Mid-Hants Railway | Watercress Line | Spring Steam Gala 24th-26th April 2026

41312 dropping onto the 1425 ex Alton with 68067 on the rear from the station announcement.

 

The Express is running and on its way to Medstead at the moment behind the Ivatt and S15.
One of the Class 20's was waiting in the yard at Ropley presumably to come out and replace the ailing 68067.

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68067 was taken back to Ropley on the rear of the heavily delayed 14.25 from Alton. Old faithful 41312 showing how it should be done on the front.
We just had a great run up the bank behind the Standard Five on the delayed 14.55. A quality bit of kit barking up the bank.

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After sitting out the Bluebell gala last year, it seems 68067 is not a fan of former Southern Region metals!

 

Seemed to work very well at Swanage though it did have a helper a lot of the time.

 

68067 is still in use as we passed it at Ropley at the head of the 15.20 service from Alresford with 41312 at the rear. This is the opposite of the scheduled working. Not sure if 41312 is staying with 68067 as insurance as the rear engine was due to come off at Ropley.
We are now spending the rest of the day behind 73156 on her last two trips of the day.

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And who could blame you - it's a superb loco, powerful and with a good bark. I was filming today but thoroughly enjoyed the gala. Thanks to all at the Mid-Hants. My donation was gratefully accepted at Ropley. [BJ]

 

Typical example of a message being repeated down the line and it looses all sense of what the issue was/is. The Austerity Saddletank wouldn't steam against its injectors.
It stopped on each trip it made for a long blow up even though it was only on a 3 coach train.

 

As has been observed previously - the GCR is downhill in both directions
Pat

 

We had a cracking day on the railway today despite the problems encountered with 68067 in the morning and the line side fires in the afternoon.
The staff and volunteers all handled the problems brilliantly and kept everyone updated with the ongoing situation. Most of the delays were made up by the end of the day.
Highlights were travelling on the Express service with 41312 & 30506 in charge, the duo putting on a great show, watching 73156 storm through Ropley with the non-stop freight and doing a couple of round trips with the very loud Standard Five. It sounded great all day and was superb on the last round trip from Alresford. The experience brought back great memories of travelling behind sister loco 73096.

It was also great to chat with the very friendly folks on the ULS, 80150, 75079 & 34007 sales stands. We purchased a few items as well to support the locos. The stalls that we missed today we will visit tomorrow as we are back for some more fun.

Thank you to everyone involved for a great day.






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Austerity & Ivatt double heading

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What he said!^
Unknown if both will runaround at Alton or if ivatt will stay on the rear.

 

Both have run around together at Alton.

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There's rumours they'll run together the whole day, although not sure how that would work with the allocations

 

Class 20 attaching to the rear of the Ivatt Austerity double header. I assume the 1125 round trip will be class 20 hauled but could be the 1240.

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Cracking run this morning on 1010.ex.Alton with the Austerity Saddle Tank and Mickey Mouse. Word is they will remain together for the day and the class 20 will pick up the Ivatt solo diagrams. Rings true as the 20 is now attached to the train I'm on, 1040 ex Ropley to Alresford. Shaping up to be a good day

 

Double heading rest of the gala now.

 

Any gen on which diagram they're covering tomorrow please?

 

If it's the same as today, the ivatt will stick with the austerity to cover the austerity's diagrams, then a class 20 will take over the ivatts duties.

 

Sorry, that posted twice for some reason