Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

How do I put this, since about 1989 when I was 5, 88 just seems to keep popping up in my life every so often

I do like it and think it’s a cracking machine, but how do I put this? Diesel wise I’m stalked by 57002, Steam wise 88 just keeps popping up here there and everywhere,
I really want to say hello to your sister (89) I keep missing that one.

 

Website claims that the Autumn Gala will be the last time to ride behind 30925, I know it has a photo charter around a month later so should this be taken with a grain of salt or is it not likely to do more passenger turns?

 

My Loco for today.

Our little Pocket Rocket.

 

May I please make a request for information, possibly concerning 2nd World War loco loans?
I spent this morning de-grotting (is that a word?) the LH rear footstep of 499. Our tame fabricator has replaced the rotten metal at top and bottom and it needed to be cleaned up and primed. There were 2 small holes in the exiting old metal (and 2 more in the cast-off portion). I sank 2 new holes on the new metal. (See poor quality photo.)
Why? Because it's part of the engines history.
What are they for? (506 doesn't have them.) We don't know.
Could the fact that 499 was on loan to the GWR, and 506 was not, have any relevance? For instance a plate giving the address of the nearest supply of consumables (brake blocks, fusible plugs, &c., &c.), as they would have been very different to GW ones. Does anyone in the forum know if such things were done on wartime loan engines? Frankly, if that isn't it, then we're stumped.
Change of subject.
Our engineering lead would like to point out that the black bands painted on the buffers of 506 were done by him at sparrow f**t last Sunday, not by 'whoever' mid-week, as seems to be thought.
Thank you, end of parish notices.
Pat

 

Could it be part of the connections for the GW ATC if it was fitted but I would have thought that that would have been on the r/h driver's side. are the steps symmetrical so they can be refitted left or right?

 

Driver's side is LHS. Steps are very asymmetrical. There is nothing on the RHS (fireman's) side. I have no idea as to whether or not GW ATC was fitted, but I do rather doubt it. Still, another idea for my oppos to chew over. Thanks.
Pat

 

Sorry about my ignorance of S15s, If I had bothered to look in my Irwell book of the S15s I would have seen a damn great reverser rod along the left hand side!

 

would engines have had on loan from plates fitted? to identify their Home Depot?

 

I've no idea, frankly. The ownership would have been obvious - "Southern" in letters a foot high on the tender! I have wondered about the arrangement - did the REC take the engine on loan and allocate it to a railway in need? Or was it a straightforward two-sided deal?
We'll have to wait and see.
Pat

 

Only a pure guess but could the loco have been part of a test or other experimental trial? I have seen such plates recording similar on other locos. They are usually put in a convenient noticeable place.

 

Were any of the S15s ever converted to oil firing?

 

No 515 was converted to oil firing from July to October 1921 and again during the General strike. None we’re converted in the oil burning programme in 1946/7

 

A guess, but my hunch (with no evidence to back it up) is on an ownership plate, noting that the loco was the property of the SR and only on loan to the GWR.

Tom

 

At first, that did cross my mind, except that if the engine retained Southern livery, its ownership would have been clear, even if in plain black, unless there was a logistical reason, accounting maybe, that would make it necessary that a plaque be fitted to on loan engines, to indicate ownership, of that engine.

 

I think (but again have no evidence) that livery is irrelevant, since that could be repainted; hence my feeling about have a physical plate to assert ownership. But it is just a hunch.

Tom

 

I've images of a Marsh 'atlantic tank', awaiting demob (or the cutter's torch) around the end of WWII, most definitely in "government" livery, with WD running number and arrow prominent on the tank.

 

Allocation in the war makes most sense to me. A wee plate to say its based on the GWR system so that it doesn't end up back on SR metals.

 

That repaint was due to it being WD property, wasn't it? A couple of I2's went to Longmoor after withdrawal by the SR.
I would imagine that, day to day, the running foreman at Old Oak would have known where his engines were, especially if they were totally non-standard (in his eyes, anyway). Repaints didn't happen on a whim, even in peace time, and would have been part of a works visit I would imagine.
This is all interesting, and I hope that there is more to come.
Pat

 

Longmoor rings a bell, so you're likely correct.

 

In his autobiography 'Firing Days' Harold Gasson a Didcot fireman during WW2 refers to the N15X's loaned to the GWR (including Remembrance) and describes them as being in Southern livery.
Ray.