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Mid Hants Railway Autumn Gala featuring 'Bahamas'

Discussion in 'Galas and Events' started by pete12000, Aug 25, 2020.

  1. pete12000

    pete12000 Member

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    https://www.watercressline.co.uk/product.php/175/autumn-steam-gala/d5dc392fcfce523ef14d84fe46cdc914
     
  2. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

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    I must say that in these difficult times this appears to be a very clever and safe (as these things can be) way of running a gala.
    Only out of interest as I will not be attending I wonder how the railway aims to keep people to their allocated seats. I except enthusiasts will be the main travellers and I would expect (hope?) they comply but based on a thread on another forum about a normal day it made me wonder.
    In that case the poster found his allocated seats occupied by a group (who of course should have been elsewhere) plus they had placed a dog on the table (really bad at any time). At the other end of the line the group decided to move to their correct seats, and the seats the poster had moved to were then taken by a group who wanted to sit on the other side of the train on the way back. This of course forced the poster back to his allocated seats the uncleaned table the dog had sat on.
    Is the proposal to have some form of stewarding, otherwise with people getting off what I understand will be "their set for the day", say for lunch at Alton or Alresford or to look at Ropley yard what stops all sorts of folks using those empty seats for a trip or two?
     
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  3. Martin

    Martin New Member

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    I agree - it's great to see this event taking place, but I'm also somewhat nervous about how it will work in practice. I'm fully expecting that if I'm not comfortable with it, I'll spend most of the time off the train at Ropley, just watching from the sidelines in the fresh air (weather permitting!). I went along on a normal service day recently, starting from Alresford. Whilst I had a good day and was grateful to all involved for enabling it to happen, there were one or two things which would concern me with regard to the more complicated goings-on at a gala. Firstly, upon arrival at Alton, several people wanted to head off into town and return on a later train, without seeming to realise that might be a problem. On the platform at Alton, which is fairly narrow, everyone made the usual "beeline" to photo the engine - I soon moved away due to the complete lack of social distancing. The gents at Alton had clear signage for "one person at a time, please queue outside" - and yet someone wandered straight in while I was in there. Also, the table diagonally opposite me on board had two ladies sitting there, not obviously "enthusiasts", but just seemingly on a friends day out. Not a problem, except that at least one of them was chatting away for the whole journey with her face mask around her neck. She was totally oblivious to my masked hard stares...

    Whilst enthusiasts will understand the different carriage sets, there will still be plenty of non-enthusiasts who won't, and will expect to be able to get on any train, at any time, and sit anywhere. Meanwhile, I want to be able to take breaks at stations, and know that my allocated seat, on my allocated carriage set, will be available when I want to rejoin, and that it won't have been occupied by other people coughing and spluttering all over the seats and table whilst I've been off the train. I wonder if it might need reserved signs, with names on, fixed to all the tables.

    Despite these reservations, I'm keen to keep supporting the MHR, and applaud them for putting this on. I've just bought a ticket for the Saturday, but will go with relatively low expectations as to how much actual riding on trains I will do. That way, I will hopefully be pleasantly surprised, and who knows, maybe my seat will be ready and waiting for me when it's my carriage set's turn to have the Jubilee or 7F on the front.
     
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2020
  4. 6026 King John

    6026 King John Well-Known Member

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    I do intend to support this event as I think the Mid Hants should be applauded for making the effort to stage a gala when most railways are not this Autumn and to hire in a very interesting visitor. I hope it's well supported. I'm not entirely keen on what's on offer as to me part of the fun of a gala is hopping on and off trains whenever I feel like but that clearly isn't possible in the current climate. So we have to make the best of it. It won't be perfect - the only way to ensure no-0ne else uses your seat during the day is to stay firmly screwed in it all day. I don't actually travel that much at galas these days, prefering to just watch / photograph the trains a lot of the time, so I'll probably just do one round trip and after that if you want my seat please be my guest! I'd be interested in knowing the following though:
    1) Will all stations be open and will all trains be stopping at them? I assume they'll have to stop at Ropley as that's where the main car park is.
    2) Will the yard at Ropley be open as usual?
    3) I see that they are limiting it to 500 tickets per day. How does that compare with the number of people who usually come to a Mid Hants gala?
     
  5. Big Al

    Big Al Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator

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    I have a lot of sympathy for what you are saying but to be honest all anyone can do is minimise risk without ever being able to eliminate it. There will be people - the public/enthusiasts - who will see it differently or just don't understand. Away from the railway I yesterday saw a woman at a petrol filling station walk into the shop to pay and just put her scarf to her face except when she needed two hands to deal with the card machine. By the time I arrived the two filling station staff were talking about her inconsiderate behaviour saying, quite rightly, that if everyone was like that on their shift then they wouldn't want to be at work.

    I would hope that there will be people on each train with the sole job of walking up and down monitoring what the travelling public are doing. Nothing heavy handed - just a presence.
     
  6. Shaggy

    Shaggy Part of the furniture

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    If I can get the day off work, I'll be there to ride on the Saturday. I intend to spend the whole day on the train and then hopefully spend the Sunday linesiding. I cannot see another way of doing it, guaranteeing I keep my allocated seat and all locos available for haulage.

    Hats off the the MHR for arranging the event. Hopefully it will prove popular, safe and profitable leading to other lines following suit.
     
  7. GHSpencer

    GHSpencer New Member

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    Booked my ticket. Saturday is a no-go as Winchester City are away to Highworth in the FA Trophy, so Friday it is.
     
  8. Shaggy

    Shaggy Part of the furniture

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    Tickets booked for Saturday. Was surprised that there was no train/seat allocation provided at the booking stage.
     
  9. jackshepherd

    jackshepherd Member

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    Just booked mine! Certainly looking forward to seeing Bahamas so far south and the 7F.
     
  10. 6026 King John

    6026 King John Well-Known Member

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    They probably can't work out who sits where yet. It depends on what type of bookings arrive. If groups of 5-6 people book they can all be seated in a compartment but if 500 individuals book on each day they'll have a bit of a nightmare trying to fit them all in and keep them socially distanced!
     
  11. Ben Jenden

    Ben Jenden Member

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    ALL of SATURDAY is now sold out.
     
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  12. Paul.Uni

    Paul.Uni Well-Known Member

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    Are members tickets available?

    Sent from my SM-J610FN using Tapatalk
     
  13. Romsey

    Romsey Part of the furniture

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    Are there likely to be visiting sales stand attending?
    Nothing mentioned on the web page.

    Cheers, Neil
     
  14. pete12000

    pete12000 Member

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    The 'Bahamas Loco Society' are planning to have their stand there, their goods can be seen on their website http://ingrowlocomuseum.com/?page_id=1051
     
  15. Ben Jenden

    Ben Jenden Member

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    ALL of SUNDAY now sold out too.
     
  16. Ben Jenden

    Ben Jenden Member

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    Scrap the above comment. NOW ALL THREE DAYS A COMPLETE SELL OUT.
     
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  17. nine elms fan

    nine elms fan Part of the furniture

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    I was never a lover of LMS or GWR their locos all looked the same as each other, No1 was always the Southern and No2 the LNER so not interested in the Jubilee, just the 7f and the rest of the Mid-Hants fleet and Stations, love Medstead station, get quite emotional there sometimes. :)
     
  18. 6026 King John

    6026 King John Well-Known Member

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    While everyone has their preferences I'm always surprised when people are so biased towards a particular type of loco to the extent that they say they are not interested in something else. How can you not be interested in a Jubilee? They are fine machines and you don't see one at the Mid Hants every day! You will guess from my alias where my preferences lie. As a child I grew up with steam on the SDR and DSR lines in Devon, then I joined the Great Western Society. But later in life I grew to love the works of Bulleid, Stanier, Gresley and others. At the end of the day I just love steam, whatever its origins! Agree about Medstead station though - it's lovely although I wouldn't say it makes me emotional!
     
  19. 6026 King John

    6026 King John Well-Known Member

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    Fabulous! To think they put on the web page that they may have to cancel if they didn't get enough bookings!
     
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  20. green five

    green five Resident of Nat Pres

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    Bugger! I was going to buy a ticket today for the Friday.

    Sent from my I3312 using Tapatalk
     

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