Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

The Class 47 and one of the Class 20's were rostered on a six coach set which was packed for most of the day. It was our third year of visiting this event and the amount of people turning up for the park and ride at Ropley today was astonishing. We arrived at around midday and we ended up in a queue of traffic on the main road which went all the way up the station road to the parking field. In the field we had to park near the bottom.
30506 was on the steam service operating between Ropley and Alton.
Thanks to everyone involved for a great day and thanks also for a delicious meal in the West Country buffet which gave us the necessary energy to explore the festival!
Some low res shots from a rather damp Ropley near the end of the day:



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A post on Facebook shows that 6989 Wightwick Hall has arrived at the railway for boiler repairs. I wonder if the railway will be able to operate the current Harry Potter loco on some service trains as a thank you gesture before it leaves for filming work again?

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By 'Eck it were a tad warm atop the hill yesterday, which probably explains why those who were up for it suddenly finding themselves double booked to appear in a pub beer garden...... nowt to do with the heat then?......

As it turned out, it was just Muggin's 'Ere & Nipper - the task for the day was to get the frames of the workshop PMV that had been painted into first gloss t'other week into second gloss, a task tat was surprisingly and thankfully completed by lunchtime, which was a blessing as it was getting stupidly hot!

It now means that next week, we should get the first sections of the floor down to enable us to start on the south side of the vehicle, which basically means chucking the cladding on the bonfire, sorting pout the steel uprights & angle irons & producing new body sides.....

As we'd done what we needed to, and the fact it was getting too hot to work, it was decided to go for a jolly, and seeing as Nipper wanted to see Thomas, it was to Ropley we went for the afternoon, dropping down the hill behind the Ivatt driven by @Stinch

As Nipper had never been to Ropley, a guided tour was given and a fair few characters met along the way - at least he now knows what Ropley is all about.

There was no point in taking a pic of anything black and shiny in the workshop PMV as it's look exactly the same as last time!

So, some pics from yesterday .along with a final few from the gala & charter....... and a bonus track from the Tull gig!

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Compared to last week Dear Reader, it was nigh on mob handed atop the hill yesterday!!!

Me Oppo was back from his Holibob, and the rest must've heard me moaning........

Any road, me Oppo had a job to do for the station team, as a crossing gate was sticking against its post, no mean feat given it's steel...... anyway, after he'd worked his magic, it now swings freely and doesn't stick.

Whilst he was otherwise occupied, the rest of us had the 'simple' job of laying some of the floorboards delivered t'other week...... the only way the boards were going in was through the south side London end doors, and these hadn't been opened in over twenty years...... needless to say, they put up one heck of a fight - the hinges that is, the rust build up round the pins must be something, as 3 out of 4 refuse to budge, almost as if they've been welded in place - the doors themselves were pretty much sawdust & what didn't fall off the rivets in the hinge straps was beaten off!

Crucially though, we managed to persuade on of the lower hings straps, that it was in its best interest to swing open, this allowed us to get four of the boards into the van, where we discovered that me Oppo's maths need to be redone, as he'd got his measurements wrong for the size of board needed & even trimming them, he still couldn't get his maths right - at least he under rather than over did it!

Once the boards were down, a start was made on stripping the south side of the van....... vent hoods, destination boards and crucially the beading around one of the windows, along with the careful extraction of the glass pane in one piece.

Next week, hopefully we'll be making a start on the ply sheets if they've arrived - you could say this is where the real work starts, as there's a heck of a lot of it do!

What's left of a door.......



Where it used to live....



The new floor down on a temporary basis.



The window pane & beading successfully removed.

The van now rather air conditioned at the end of play.