Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

The point i was trying to make was to question if 34105's overhaul should have started before the ownership questions were settled, in hindsight it might have been better to have overhauled 73096, because at least the engine is company owned, but its all water under the bridge, 499, i expect is still some 2 years- 18 months off, first back should be 35005, followed by 75079, but i would think both are still a good year away from completion,

 

34105's overhaul was started several years before 73096 was purchased though, so there wasn't a lot of choice in which to overhaul.

 

No firm dates (obviously) but end of 2024 is a definite maybe! Seriously, there is a lot to do still, particularly to the boiler.
Pat

 

Do hope the 7F can be patched up for the gala. It was a loco I never properly appreciated most of the time it was at Minehead as I'm GWR leaning so prioritised Manors etc on my itineraries usually. Then at a gala I had a front window behind the 7F out of Norton on a particularly long rake and realised what I'd been missing. I haven't managed to catch it at the Mid Hants yet so would love the chance to experience it out of Alton before it's stopped.

 

Well the thing is, they have 2 weeks [give or take a few days] until the event.

Should they try and save or retire 53808 - diesel replacement.

IF they go down the second visitor route, what in the name of Collett can they contracted, signed, payed for, low-loaded and sent to the railway in that short amount of time?

Your best bet is to just run a diesel and hope the "enthusiasts" don't get nasty about it.

 

As the enthusiast you're replying to there, personally I'm even more likely to attend if there's a diesel out too as a single class 20 out of Alton is pretty much the noisiest experience in preservation! So yes I do hope the 7F is around but if the line-up is Pendennis, S15, 41312 and a Cl.20, great!

(Deliberately didn't mention the cl.47 as I grew up with class 50s so with Lion and the DEMU out of action, the 20s are my Mid Hants diesels of choice)

 

When the new overhaul of 34105 began I think the ownership was thought to be well understood and it subsequently became clearer over time that this wasn’t the case.
Which of 75079 and 35005 is finished first doesn’t really matter, and isn’t really all that predictable.

 

"It was a new day yesterday, but it's an old day now......" J.Tull.

But it was also a very fresh one in the morning as 10, yes 10 nutters gathered ayop the hill!!!

Various jobs were on the to-do list on LMS van M517317, in the hope of keeping everyone occupied for the duration........

First job was to remove the north side door, hung on the south side for safe keeping, so that the lads tackling the new north side longitudinal could properly access the existing so they could see exactly what needed to be done, as with the ply lining on the van ends, we've only got one chance to get it right!!!

The north side door itself needed some tweaking, but this didn't prove to be straight forward as expected, but by the end of the day the job was done.....

On the ply sheets, the bullet was bitten by muggin's 'ere & his mucker to produce the London end ones from the original template...... success! All sheets were then laid over road two so that they could be sanded and the edges treated with PVA before the backs were given a first coat of Creocote.

Elsewhere, various lumps of metal from the south side door were derusted, and bought up to red oxide.

In amongst all this muggin's 'ere had to disappear down to Ropley to see a man about a dog...... on my return, muuggin's had the job of creocoting the ply sheets....... plus side was chewing the fat with me mucker and working out our next steps as we watched the boards dry out - made a change from watching paint go off, I suppose......

No pics of any note to publish this week of our efforts, but it was good to see the trains well loaded.

So some pics of yesterdays steamy action......

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52821697769/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52821955663/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52821925635/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52821954958/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52821927750/in/dateposted-public/

 

I have been taken to task by The (Chair)Man - apparently I am now dyslexic and meant to post 2042
Pat

 

For those that like a bit of diesel, a small update for this coming Saturday

20188 will be out as booked on the Alton diagram, forming all xx45 departures from Alton/Alresford starting with the 1045 ex Alton.

In addition 47579 should be out assisting the 1500 departure from Alresford (from Ropley) and then working the 1600 ex Alton, as per 20188 last weekend.

 

5239 announced as coming to the Gala today

 

Yesterday atop the hill was a bit of last minute dot com one, as the weather forecast for most of the week, was rain so a working party was called off, as everything we need to currently do is outside! That all changed on Friday evening as the forecast was for a fair day, with rain at some point........ so three nutters found themselves sitting in the mees room enjoying breakfast instead of being at home in bed asleep!!!

First job was to extract the ply end sheets, lay them across road 2 and give the backs of them a second coating of creocote and give them the day to soak it in & dry out.....

After that, the main focus was to get the north side outer longitudinal beam fettled to fit..... caution being the watchword...... first off the beam was shown up to where it is going to live where we found that country end needed a slight trim to fit, plus we knew that the upright we'd repaired with the new custom made C section would need to be trimmed and fettled, but not by how much or how until we'd got the longitudinal ready to fit.........

So whilst these were being sorted, muggin's 'ere decided it would be a good idea to tackle one of the northside London end up rights to see just what state the stell was in......... that kept him busy most of the day taking it back to bare..... we reckon that this could be the first time since the wagon was built, that the steel has seen the light of day, and given the amount of paint on it, it's probably true!!!

So whilst muggin's was getting covered & covering everything else around in crud, the other teo lads continued to fettle the longitudinal to fit its new home, to the point where the refurbished foor runner was also introduced, and the pair trial fitted - its looking good......

By the end of the day the upright was into red oxide, and the longitudinal & door runner were trial fitted & clamped in place to get used to their new home.

It was also good to see the passing trains well patronised - a few pics of the day.....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52838829927/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52839400636/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52839845428/in/dateposted-public/

Front view of the longitudianl & door runner clamped in place.



Rear view, showing how it sits on the uprights.


A worthwhile exercise with the upright - the steel, for its age & corrosion on the cack of it, is in damn good nick!



And into red oxide - it only weigh's half of what it used to now that the multiple layers of paint have been removed!!

 

As the gala is almost upon us - time for a Public Servive Information broadcast on behalf af all in the Mid Hants Wagon Group.......

As ever we will have our salse stand in the dock platform at Medstead, where you can get your hands on all sorts of railway related goodies, on top of that, this year see the the return of the world (?) (in)famous yard tours, these are free, but a donation towards our cause is always welcome, plus if you time it right, you'll be able to get pictures of passing trains that are not usually possible for the public.

On top of that, we will also be manning the model railway PMV down at Alresford in the cattle dock, which demonstrates in miniature single line working, again this is free.and as always, a donation is most welcome.

Plus, we will also have members manning the QMB on the demonstration freight, which is £5 for a one way trip in either direction, and is a unique way to see the line, as well as seeing the troublesome trucks in a different light!

So, when you're travelling up and down the line, please do break your jourmey at Medstead, and come and see us - we're a friendly bumch,support our sales standand have a yard tour and then when you finally get to the other end, pay a fiver and have a ride on the QMB - its fun - trust me, I've done it plenty of times to know! and then once you get to Alresford, go and see how single line working works, in miniature!!!

We look forward to see you over the weekend

 

For various reasons there was no working party ayop the hill yesterday, so a fun day yesterday linesiding with @Hampshire Unit was had instead - made a change from trying to tame troublesome trucks!! Was also good to see @Stinch again

4079 is certainly loud, but given its power rating 5239 just took things in its stride....

A few few pics of the trains.....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52858600927/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52859358644/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52859357574/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52859570085/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52858604797/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/52859622653/in/dateposted-public/

 

Some good news to make a fireman smile....5239 is spending the Summer in Hampshire
5239 shunts at Alresford by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

Excellent news.

Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk

 

That's some good news, at least, how much water capacity does an 52 hold, their quite large engines but the tanks are quite small, on a round trip do you need to take water at Alton, as well as at Ropley, on the return, or is there enough to fill up at Ropley and do a round trip, ?

 

1800 gallons according to Wikipedia (compared with 1350 for the Ivatt). Anecdotally, on Sunday the crew were topping up at Alton every time.

 

Better to be sure.

 

Fairly sure 5224 spent a season or two based at the Mid Hants a while back so the concept of a 52xx running regularly at the Mid Hants has been proven. Plus in the summer you don't have to worry about steam heat so that reduces the demand for water a little