Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

506 RAT departure by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

34072 at Alresford on "Belle" duty by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

It was only a flesh wound....

 

Flesh wound, !! It's in pieces on the ground

 

As it was impossible to get on the forum last night and keep readers upto date with the trials and tribulations atop the hill on a Saturday, Muggin's 'Ere migrated to Discogs...... a dangerous place to go in terms of adding to your coullection of vinyl......

So, now the forum is back, I'm making an effort to keep folks abreast of our efforrts , after a long and sgtressful day at work........

It were a dank day on Saturday atop the hill, and thankfully not wet, so three of our number cracked on with things on the steeel highfit - two doing a bit more derusting and priming, and matey making a start on cleaning uo the brake rigging that has now returned after being machined and bushed.

On the LMS van, matey had the job of red oxiding and then undercoating nigh on all bolt and screw heads that needed it........

That left Muggin's 'Ere and Me Oppo to concentrate on on various odd jobs...... first up, being to check the new pad in one of the axleboxes on the Urie lads LMS van...... even though it had been oiled, it was still dry, as you would expect, so it was given copious amounts of oil, but will probbaly need more next week.

We'd also noticed that the bolts through the roof hoops, bar one set had been put in the wrong way round, so time was spent putting the rest right........ and then fitting the side bolts, where we discovered that the roof felt isn't as good as it seemed, so that will need repalcing next year - its good enough to see out the winter, so not an urgent job - after that, it was more discussion on the roof hoops that we need to produce...... we need four more in total for each end of the van, two off of both internal and external, so, more sourcing of suitable material from our stock......

A few pics of the steamy things from Saturday........ rail head conditions were challenging in the morning, but I didn't see any train come to a stand in Soke cutting - slow and steady was the order of the day.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54113787221/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54112925492/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54114055143/in/dateposted-public/

 

Over the weekend The A Team from The Class 50 Alliance visited the railway to bolt 50027s main gen to the engine assemble the engine and then crane this and the etc / aux gens back into the loco.

Another effortless performance from them all.
They work like fluid and it’s a pleasure to deal with them.
Photos to appear on Facebook later but new donations link here.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding ... ntoservice

 

Wizard!!!!

Wizard Express by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

Sometimes Dear Reader, when like minded souls gather atop the hill on a Saturday morning, it isn't just about taming the troublesome trucks,but the company you're in, and yesterday was one of those days - probably due to it being yet another dank, dull and dismal day coupled with no trains running.......

Still, we did achieve various bits and pieces, amonst plenty of banter and brew breaks......

For some reason, we didn't touch the LMS van, though there were things an the to-do list, apart from giving the face of the new north side door a coat of gloss - and that wasn't even on the list!

Me Oppo got seconded into doing some welding to the step supports on the footbridge in the station, whilst most of the lads continued with cleaning up the brake rigging and red oxiding and undercoating on the steel highfit......

That left Muggin's 'Ere and me Mucker to have a good tidy up around the yard, and set a good bonfire going - I haven't had one for a fair while, but I haven't lost the knack of getting things that are wet through to burn! It was one of those fires that needed coaxing along with one that you could not leave alone to burn, so that was us for most of the day!

In the afternoon, it was time to start solving a jigsaw puzzle, without all the pieces in the shape of working out jsut how the brake rigging goes back together, so that we can work out the size of the various securing pins as new ones need to be made, so cue a lot of head scratching and looking at a multitude of images of the riiging in place....... eventually the puzzle was solved, to the extent that we now know most of the sizes we need..... it was pleasing to see that even with the rigging only hanging there with the old pins, the amount of play is now within tolerance!!

The face of the new north side door now in gloss.


The brake rigging on the highfit being trial fitted.

 

It's been a long time coming but this weekend saw the power unit reunited to 50027 with thanks to the Fifty Alliance team from Kidderminster. Still a while off a return to traffic but one huge step closer!

There's a new fundraiser going to help get us over the finish line if you can spare a few pennies!

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/50027sreturntoservice?utm_term=nNxMwZPW7

Just the one photo to not take up too much space

 

No, this is Wizard (Roy Wood)

 

Great to see (and the ploughs look great!)

 

So, after last weeks inertia, yesterday atop the hill we seemed to have more energy - though that's debatable for a few attendee's........

So, our attentions were split between the steel Highfit and the LMS van...... three of our number started off measuring the wasted pins on the brake rigging on the Highfit, so that new ones can be made...... after that, the rigging was dismantled so that the rigging could be painted with red oxide, before they moved on to getting more of the Highfit into undercoat.

Over on the LMS van, Muggin's 'Ere and me Mucker concentrated on painting things, whilst matey got the north side country end internal cladding caulked ready for undercoat at some point.......

The painting involved getting the inside face of the new north side door into gloss..... after that, the south side internal cladding recieved the same treatment...... once that was done, our attention turned to the manufacture of the external roof hoops that are single piece construction......... luckily we haven't yet refitted the final steel hoop, so this was used as a guide to mark out the new hoops, but as per, it all came with plenty of discussion, measuring and head scratching until we were both happy with how to go about things without cocking things up!!

Some of the rigging from the Highfit now into red oxide.


Shiny - the new north side door and internal cladding into first gloss.....





The first steps towards new external roof hoops.......

 

Visited Alresford yesterday evening to see the Steam Illuminations services for the first time. Previous years had eluded us for several reasons. Very impressive set up by the Railway and the two services we observed were very busy. Got a couple of shots (low res versions below) of 34072 on the Alton set taken from the road bridge outside the station. This was a very popular location last night with many of the locals who turned out to see the first two services.

Bulleid smoke screen:

Ready for the off:

 

I think you caught me in one of those shots. Turned up to tale some photos but also did some carriage cleaning on the Alresford set

 

Not my scene when I am wearing my 'it must be as it was in the 196os in BR days to be photted' hat on.

But taking that hat off for once, what a truly incredible display to put on for all those who come to travel on the trains. And for all the locals who come out to see what their very own Heritage Railway is doing as Christmas approaches.

Hopefully that will generate some really good income and a lot of profitable publicity for a railway I love to visit.

Many thanks for posting those great photos.

Bryan

 

Did you wander up to the water tower? We did see someone standing there for a while.

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Thanks for your kind comments about the pictures. I took the wrong camera with me yesterday. Wasn't sure what I was going to get with my Sony Compact RX100 (1st generation) as I had intended taking my a6000 which is much better for night time photography. I forgot to charge up the a6000. Quite pleased with how the RX100 coped though. I almost didn't get the run round shot which has come out the best.
Here is a short video I made of the activities at Alresford yesterday evening:




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I did! Although I walked purposely but carefully!

34072 waits at Alresford with a Steam Illuminations service by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

Great shot.

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Ropley Yesterday