Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

Not seen that yet, but I'm guessing we've cracked the code (or at least read the manual) so correct destinations should be available! The Sprinter has been pottering around the headshunt/station today.

 

Driver training / convertion ?

 

A thought occurred to me seeing that photo and the coupling on the 150. Does the railway have anything capable of towing/shunting it? I presume some form of adapter must be possible, or would a barrier vehicle be necessary?

 

Adapter couplings are available. In fact all the units used to carry one at each end when introduced.

 

That makes sense. Thanks for the info.

 

I was just having a browse of the Watercress website to see what the various Flying Scotsman events involved, and noticed a full midweek two-train running timetable kicks in very early in March even before the 60103 visit. Though I can't see it specified anywhere, I imagine that might mean one of the sets is the Sprinter. Either way, looks like a nice option for any midweek days off at a time when lots of lines are only running at weekends if that. Couldn't see any days marked as using the Ropley shuttle timetable at this point. I enjoyed that from a novelty point of view.

 

I suspect you are right. One of the plus points of the sprinter was the ability to run an earlier down service off Alton, and looking at the timetable the down is actually the first service of the day at 10:50 vs the 11:00 up off Alresford.

 

The timetable is the same for all two-train services regardless of traction type. That first week of march will be the unit on the Alton diagram though.

 

I'm back!

The first full working party of the year, with five like minded nutters in attendance atop the hill took place yesterday, though Muggin's 'Ere and Me Mucker have formed an advance party for the previous few weeks, preparing things for the arrival of our next project...... Which finally landed in road #2 this week!

For once it isn't a wagon, but a wagon load - SR Container 102749S that has seen better days, and was deemed unsafe 10 years ago, however work on it will have to wait awhile, as we now need it for storage, as whilst we've been waiting for it to come into the yard, we started some remedial work on our workshop PMV only to discover that the floor is rotten and is desperate need of replacemant & the only way to do that is to empty the van out........ which is why Muggin's 'Ere & Me Mucker have spent three weeks chucking stuff into the skip that has never been used, and never will be, along with transferring all the tools we could into the CCT.

After three weeks, it didn't look look we'd done anything!

But with five on site, in roads were made, all the timber stored underneath it was either moved under the CCT , or if not fit for purpose, onto the bonfire.

By the end of the day, several shelving units had been emptied and manhandled into the SR Container, along with various bits & pieces, and it still doesn't look like we've achieved much........

But once the van is empty, we can rip the floor up, and assess the frames properly, decide on any action to be taken, and then, what type of flooring to lay......

Either way, the new floor isn't going to be cheap and will put a major dent in our meager funds, so should you be attending any model railway shows where we have our sales stand, along with the gala's, please help us with either a purchase or donation!

SR Container on the blocks in road #2 as a temporary storage.

 

The Sprinter was being thorougly cleaned inside and out at Ropley at the weekend in preparation for making its preservation debut on the Half Term services in February. There was a post on FB about this over the weekend but I can't put a link on here as it was a group posting.

 

Is 10:50 from Alton any earlier than it has been previous years?

 

No, that's been the same for the last few years - it then crosses the 11:00 from Alresford at Ropley.

 

It will be interesting to see how popular it is with passengers. In the eyes of the general public it is probably a modern train and perhaps not what they come to a heritage railway for.

I can’t help but feeling that the Sprinter is a quick fix whilst the Thumper is out of action. I’m not sure it has a long term future, especially if it needs major work one day which might be hard to justify and raise funds for.

 

I wasn't sure as I don't have any timetables from previous years. @Nick C has confirmed it's the same for the two train service.
But one of the selling points for the Sprinter was to allow for an earlier start off of Alton.
Without it, would the first off Alton have been later?
But more importantly, looking through the timetable it is all two train, with no one train + ropley shuttle. The one train + shuttle gives you an earliest departure from Alton as 12:00, so in effect removing the 1 train service improves the service from Alton by 70 minutes during the off peak season running.
The services cross at Ropley, so if you want to swap to the kettle you can, roughly 45 minutes earlier than if you had needed to wait at Alton for the Alresford Set.

 

It surely is a pragmatic solution to the off season 2nd train issue, which the thumper could have been the solution to if work was not needed on it.

If you could have both the sprinter and thumper available you then have cover for each other in the event of work being needed. That is a much better position than having a single point of failure which would have to be covered by one of: Diesel Loco + Set, Steam loco + Set, Cancelling service, in the event of a failure.

That in itself is justification enough, without the fact that it is currently unique in the heritage world and of a class of unit that will be recalled (fondly?) by those who grew up with them and are in the heritage movement long after we are not.
If we all thought "Why would we want to preserve that, it's only just left the main line / still on the main line" we wouldn't have deltics, westerns, hymeks, 50s, thumpers, 08s, 37s, 20s, 33s etc. and the preservation movement would be far worse off without them.

 

Exactly that - it allows for a two-train service on the days when it's not justified to steam a second loco - so a 10:50 off Alton instead of 12:00 on the one-train or 1+ timetable.

 

Some fair and valid points LC2. However it’s also about providing what the paying customers actually want. I believe the reasoning for the Mid Hants getting rid of its Mk2 coaches was that the public didn’t like them, and considered them too modern.

Let’s wait and see what the public reaction to the Sprinter is.

 

I can't really speak for the mk2s as I wasn't there (except wouldn't it be nice to have some ETH coaches for the Diesels?)

I suspect (and I'd guess the PTBs suspect too) that the Sprinter's main bonus is providing the edge services, the 10:50 off Alton and the 16:33 into Alton, otherwise Alton passengers have a far shorter day (12:00 - 15:39). Those extra 2 hours make it seem better vfm and gives the customers more time to spend money in the various commercial outlets on the railway.

If you want to make a full day from Alton, and get as much steam as you can, you depart on the 10:50, swap onto the kettle at Ropley at 11:08, stay with the kettle until 16:15 and swap back to the last sprinter service to Alton finishing at 16:33.
That gives you more than you would have gotten on a 1 steam in service, something different to ride on and gets you out at every station on the line.
To be honest, that looks like a win - win.
The alternative being 1 train in service (off season).

But as you say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and it will be interesting to see the reaction.

 

I feel like I'm having the same experience with Sprinters and Pacers going into preservation as steam enthusiasts were having in the 1980s when I was delighted that many of the diesels I'd grown up with and loved were arriving on heritage lines but they must've seemed little different to casual passengers to what they were still riding on on BR.

That said, while I'd go out of my way to avoid a Pacer or 153 on a heritage railway (they're just not a fun travelling experience!), I've got nothing at all against 150s, and as they're nearly 40 years old now they're worthy of their place in preservation. I'm fond enough of them from rattling along the Dawlish sea wall on Devon stoppers.

I made multiple trips to the Mid-Hants just for the Thumper when it was running and will do so again. That won't be the case with the 150 as such, but for instance I've pencilled in a trip in that early-March week and though my focus will be on the day's steam turn, the 150 being out too gives me a bit more flexibility on my itinerary given my likely arrival time and that's probably made the difference between that trip to the Mid-Hants being worthwhile or not. So I can definitely see the benefit of filling that service gap.

Passenger reception will definitely be interesting. When I allowed myself to get back into this hobby in the 2010s, I was actually delighted by how many conversations I overheard were people on non-steam services just appreciating 'old' trains in general ("I used to travel on trains like this when I was young" etc). Slam doors, opening windows and genuinely comfy seats were an attraction in their own right. Sprinters don't quite tick every box there but I suspect it won't be long before they feel different enough to the majority of every day national network travel.