MHR steam galas March & Sept 2009

Yes a good idea to run the RAT without taking advance bookings a turn up and drink policy would be the best plan of action for a gala RAT.

 

And then a crew may have to contend with another fatality do you not think??? Not a good idea after previous circumstances.... Think about it guys.... If there is to be something along those lines there needs to be people to stop people hurting themselves....

 

Funny this, we were talking about this earlier at Foxfield. The trouble with Gala's is you normally use all your crews over the day and by night everyone wants a pint....... Then they gota start on Sunday... It would be great but at the end of the day every railway needs the (T Total...lol) volunteers to do it....

Rich :-k

 

Im confussed , but since that night . there has been plenty of RAT's out at night . we seem to have not killed anyone else . Booking a seat or turning up on the night , if you cant handle your drink either way , it just isnt gonna change things .

That is the downside . Crews on the sunday when everyone wants a pint the night before.......driver and fireman for a tenner perhaps and let the real driver and fireman slump in the corners just shoutting out instructions?

 

If we went about it with that attitude we'd never run anything.

 

i think that an evening service is a good idea, for the saturday evening but not overnight running an overnight support team would be a good idea, are there plans to invite other preservation groups to the gala, i wouldnt mind the chance to attend with the rememberance line stand, if we can be allowed at ropley i dont think we have any bookings ,plus as an ex member of the footplate staff it would be great to have the chance to say hi and catch up with everyone and if you need an extra fireman [-o<

 

Yup, and a quick train ride up to Medstead to say "HI" and have a mug of tea with us.

Regards
Chris

 

if i can get away, i might just do that chris, it will depend on who comes down with me if we are able to attend, even if we dont, i am coming down anyway and staying for the weekend

 

I also don’t under stand this comment? Pre booking a ticket or just turning up doesn’t stop someone from getting drunk and why would someone just turning up get more drunk than someone pre booking a seat?
Why look at the negative side of running a RAT on a gala. The railway runs RATs all year round and doesn’t get any trouble so why should it be different on a gala weekend?

 

Agreed Lee, but as usual Andy Cook is not the full shilling and has lost the plot again.

Regards
Chris

 

It is a lovely thought and all that to run later in the evening or earlier in the morning, but difficult to arrange. There are seven locos lined up that means (with the relief crew) we need 8 crews per day - we only have about 27 crews anyway so many people will do more than one day as it is (when you take account of the fact that some people will not be available). To run longer into the evening or start earlier would require more crews in order to relieve the on duty crews. There are only two ways round that really - have less engines running (which would be I suspect unpopular) or not run all of the engines all of the day. So in the latter case, Wadebridge say would start at 8am, but be on shed by 2pm, and the Super D wouldn't start until 2pm, but then go on until 8pm. I am not sure how popular that would be either. The other problem is we would have to double the number of signalmen and run two shifts in all the boxes. It's not impossible, but the railway would have to be darn sure any new format would be popular.

 

Some really good suggestions here.

The bottom line is other railways do all these things very succesfully. Time and time again the comments about MHR galas are we want a WTT in advance and longer days running.

I have heard lots of excuses why neither of the above are achievable, but other lines are doing it.

The gala market is VERY competitive, in the current climate where money is short people will be picking and choosing which ones to attend. Things like the length of the day will definitely affect peoples choices.

 

Good point Matt, we have enough volunteers I think to see this through and i for one would offer my services if only on car park dutiesthus releasing someone else for more important duties.

Regards
Chris

 

What facts do you base that assumption on? You need to read 21d's post above re the number of footplate crews.

 

Point taken Chessie,however loco crews are only one aspect of the whole picture in my opinion, albeit a very important one.

IMHO if other Railways can do it , why can,t we?.

Just a thought.
Chris

 

When you think about it though, you could just have one train running in the evening. This would mean you'd only need 2 footplatemen, 1 guard and relevant station staff where required. I'm not sure wwhat the situatuion with your signalling is but I'd imagine that you can switch out some, if not all, of your boxes, so then would require a minimal amount of signalmen. I know that just one train wouldn't be as good as three, but it would be a good way to test the waters and then expand at a later date.

 

Thinking aloud for a moment - I think some evening running could be feasable. A second, evening shift of signalmen would be no different from those Saturdays when we run a Belle and/or RAT. Likewise, Alresford and Alton station staff turn out an evening shift for the dining trains, though not the booking office, and we would need station staff at Ropley and Medstead, which are normally unstaffed in the evenings. If we reduce to a normal pattern of two full-line trains, there's no need for an Alton signalman. Two round trips for two evening trains would give departures from Alresford at, say, 17:43, 19:00, 19:43 (last round trip), and 21:00, and from Alton at 17:55, 18:50, 19:55 (last round trip) and 20:50. Light engines back to Ropley and sections closed around 22:00. Would that tie-in with the eveing trains back to London from Alton?

Besides the possible shortage of footplate crew, you wouldn't have the gap between end of normal working and start of evening service, when the locos return to the shed for servicing. However, the idea of the evening's locos taking over mid-afternoon is not a daft one. What's a reasonable length of "shift" for a loco? 7 - 8 hours? How about if the evening locos came off-shed about 14:00 - 15:00 to replace the two that worked the first trains of the day? Most people would then be able to see and ride behind all the locos during the day. There'd need to be some careful time-tabling to get them out of the yard and onto their trains without messing up the service.

Following up Martin Butler's offer, and remembering that the folks at Medstead & Four Marks station are always looking for ideas to attract visitors - how about setting out your stall at Medstead? We could invite a number of similar groups, maybe have a couple of buses from the museum parked in the forecourt? Chris - would you and your team be able to show people round your wagon works? The guards could make announcements about the various attractions to encourage people to break their journeys.

Finally, I really hope there will be at least one good-length goods train each day, hauled by the Super D. What's the longest rake we can get through our loops without special arrangements? Seven coaches? How many trucks is that equivalent to? Do we have that many in service now?

 

Well we set up a stall selling our limited edition oo guage model coal wagon by the goods shed at the last moment last September and we almost sold out in those three days, so yes there is potential here.

As for wagon tours I have spoken at length to Stationmaster Keith Brown who is all for it so I contacted Colin Chambers whether he would give permission. He said yes as long as H&S regulations were in force of which one of those was some type of wooden walkway over the tracks to the wagons with a hand/guide rail. Someone with a PTS would have to meet them on the platform and take them back at say a advertised pre-arranged time and this would be free , but I cannot see any reason why a begging bowl could not be left out, and of course some steps with a handrail to get into the vehicles themselves, This would go nicely with the demonstration signalbox that is planned so maybe some funding could come from that project?.

As for the actual goods train, the restored Presflo PF29 is being given a fitness to run exam as I write this and one of the B R Standard Brake vans will be given the same tratment in the first week of July followed by the other one around September time. Both of these Brake Vans are having detatchable gates fitted so they can be used for Brake Van rides.

Does this help?

Regards
Chris

 

Well we set up a stall selling our limited edition oo guage model coal wagon by the goods shed at the last moment last September and we almost sold out in those three days, so yes there is potential here.

As for wagon tours I have spoken at length to Stationmaster Keith Brown who is all for it so I contacted Colin Chambers whether he would give permission. He said yoe as long as H&S regulations were in force of which one of those was some type of wooden walkway to the wagons with a hand/guide rail. Someone with a PTS would have to meet them on the platform and take them back at say a advertised pre-arranged time and this would be free , but I cannot see any reason why a begging bowl could not be left out, and of course some steps with a handrail to get into the vehicles themselves, This wouls go nicely with the demonstration signalbox that is planned so maybe some funding could come from that project?.

As for the actual goods train, the restored Presflo PF29 is being given a fitness to run exam as I write this and one of the B R Standard Brake vans will be given the same tratment in the first week of July followed by the other one around September time. Both of these Brake Vans are having detatchable gates fitted so they can be used for Brake Van rides.

Does this help?

Regards
Chris

 

im not 100% sure as i dont know that much ( if any) about how the boxs works , but im pretty sure you could have a way of closing 3 boxs ( alton , medstead and Ropley ) and keeping Alresford open for run-a-rounds.