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Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by NightRail, Jan 11, 2017.

  1. LC2

    LC2 Member

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    Damn, who snuck the stock out to Guildford and round the triangle while no one was looking ;)
     
  2. 21B

    21B Part of the furniture

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    Or just labelled wrong. Easier to move the labels than the carriages.

    Sent from my SM-A405FN using Tapatalk
     
  3. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    Strange ,I was having those exact same thoughts, must have snuck out in the middle of the night took at trip out to Guildford, then Woking, and back via Aldershot
     
  4. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    Its all very well to joke but the fact is that the train formation did not match that on the booking sheet and also it was 4 coaches and not 5. I queried the train formation with the office before I booked and was told the RMB had been remarshalled and was at the country end so I booked seats 43 and 44 in coach N, supposedly the TSO next to the RMB. In fact the RMB was labelled coach N which had no seats 43 and 44. Station staff at Alresford told me to rebook at Ropley or find spare seats which turned out to belong to other people who were nice about it and found seats nearby. I am afraid this was another example of the very poor standard of information by the MHR

    The actual operation was though excellent again but we won’t visit again all the time seats have to be prebooked. It simply isn’t worth the hassle.
     
  5. Monkey Magic

    Monkey Magic Part of the furniture

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    Frankly, it looks like you've found the stick you've been looking for to beat the MHR. Seems pretty Karen-y.
     
  6. 21B

    21B Part of the furniture

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    I am sorry that your day fell short of your expectations. I agree that there was a disconnect this morning. The fact of the matter is that we are a TSO short of what we expected to have available at this point. Whilst the team have worked on half a dozen carriages since October we are still playing catch up. The most recent lockdown hasn't helped.

    You will appreciate that prebooking seats is still quite new to most railway's and our team is learning how to do this all over again because our booking system this year is not the same as we used last year.

    This morning was the first running of the Watercress Wanderer. What fell through the crack in the system was the fact we were a TSO short. It won't happen again, because we will learn from the experience.



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  7. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    So I should just accept poor service. In addition no timetables were and they aren’t in the new leaflet. They need a shake up.
     
  8. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for that reply explaining exactly what the issues were compared with the other stupid responses.
     
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  9. Monkey Magic

    Monkey Magic Part of the furniture

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    Except it wasn't poor service, it was one of those things that sometimes happens. You've got unrealistic expectations because you've just had a thing on at the MHR since this began and you've been looking for anything to give yourself a reason to complain.

    LOL, funny how you can give out criticism for stupid complaints but can't take it.
     
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  10. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    See the very full reply explaining what happened. I worked in transport for 57 years and know very well that things go wrong at times. It’s still annoying when it happens though.
     
  11. 21B

    21B Part of the furniture

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    There are timetables. There is a leaflet for each type of service. Again the first operation of a service and perhaps not everyone knows where things are. There are over 500 committed volunteers on the railway. Many of them have been unable to enjoy their hobby for several months. It doesn't make training and communication any easier either.

    The Watercress Line is being ambitious for sure. We reopened at the earliest opportunity and we are already on our second event of the year. Notwithstanding the hiccup this morning and the weather people seem to be having a good and safe time and that is surely the most important thing. We will learn and move on. At least we are trying though, and, dare I say it, achieving more than many.

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  12. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    Yes indeed better than most and the only railway so far to have a no booking day. Operation wise both days (1st and today) were very good. 506 is certainly a noisy performer and 41312 a stalwart which just keeps on going. It did very well today on the climb out of Alton actually beating the tight 13 minute booking to Medstead.
     
  13. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    A coach can be failed at any time, and its often not until that morning the operating dept. will find out coach X, or Y Isn't where they expect it to be, and there is no spare, or enough time to add another coach, as often there might not be a driver to shunt until the booked loco arrives, which could be as little is 15 mins before departure time,
    In 99 per cent of the time, your coach N and Seats could have been where you expected to find them, and I think your being unfair to those hard working volunteers , without whom there would have been no train to catch .
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 23, 2021
  14. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    Yes I agree
     
  15. free2grice

    free2grice Part of the furniture Friend

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    What a moaner.

    I'm just pleased to be able to enjoy the sight and sound of any steam train at the moment. The Coronavirus epidemic has taught me to be grateful for what previously I had taken for granted. <BJ>
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2021
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  16. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    Well yes there is that of course. Could apply to anything. Maybe my sights are set too high but then they probably always have been. That’s just the way I am. Others have different views which I respect
     
  17. steamvideosnet

    steamvideosnet Well-Known Member

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    Don, stop and read back over your comments from the past few pages for a moment. You're not rejecting the standard of service, you're just slagging off a heritage railway that is going through a very challenging time because your idea of Utopian perfection hasn't been met.

    I'll be honest, I don't care that you've "worked in transport for 57 years". I haven't worked in transport a day in my entire life, but if something goes wrong, I just accept that sometimes things do go wrong and seldom ever complain if I don't get absolute perfection. The fact that you continue to complain even though you "know very well that things go wrong at times" just proves to me that your ignorance is far greater than I actually thought.
    @21B has been very generous in his comments to you, all you've done in response is throw your toys out the pram at him because you were mildly inconvenienced by something that may very well have happened this morning at the last minute.

    If you don't like the apparent sub-standard service or the fact that your seats weren't available because of one reason or another, then don't go to the Mid Hants. Vote with your wallet. I'm sure the Hants won't be bothered that you decide not to turn up as all you seem to be able to is moan and whine that nothing is to your liking. Either that, or you get over yourself, smile, enjoy your day and pack it in. It's really not hard to understand.

    James
     
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  18. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    Yes James. Enough said from me except that I have supported the MHR with donations and attendance over the years so actions speak louder than words don’t they?
     
  19. Ben Jenden

    Ben Jenden Member

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    You learn from your mistakes. Let's be fair to MHR here. I just want to have my couple of things to add seeing it is a public forum

    - The website update has had its issues which led to slightly sparse information as was the same from the recent gala. Although it does say on the timetable page under the three train service tab the planned timetable movements of today at least. I looked on Thursday as I was planning to visit but sadly couldn't today.

    - This is a brand new event. I suppose if it returns in 2022 the MHR team will try to improve based on customer feedback. Not every railway can get things "right" for some first time.

    - The Covid situation of prebook doesn't help. I think if the restrictions on all that eased before the event then it probably would of been a lot easier to find-a-seat.

    The website upgrade by the way looks cracking. Well done to all concerned. I do look forward to the next time I am able to visit.
     
  20. 45669

    45669 Part of the furniture

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    I can't make it for this weekend unfortunately, but will hopefully be able to attend future events. Why do all (well, nearly all) railway events always seem to clash with family activities?! Anyway, I did manage to get another installment of the video I took at the Spring Steam Gala edited and uploaded to YouTube; here's the link if you'd like to have a look:



    Hope you like it.

    TTFN,

    Ron.
     

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