetically. It will take time but it will happen.

 

Indeed, but had you checked the actual situation first before your original comment rather than just wading in feet first, you would have caused less angst.

I wish the MHR well with 80150's restoration.

Tom

 

The picture was there and, as far as I know, still is.

PH

 

You could always have done something radical like, I dunno... ask!
Rather than assume ( and we all know what assuming does).

Still, you do know now, so how about this is an end to it before personality clashes kick in any further.

 

I almost fear to tread on this debate, but I'd like to offer some additional perspectives / explanations.

The loco is currently mostly out of sight. The work being done on it is very useful and is very broadly aimed at cosmetically restoring the locomotive. In the current location it is not in anyone's way, and doesn't create a nuisance for our neighbours when being worked upon.

The railway has a strategic aim to provide undercover accommodation for out of service locomotives. Our hope is to achieve this strategic aim within a short number of years, and if possible provide public access to the accommodation. The std tank could be placed in this accommodation, and ideally it should be at least cosmetically restored by that point.

The railway has recently published a loco strategy. It is in the nature of these plans that they change almost continuously, but it is allowing us to foresee what we need to resource. The std 4 tank is unlikely to receive an overhaul to running condition before all of the following have been overhauled - 30850, 35005, 34105, 75079, 73096, 34007, 45379 because they are all complete locomotives. Clearly over the coming years that view may change for all sorts of reasons, and in the meantime the excellent work to slowly improve 80150 can and will continue.

Sustainability I think is going to be the theme for the next 10 to 20 years. Over that timeframe the remaining "bulge" of population that were steam trainspotters will sadly pass away. That will present a challenge in terms of funding, but also a potential opportunity. I am not suggesting that there arent enthusiasts coming along from later generations (I am one) but rather that there was and is a cadre of people who spotted back in the 1950s and 1960s, and that they are a large group (dominant?) within railway enthusiast circles, and they are not getting younger. We have to use their enthusiasm and money very wisely to ensure that the railways we have today can be enjoyed for generations to come. The relevance to the rest of this post is that we are entering a period when we need to work on sustainability. Of creating buildings, processes, businesses, training schemes and the rest all of which are centred on the goal of remaining viable long after the "trainspotter" generation have gone, whether or not that results in a decline in various incomes. One thing we have to be aware of is continually doing more.....more carriages and more locomotives are only any good if they can be stored and cared for. The MHR needs 5 or 6 class 4 (and above) locomotives in service, not 7 or 8 or more. Resisting the temptation to restore something because "otherwise we wont get to see it running" will I think become a tension (actually it is already one I see at times).

We have many developments we need to cram into the MHR in order to become sustainable. The space planning of these developments is hugely complicated. I wont go into details because you never know who might read stuff, but here is a flavour...

1. We have a railway to continue to operate whilst carrying out any change. We cant disrupt it too much.
2. All sidings are basically full already.
3. Most of the railway is either in a cutting or on an embankment. There are only about 6 places along the line where there is land that could be made suitable for extra sidings. The railway owns 2, one of which is theoretically possible, but probably the least suitable site of the 6.
4. All potential sites pose access problems of one form or another particularly when civil engineering access is considered
5. The railway is not in the Southdowns national park so the pressure on land for development is immense
6. Existing spaces have either been used, or are unsuitable / very expensive for storage sheds or carriage sheds

 

@21B When you say 'Sustainability I think is going to be the theme for the next 10 to 20 years' I fully concur. However, your statement that 'Over that timeframe the remaining "bulge" of population that were steam trainspotters will sadly pass away' could really do with the "remaining" replaced by "current" IMO ..... or has the allure of a first hand encounter with a living loco diminished over the years?

I'm old enough to remember similar dire predictions 40 years ago and something like 95% of that generation had bog all interest in railways. So while I may not 'do' over-optimism, but I don't 'do' doom and gloom either.

 

I was trying to express my view that the 1950s and 1960s trainspotter generation has been a huge source of volunteers and money, and that this generation will remain important for a while, perhaps be even more important (legacies) before they cease to be important at all. With the many changes in the world since then there isnt the same level of interest in succeeding generations even though the interest is still strong and the allure of a steam engine just as strong as ever. I am with you, this is not a reason for doom and despondency. We just need to adapt.