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Mid Hants Railway Operational Matters

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by NightRail, Jan 11, 2017.

  1. paulhitch

    paulhitch Guest

    Well, for one thing you implied I was in some way trying to spoil the happiness of small children. Nowhere do I suggest anything of the kind. I would be only too happy if more financially equitable arrangements encouraged lines to resume, or take up, Thomas events so children had greater opportunity to visit them.

    Post 1459 gets things about right.
     
  2. kwrail

    kwrail New Member

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    Think that we are all forgetting that back in the Nineties it was the income from Thomas events and the like that saved the railway from serious financial problems. Maybe not for the purists, but they get families on to the railway and gives them a good day out
     
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  3. Bean-counter

    Bean-counter Part of the furniture

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    The licence fee is on ticket sales - nothing is (or certainly was) paid on shop sales as the manufacturers/distributors had already paid the licence holder.

    The actual hire fees for Thomas are not that enormous, and the transport is, being an 0-6-0 tank, comparatively cheap, but obviously Hid-Hants do save both. I suspect that in itself doesn't affect whether the even makes a profit or a loss.

    Steven
     
  4. Bean-counter

    Bean-counter Part of the furniture

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    Unless it has changed fundamentally in the long period since I was directly aware of the franchise terms, my understanding was that the licence fee was a percentage of fares and admissions takings - in other words, poor takings, lower payment. Of course the Railway takes the risk of committing to the other costs of staging the event, and still has a higher 'break-even' figure for takings because x% goes to the licence owner but, in essence, the risk appears the basically the same as it would be for a replacement but licence fee-free event - the costs of staging and the margin over those.

    As I say, the franchising arrangements may have changed to include a fixed fee instead of or as well as the percentage.

    Steven
     
  5. green five

    green five Resident of Nat Pres

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    I can just about remember attending the MHR Thomas events when I was a kid.
    The MHR had at one time their own Thomas, Percy and James loco's to haul the busy trains. IIRC Percy was later transformed into Douglas ? James was played by both N 31874 and U 31625. When you visited Ropley yard sometimes on normal service days there would be two faceless James' in view to scare the kids :eek:
    John H. Bird, (author of Southern Steam Surrender) my school's Deputy Headmaster at the time had pictures published in the Railway press of the Thomas Loco's at Ropley.
     
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  6. NightRail

    NightRail New Member

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    They also had 45132 running as D199. NR0246.jpg
     
  7. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    yes I can remember several times being rostered out on number 5, minus face, and saying to a kid, his face blew off in the wind:Arghh: we did ask if we could chalk on an evil face, and call it, James's ' evil twin :) one day, I even had number 1 on the countryman dining train, because we had nothing else serviceable , not sure how we stood over using these engines, I know the franchise holder wasn't amused
     
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  8. green five

    green five Resident of Nat Pres

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    31625 nearly ended up on the Main Line in James guise. She was rostered to haul "The Red Devil" to the SVR but she failed before the trip. 45407 came all the way from Bury to haul the trip instead.

    Sent from my I3312 using Tapatalk
     
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  9. Dan Hill

    Dan Hill Part of the furniture

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    My first visit to the MHR was a Thomas event (one of the 1998 events I think, I was 6 at the time) though I don't remember a lot apart from having 73096 on a run and I think having a look around the yard at Ropley when the out of service locks were stored in the old shed that was replaced by the C&W works/Boilershop.
     
  10. John Petley

    John Petley Part of the furniture

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    I visited the Mid Hants for a Thomas event at roughly the same time. I'm a bit (!!) older than you but my nephew was going though the "Thomas phase" at the time and a visit with his family to the Watercress Line for the Thomas event was his birthday treat. You may not think that an adult enthusiast would wax lyrical about a ride on the line during an event when the trains are full of rather excited children, but we were treated to one of the finest runs up Medstead Bank I can ever remember, behind 34105 Swanage. It may have had a face on the front, but sitting in a carriage near the front of the train, I couldn't care less as I enjoyed the wonderful three-cylinder music. Hopefully it won't be too long before I'll be able to enjoy 34105 again, although as my nephew is now nearly 26, I probably won't choose a Thomas event for my next trip!
     
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  11. Duty Druid

    Duty Druid Resident of Nat Pres

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    [QOUTE= duty druid I wonder whether he'll read this?....... :Facepalm:[QOUTE]

    It appears my Ropley spy has been lurking again........ :rolleyes: though I'm not sure of what he makes to being compared to Basil Fawlty! :)

    Any way, @martin1656 he as an answer for you....... the words & pics below are his, not mine.



    "In response to Martin1656, the wastage to 499’s frames was definitely worse than 506 and was clear to us before we removed the cylinder blocks.


    With 506, as has been commented in the past, the blocks were removed and then wastage identified beneath them which gave rise to our decision to replace the front 9 feet. Pic 1 shows what we were faced with.


    499 had a much more serious issue which had been evident for many years; on the R/H side there was a crack which went upwards and backwards from the bottom of the frames very near the joggle, all the way to the top. She had broken her back, and on that side of the loco the frame plate was only held together by the motion bracket. In fact, when it came to removing that section once all bolts and rivets were removed, all we had to do was lift it off with the hoist….no gas axe required!!! We then cut a further small section off to ensure a tidy joint, this cut was in the middle of the leading drivers and meant the front horn blocks would be the anchor point for old & new sections. Pic 2 shows the crack, Pic 3 highlights another wasted area of frame nearer the cylinder block – that’s not a rivet or bolt hole, it’s just a rust hole!!!


    The frame sections had all been ordered profiled and cut slightly oversize, but not drilled. In the case of 499, clearly we had to have them joggled as well. The R/H side was removed first and we did use the old plate as a template for the drilling, taking what felt like a huge amount of time to ensure both pieces were fully lined up top, bottom and front before starting; with the sections pulled together we then drilled the 2 holes where the old handrails would have been at the front and fitted tight steel dowels using the delicate lump-hammer fixing method! The new section was now firmly in line with the old, a few clamps were used for extra security and hey presto, let drilling commence. Each hole (and boy are there lots of them) was drilled 3 times; first a 6mm pilot using the pistol grip, then opened up to around 7/16 with the small mag base and finally to approx. 7/8 (less than full size) with the large mag base. Using old frame sections as a template was ok but these were bent and twisted so we couldn’t risk drilling through to full size as the holes were likely not in exactly the right place. Once drilling was completed, Pythagoras was employed to fine tune the length of the new piece with a grinder (taking account of movement in the metal due to the heat of the welding process) weld prep applied to both the new piece (70% inside and 30% outside) and the old, and finally the prepared section was lifted into place with our hoist. Accommodation bolts used anchor points in the centre casting and middle stretcher (yes, 2 different things) to hold everything tight in readiness for welding. Once the R/H side had been welded we followed exactly the same process for the L/H section. The coded welder we engaged also writes weld specs so he knows his stuff; in fact, the inspection of 506’s welds and NDT testing brought the comment ‘100% weld, never seen anything that good’. Even better, our man then signed up as a member! With the new frame sections welded on, all holes were then opened out to full size using the large mag base; any slight misalignments were corrected and a ‘please explain’ notice passed in my direction!!!


    Hope that explains are methodology for you, if I’ve left you confused and in a coma, just ask through DD for more clarification.


    One last thought for you on the frame replacement, we are often asked about the ‘phenomenal’ cost of the job. In truth, it wasn’t that much…….the 4 frame pieces for both locos, rivets, a bit of platework, the welding itself and regulatory testing came to under £10,000 in total – no other costs were incurred because we did the work ourselves. It proved a massive learning curve but a very satisfying one and one which meant we didn’t blow a huge chunk of our members’ money. Challenges like this and our determination to achieve for the lowest possible cost are what will ensure 499 does one day return to steam.


    499 has restarted in earnest somewhat ahead of our plan, I’ll put an update together over the next couple of weeks…..will also get a blog up on MHR and probably even our own website. Thanks again for your interest, I’ll assume you would like the twaddle to keep coming unless I hear otherwise."

    Pic 1.png

    Pic 2.jpg

    Pic 3.jpg
     

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  12. Hampshire Unit

    Hampshire Unit Well-Known Member Friend

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    Just to add one picture,this shows the weld on the left hand frame of 499

    [​IMG]New by Stephen Morley, on Flickr
     
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  13. CH 19

    CH 19 Well-Known Member Friend

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    Please keep the twaddle coming:):):)
     
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  14. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    At that age, I’d have thought there were reasonable odds of a straight replay, albeit one generation on.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     
  15. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    bring him on the RAT lol yes 35105 could fly, when given her head, ( and the right driver) strangely, she was not as free steaming as Bodmin was, and ate more coal, I can remember one trip, we were held at Alton, for a late running coach party , and my then driver grew horns, , put his pitchfork in the irons tunnel, and we flew up that bank as if we were L/E and we has I think 7 on,
     
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  16. Nick C

    Nick C Well-Known Member

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    Proper British engineering, mixing metric and imperial!
     
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  17. free2grice

    free2grice Part of the furniture Friend

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    Obviously the proper engineers at the Mid-Hants can work with both. :)

    When I worked for the Rolls-Royce aero division if an engine was built for the United States it had to be produced in imperial.
    If it was built for Europe it was metric .....but never imperial and metric on the same engine. :eek: <BJ>
     
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  18. green five

    green five Resident of Nat Pres

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    A further update about the Alton Bridge work has been posted on the Butts Bridge Road works website two days ago. Cutting it a bit fine for the Autumn Steam Gala :Nailbiting::Nailbiting:
    https://www.buttsbridgeroadworks.co.uk/single-post/2019/08/14/Butts-Bridge-Update-Summer-2019
    Butts Bridge Update Summer 2019
    August 14, 2019
    Butts Bridge Team

    "Today we are advising of a change to the works expected end date.

    During the course of the construction of the new bridge over Whitedown Lane, historical cracks have been identified in the bridge structure that the works tie in to.

    While these present no immediate danger to the public, they do need to be addressed in order to make the bridge fit for future operational use.

    The extent of the cracks is such that they require a solution incorporating the installation of steel bars encased in grout to make them watertight. These operations will regrettably add to the time required to complete the bridge.

    We estimate that we will be able to return the bridge to Mid Hants Railway in October, allowing Watercress Line services from Alton to be reintroduced in the autumn.

    Works to complete the roundabout that will enable the A339 road closure to be lifted, will be finished in November.

    As previously advised, we will then be in a position to complete the remaining minor roadworks (kerbing, traffic islands and roundabouts) under localised, temporary lane closures."
     
  19. 73129

    73129 Part of the furniture

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    Also made it on to local BBC News on Wednesday night.
     
  20. 73129

    73129 Part of the furniture

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    After reading the above post by Green five. I popped up to Alton today to see how Butts bridge is progressing.
    E579F60A-F169-4CB1-BA15-8834205418F9.jpeg
    05A0B779-DF49-4B13-9152-8B77D04CA1E0.jpeg
     
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