Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

Agreed. Will be great to see it back. My understanding is that there were issues with the original restoration and that the loco was not always easy to keep in service. Hopefully this time round it will be much better.

 

Boiler 799 will get a new smokebox tubeplate. Here it is, fresh out of the box.
Pat

 

Of course, it only lasted ten years........

 

There were testing times atop the hill in many different ways yesterday......

We've not been up for awhile as we're trying to conserve work until our next victim arrives in the yard, and it's currently proving elusive, even though we can see it!

Our intention had been to do some more wagon exams, but the Kibosh has been put on that as the troublesome trucks have migrated eastwards for the winter to Alton, and currently reside in road #3, bedecked with lights & we're not prepared to lug all the gear we need that far, or get in trouble for disturbing the lights strung along them....... those kind of exams can wait until they return to Bennett's.

The first job of the day, once we'd extracted ourselves from the warmth of the mess-room was to do some hand shunting in road #2 to give us enough space to construct a base in readiness for the next project, by the stop blocks - it's just as well that Muggin's 'Ere has a 6' builders level with angle finder still in the back of the car from the LMS van, as the base needs to be level & the siding is on a falling gradient, and also on the wonk!

Whilst most of the lads were engaged in sourcing lengths of timber for the base, Muggin'Ere decided to try what most would consider a futile exercise, and try to set fire to a mass of sodden timber off cuts and sawdust....... within 2 minutes, Muggin's had managed to get the fire going!

And boy did we need it, as the weather was trying out patience given it was freezing cold, wet and windy......

Then, before we knew it, 3 of us were being dragged off one by one for our PTS resits, and all three of us passed.

Next up was to open up and examine the inside of our next intended victim, so most trooped to the bottom of Bennett's to execute this, whilst Muggin's & Me Mucker opted for fire management!

By the time the lads came back from Bennett's. it was brew time, which last a fair while, and then it was time to head for the hills, but only after making sure that what was left of the fire would not flare up.

 

With a lot of effort.