Mid-Hants News 175

MID-HANTS News Reopening after Covid-19 Lockdown Flying Scotsman - Alan Titchmarsh's Footplate View Photographer’s Take on Photo Charters

£3.00 No.175 Summer 2020

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Editorial FEATURES

Dear Members, We wait months for one reopening to happen and then two come along in the same year…

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In the last issue we celebrated the reopening of the restored Watercress Line, after 13 months of work on the Butts Bridge project had forced us to truncate our usual 10-mile service to 6 miles. In this issue, the Management Team describe the logistical and financial challenges to responding to the Covid-19 lockdown, and the safeguards and structural changes put in place so that we could, once again, welcome our volunteers, staff and visitors back to the line.

The Railway and Covid-19 Shutdown

The challenges of shutting down, and then reopening, a heritage railway.

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Mid-Hants News has had to adapt as well. Typically, our pages are filled with reports that keep members informed of how we use their subscriptions to restore and preserve everything from individual locos to the Railway’s buildings and gardens.

And, although a handful of groups could concentrate on more administrative tasks, most groups have had to down tools during the four-month lockdown. So, you’ll notice fewer ‘preservation’ reports and more historical reflections in this issue. In addition, the distribution of the magazine relies on generous volunteers who meet to stuff envelopes and hand-deliver the more local copies. By making this issue available online, we can maximize the number of Members who could have access to it. Our hard copy fans will be pleased to know that this issue will be printed and distributed as part of the Members’ AGM package, issued in September.

16 Flying Scotsman

Our patron, Alan Titchmarsh, describes his dream-come-true encounter with No.60103 on the MidHants. Some more great photos.

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Ironically, it was the success of the first reopening in February, fuelled by that historic visit from Flying Scotsman, that helped us weather the blows brought by the Covid-19 lockdown and led to another successful reopening in July. No one knows how long Covid-19 will be with us. Paraphrasing one of our correspondents, with the quality of people we have working on the line, and the sense of commitment that so many bring, we are ready to meet these challenges.

22 Photo Charters

Sue Dixon, Brian Dolton, Steve Morley, Tony Storey

The Watercress Line from a photographer’s point of view.

DEPARTMENTS

20 Lifting Tackle

Les White relating some of his interesting stories about his career with cranes in the outdoor Machinery Department at Eastleigh. __________________________________

21 Around the Yards

Progress reports from the wagon group, Canadian Pacific and the Traffic Division. ___________________________________

24 S&T

Clive Jackson carries on his retrospective on 30 years as a signalman and Chris Hunt explains how the lockdown was used to bring forward some projects. ___________________________________

FRONT COVER: No.41312 shunting at Ropley during the pick-up goods event on 26th June 2020. Photo: Steve Morley BACK COVER: A set of six Bulleid carriages, including four temporarily borrowed from the Bluebell Railway, seen on 15th March 2020. Photo: Tony Storey 2

REGULARS

10 Urgent Appeal

Vital capital projects requiring urgent funding and how you can help. ___________________________________

11 Newsline

News of a new Watercress Line film unit producing exciting new content regularly and other items of interest. ___________________________________

14 Bridging the Stations

The final episode. How a bridge that originated in Cowes made it to Medstead and Four Marks station. ___________________________________

26 Volunteering – My life with the

Mid-Hants Railway David Mead’s 40 years as a volunteer, primarily in the ticket office. ___________________________________

27 VE Day

In honour of the 75th anniversary of VE Day, we provide some photos taken during our own War on the Line events over the past few years. ___________________________________

28 Regional Groups

What has been going on around the Groups and how to join in. ___________________________________

30 Ways to get involved with

Watercress Line How to donate, volunteer, become a member or join a regional group. ___________________________________

31 Information

A list of Directors, Trustees and Management. ___________________________________

31 Sylvia Smith

Travels on national lines and heritage lines together make for a rewarding tour. ___________________________________

OPPOSITE PAGE: 50 027 Lion passes 47579 James Nightall GC as it departs from Ropley with the 16.05 from Alresford on 14th February 2020. Photo: Julian Clark THIS PAGE: Top: Cheltenham running down the gradient from Medstead to Ropley on 1st March 2020.

Photo: John Barrowdale Above: No.76017 arriving at Ropley whilst S15 No.506 waits with an Up service on 8th March 2020. Photo: Colin Lee

MID-HANTS News No. 175

‘Mid-Hants News’ is the official organ of the Mid-Hants Railway Preservation Society Limited, supporting body of the Mid-Hants Railway Watercress Line.

Published in February, July and November by the Mid-Hants Railway Preservation Society Ltd., Alresford Station, Alresford, Hampshire. SO24 9JG. Next copy date: Saturday, 3rd October 2020.

Next publication date: November 2020.

The Editors welcome and appreciate contributions to Mid-Hants News. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Company or Society. © Copyright reserved Material sent for publication may be subject to editing for reasons of grammar, length, accuracy, tone, arrangement or wording, at the Editors’ discretion.

Photographs sent for publication may be cropped, adjusted, manipulated or used graphically at the Editors’ discretion. Suitable caption detail should accompany each photograph. Contributors may submit up to a maximum of six photographs for any one issue.

Typeset by Oaklands.

Printed by Stephens and George, Merthyr Tydfil The management team of the Railway is listed inside the back cover. The Railway's website address is: www.watercressline.co.uk.

Correspondence should be addressed to the appropriate person c/o Alresford Station, Alresford, Hants. SO24 9JG. Please enclose a suitable s.a.e.

Tel: Alresford (01962) 733810 Fax: (01962) 735448 E-mail: info@watercressline.co.uk 3

Senior Management

The Railway and Covid-19 Lockdown

by Simon Baggott and Richard Lacey

Shutting down On the Sunday before the announcement of impending lockdown, the General Manager Simon Baggott, Chris Ellick the Engineering Manager and Ollie Egan met to discuss how to get all of our locomotives under cover. By the end of the day, with help from many others, all but three locomotives were under lock and key. Only the Standard 5, No.828 and the out-of-service blue 08 were still outside. Ian Cooper and Andy Fuller brought the Alton set of coaches back to Ropley with the Class 50, and the Class 20 was squeezed into the boiler shop. The doors shut with a generous two inches to spare giving an insight into how the pilots on aircraft carriers must feel! As someone observed, they almost had to grease the buffers to get the door closed. Monday saw the team get the Standard 5 under cover and most of the carriages brought up from Alresford. Meanwhile the administrative staff based in Alresford were organised to work from home. That evening, as the Prime Minister was making his speech, the spare wheelsets and other heavy objects were being used to block entry to Ropley in final preparation for the lockdown.

Maintaining shutdown Since then, there has been little opportunity to draw breath. It is remarkable how much effort it takes to run a railway that is closed! The fact that we are not able to run trains doesn’t mean we don’t have customers to deal with. There are hundreds of advance bookings to be administered and, for the most part, we have tried to find alternative services for later in the year.

Communication bulletins were sent to the volunteers and staff regularly, and videoconferencing was introduced, keeping as many as possible informed so that

they could be ready when the time came to reopen. We regularly ran a diesel up and down the line to ensure that all the Railway’s property remained safe and secure and to check for condition of the lineside, dumping of rubbish and incursions onto our property by lineside householders.

To help manage the line during this crisis, the MHR Board has been meeting weekly to take difficult decisions and to offer help and guidance to the General Manager and his team. They have been meeting by video conference which is novel but has enabled all to keep in touch and continue to be effective.

Financial impact of lockdown For the MHR family, the timing of the shutdown was especially disappointing as we had just held the biggest and most successful event in the history of the line.

The commercial success of the reopening event with Flying Scotsman and the funds received from the completed Butts Bridge work meant that the Railway had had a successful start to the new year. This head start would have given us the opportunity to tackle a multitude of vital tasks around the Railway were it not for the shutdown. These projects are now severely at risk.

Under normal circumstances, the MidHants Railway relies on its ticket revenue to cover its operational costs which work out at more than £150,000 a month. During lockdown, despite doing everything possible to reduce outgoings, we needed around £75,000 per month to exist. Half of this cost is made up of employment costs and, though we placed as many paid staff as possible on furlough, we needed a number of key people to remain working. We still have to pay for our utilities and our creditors together with some suppliers we needed to use during the lockdown. We also had a significant amount to refund to advance ticket holders, although some have been kind enough to donate their refund to us and others have accepted a voucher to use in the future. The remainder is loan repayments and bank charges.

To help with meeting these obligations we looked at all of the potential sources of emergency funding being provided by the Government and local authorities.

However, with the exception of the furlough and the COVID 19 Business Interruption Loan Schemes, we were either too big a concern or too small to qualify. We are hoping that we will be able to secure a loan under the business interruption scheme, which will help considerably at least in the short term.

Cashflow projections were created and modelled with ‘good’, ‘middle’ and ‘bad’ forecasts of future traffic, but only time will tell us how accurate these are.

Our challenge was to ensure that we had resources to restart the service when the time came. Slightly lower coal prices have been a potential advantage, and, fortunately, sufficient donations have been made that we have placed orders for coal to cover most of the summer. At £5,000 per load and four loads required, we needed to be careful.

Talk of donations brings us to our next point, which is that we have been supporting the MHRPS in their efforts to fund raise for the line. We would like to thank all those who have made contributions via our website, text, or directly to us, all of which have been very welcome in these difficult times.

The key impact of the financial situation is that we have had to postpone a number of important infrastructure projects indefinitely as we simply don’t have the resources.

However, we have managed to do some important work using volunteer labour.

Martin Orford has organised and led a party of volunteers who have repainted the interior spaces of a good part of the carriage shed and main workshop facilities, a truly epic piece of work. Thank you Martin.

The other major piece of work has been to replace the rails on the pit road at Ropley.

The pit road had been a concern for some time, but it was not until we removed the old rails that we found out how right we were. Cracking along the rail web had made the rail ends at the joints unduly flexible and, over time movement of the rails had caused them to dig in to the concrete surface on which they were mounted.

As we write, new rails have been laid in position and the work to pack and level them is underway. This project had been supervised by Chris Ellick, our excellent chief engineer, who has done a sterling job overseeing the work, which has been carried out by volunteers. This project has shown what can be done by a determined band of people. The original costing for the project was £25k, but careful management and purchase of materials has reduced that to £11k, and of that, at least half has been met by donations direct to the project to whom the Line is indebted and extremely grateful.

Social distancing preparations at Ropley Station 16th June 2020. Photo: Matt Bentley 4

Preparing to reopen A few weeks after the beginning of lockdown, we began to create a roadmap for return to service that took a stepped approach to reopening even though the exact timing of the steps was still unknown.

At each step, we assessed the situation and proceeded only when the time was judged to be right.

• Step One. A small number of people were authorised to do a minimum, but essential, range of maintenance tasks.

During this phase, various team leaders (Station Masters, Inspectors etc.) were consulted on risk assessments and mitigation measures required for Step Two and Step Three.

THE RAILWAY KEEPING BUSY DURING THE CLOSEDOWN Top: Operations Manager Richard Bentley regularly drove up and down the line in Class 47 47579 James Nightall GC and a single carriage in order to deter trespassers and to maintain the condition of the signalling equipment and permanent way.

Middle: On Thursday evenings at 8.00pm Richard frequently stopped in the Alton area to sound the loco’s horn to join of the local people clapping in support of health workers.

Bottom: During the closedown the opportunity was taken to completely refurbish the walls and track of the Ropley pit road.

All photos by Matt Bentley

• Step Two. With all of the various risk assessments completed and documented, detailed information packs and on-line Covid-19 awareness training were produced which anyone who was to work on the line had to complete before they could start work. This allowed us to expand the range of tasks we could undertake safely. We have also worked through what PPE we need and sourced both that and the sanitising products we need for cleaning of everything visitors might touch and hand cleansing materials for our visitors themselves.

• Step Three. We then held a training weekend for operational staff following a strong hint from the regulator, the Office of Road and Rail, to ensure we could refresh as many safety-critical staff as possible. This weekend involved the operation of trains, but without the public being present.

• Step Four. We also firmed up the likely plan for which days we will aim to run, and for the operating schedule for each day. The Covid-19 restrictions make this look very different from normal. Still ahead of us as we write, is to reopen on the weekend 11/12 July which will be when we offer members and shareholders the opportunity to travel on the line at their normal concessionary rate. By this point, most of the volunteers who have been itching to get back to work, are likely to have returned in most areas of the railway, under the strict measures that have been put in place.

However, the reality is that not all of our volunteers are yet comfortable with returning to work on the line. Our age profile is such that many are in the very vulnerable category and should not return. Others live in family groupings where health concerns have to be the overriding consideration.

This means that, while we are confident we can find enough staff for weekends, when the younger volunteers are available, we may struggle a bit during the week. We are therefore asking as many as possible to help with welcoming visitors and cleaning 5

tasks so that we can keep our safety-critical people for operating the railway particularly in the week. Perhaps you would like to get involved?

Above: Ivatt Tank No. 41312 departing Alresford with the first train of the training weekend on 20th and 21st June. Photo: Steve Morley

PREPARING FOR OUR VISITORS - THE TRAINING WEEKEND An extract from a letter by Richard Bentley, Operations Manager, to the staff and volunteers following the training weekend.

I would like to thank all those that took part in the recent Training Weekend, and also those that contributed behind the scenes that made it possible.

To watch a train depart from one of our stations is a sight too easily taken for granted. Especially as, ‘We, as a collective team, make it look easy’! It is only when you dissect the processes and tasks that lead up to that moment that you start to appreciate just how much combined effort goes into actually making that happen: • The engineering team have arranged to carry out examinations of the locomotives and rolling stock to ensure that it is fit and safe to run.

• The Permanent Way team have carried out inspections of the track, as well as weed-killed and commenced vegetation flailing.

• The Signal and Telecom team have inspected and tested the points and signalling to ensure that it is safe to operate.

• Roster clerks have provided sufficient staff to manage all the stations, signal boxes, provide sufficient guards, drivers and firemen.

• Inspectors and Foreman have ensured that all of those staff are still within ticket for their various competencies.

For me, and no doubt many others, the high point of the training weekend wasn’t actually seeing trains running or signal boxes working, it was seeing its people. The chance to catch up with friends and colleagues again after the 12 weeks of lockdown was the part that I personally had missed the most.

Our Railway is far more than trains, track, stations etc. It is about the incredible team of people that put their time into making our railway what it is.

The key in all of this is communication and teamwork. I applaud the level of communication now being used to level with, and inform, staff within the Railway. We have probably never been in a better position as an organisation, other than for this dreadful pandemic. We will bounce back, and I have no doubt that we will come back stronger.

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Reopening for business The decision to reopen is a finely balanced one that has taken a huge amount of consideration. We know that our operating costs will rise as we have to bring back furloughed staff to ensure we have the rolling stock fit to work the trains. When we turn out locos, we have to pay for fuel and steaming fees. Against this, we don’t know how many visitors will want to come to see us and the income they will bring, so there is risk. But we feel there is an appetite amongst the public for things to do and we hope that as many as we can cope with will want to come.

Against this, we felt that if we did not open, we would have to continue to spend money on care and maintenance of the line with no income, we would lose out on any initial surge of visitors as lockdown eased, our profile would be diminished and we risked losing our volunteers. On balance we decided to lead the pack and open as soon as we could. It is as much a statement of intent and confidence in our future as anything, and if we have to adjust our operating plan in the light of poor visitor numbers, we will do that.

Because of the restrictions required by Covid-19, the way we are going to have to operate for some time will be quite different from the past. Social distancing will mean we can, at best, hope to have 50% occupancy of our trains so our income to pay the cost of running services will be significantly reduced.

To get as many visitors as possible to visit us, we know that we need to provide an enjoyable experience but we will also need to give a lot of reassurance.

We have significantly changed the way we operate. For example, all visits will now be pre-booked and, rather like the Flying Scotsman event, the booking will be for a specific train. On train, we expect passengers to remain seated in allocated seats which would be theirs for the duration of their visit and, as on other public transport, they will have to wear face coverings. We will not carry out ticket inspections and guards would stay within their compartment. Signage, one-way systems and regular cleaning are other elements of the plan.

Some services are clearly going to be impossible. For example, footplate rides and experiences will be deferred to 2021, or refunded. In addition, our dining services and the real ale train will have to undergo huge changes, and we are still working through the implications of the safety measures for those kinds of service.

We also think we will have to reduce the scope of the Thomas event this year simply because we are unlikely to have enough volunteers to man a big event over a lengthy period.

To sum up, there is plenty of challenge at the moment but we are sure that, with the quality of people we have working on the line, both as paid staff and volunteers, and the sense of commitment that so many bring, we can overcome these challenges.

We think we are in a better place than some heritage railways and we know we can make a success of reopening the MidHants. We are now open for business, and our Railway can still bring enjoyment to all our visitors.

So what can you do to help?

Well, if you are not already a volunteer, then please think about becoming one because we could surely use your help. There is a great deal of enjoyment to be had with a friendly bunch of like-minded people. You can also help us to spread the word that we are again open for business amongst your family and friends and on social media. Visit us and help generate income for the line. If you can help financially, that would be most welcome. And finally, please keep your fingers crossed for us that droves of people will want to visit the Mid-Hants line.

Top: Locos locked down in Ropley shed on 16th June 2020. Photo: Matt Bentley Above: Thomas departing Alresford on the Training Day on 20th June 2020. Photo: Steve Morley Below: Ropley Yard mid-way through its upgrade on 16th June 2020. Photo: Matt Bentley

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REOPENING WEEKEND 11th/12th July 2020

Above: No.76017 on the first service from Alton passing under Mount Pleasant road bridge on 11th July 2020.

Photo: Dave Ryding Above right: No.41312 being admired by a Ropley passenger as it arrives with its train from Alresford on 12th July 2020.

Right: Ivatt No.41312 preparing to depart on the first service from Alresford on 11th July 2020.

Below right: No.41312 and No.76017 crossing their service trains at Ropley on the 12th July opening day.

Below: Duty Signalman Julian Poole exchanges single line tokens with the crew of No.76017 at Ropley on 12th July.

Photos: Steve Morley

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Society Reopening Weekend and Future Plans

by Stephen Evans, MHRPS Chairman

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HE big news is that the Watercress Line has reopened after its four-month lockdown. The Evans family were farepaying passengers during the first weekend and we were able to see for ourselves just how well the Railway has adjusted to the new operating environment. Covid-19 precautions were reassuringly in place and the overall experience was very rewarding – reserved seats and a 26mile round trip, with a timely break in the Ropley picnic area. Ivatt No. 41312 and Standard 4 No. 76017 were in fine fettle and positively glistening in the July sunshine.

All concerned have done a fantastic job of getting the Railway up and running again.

Why not enjoy travelling on the Watercress Line again, and encourage others to do the same? But please remember to book online at www.watercressline.co.uk.

The main role of the Society during the closure has been to raise funds to support the Railway. The emergency appeal has generated over £60,000 so far and I speak for my colleagues on the MHRPS and MHR Boards, as well as myself, when I say how immensely grateful we are. It is worth pointing out that this figure represents only donations in response to the appeal.

In contrast to some heritage railways, our published fund-raising results do not include legacies or major donations for specific projects.

The emergency appeal remains open. As long as Covid looms, the Railway will have to limit the services that it offers. Fewer trains, seats and special events means less revenue. So it will be the continued generosity of our Members and supporters that will enable the Watercress Line to

Above: Stephen Evans, MHRPS Chairman

It may seem surprising, but the Society has email addresses for only half of its membership. If you are a Member and have not given us your email address, please consider registering online at https:// preservation.watercressline.co.uk/ members.

It would help us greatly if you would tick the marketing box, so that we can keep you up-to-date on the Railway’s services and activities.

Below: MHR Board Zoom Meeting Top row: Mervyn Dunwoody, Richard Lacey, David Jones, Simon Baggott Middle row: Peter Greenwood, Jim Russell, Stephen Evans, Alison Houghton Bottom row: Richard Hawkins, Martin Rossiter

get through this crisis. Raising a further £100,000 in the months to come would make all the difference. Cheques are always welcome but it may be easier to donate through Virgin Money Giving which can be accessed via our website.

I am delighted that, notwithstanding the need to provide emergency support, the Society has also been able to finance the Railway’s acquisition of carriage jacks.

These have just come into use at Ropley and it is no exaggeration to say that their impact has been transformational. Carriage bodies can be lifted off the bogies, inside the shed and in a matter of minutes. To think that, we used to spend days doing the job in the yard using cranes!

Covid has changed the way the MHRPS Board has been operating. Thanks to Zoom, we have been meeting frequently and making decisions fast. Our colleagues on the MHR Board have been doing the same and the two Boards have been cooperating closely. It has not just been about responding to the crisis, vital though that has been. Plans are also evolving that stretch beyond Covid.

That longer-term strategy will be partly about maintaining and restoring locomotives, rolling stock and infrastructure. However, it will also involve reaching out to a new generation of potential customers, Society Members and volunteers. That will require fresh thinking about how the Railway can continue to engage and enthuse people when the world around us is changing so rapidly. We need steam to stay relevant in the digital age.

We look forward to sharing some ideas about this publicly before long and to hearing the views of Members and the Railway’s wider circle of supporters and friends.

Finally, and most importantly, I hope that you and your families stay safe and well.

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Special Fundraising Projects

Urgent Funding Appeal for Vital Capital Projects T

HE Watercress Line relies on its ticket revenue to cover its operational costs, and, although we are minimising all the costs we can, without the money from running public services, the Railway is eating into its financial reserves. These reserves were earmarked for a few capital projects that are vital for the Railway’s ongoing success. If you can help in any way, please see www.watercressline.co.uk/donate.

ROPLEY PIT ROAD IMPROVEMENTS – Circa £25,000

The rails and fixings on the pit road at Ropley used for servicing locomotives, are at the end of their useful life and need replacing.

The wall adjacent to the pit road, which stops the rest of the yard falling on to the pit road also needs stabilising. Indeed, a recent inspection suggested that we could no longer delay repairs. Ideally, we would do the pit work before we start running locos again since the pit will be unusable while the work is going on.

Working with Barry Stratton who was part of the gang that originally constructed the pit, we have a plan that will hugely improve the environment of the pit. We are hopeful of getting the work done for a fraction of the budget of £25,000 that we had envisaged, but that depends on US volunteering to do the work.

IMPROVEMENT TO BACK OFFICE SYSTEMS – Circa £10,000

Although we are a heritage Railway we cannot afford to run the business with heritage IT systems. This year we are looking to begin to improve our back office systems to give us more data on how people spend their money around the Railway and streamline our accounting processes.

ENGINEERING IMPROVEMENTS – Circa £22,500

We would like to continue to invest in the works at Ropley. This includes adding a forklift truck to move heavy items around the boiler shop, and improved lighting and a lifting beam in the carriage shed to enable us to overhaul carriage bogies.

PERMANENT WAY RENEWALS – Circa £155,000

£120,000 of this is to allow us to renew ¼ mile of track from Bighton Hill bridge to the Ropley Down Outer Home, as this track has now reached the end of its useful life. We’d like to replace it and use the worn track to extend the Meon siding at Alton to enable future developments in that area. We’d also like to replace a number of worn point timbers and purchase enough ballast to top up the rest of the line.

SIGNALLING – Circa £26,500 Top: Work on the pit road 16th June 2020. Photo: Matt Bentley Above: The Interior of Medstead signal box. Photo: Tony Storey Below: Canadian Pacific at Eastleigh, August 1964. Note the three link coupling on the front draw hook. Taken just over a year before she was withdrawn from Weymouth Shed.

Photo: ERPS - David Beeson Collection

The lever frame and locking in the signal box at Medstead & Four Marks needs to be replaced. We’ve almost completed work on the temporary replacement to enable these works but need funds to complete it. As the signalling equipment across the line has been in use for a number of years, there are a number of items that need renewing.

BUILDINGS – Circa £130,000

The roofs on the station houses at both Alresford and Ropley need to be replaced; temporary repairs, as in the past, are no longer viable.

The station building at Alton is suffering from subsidence and there are a number of improvements we’d like to make there to improve the layout from our visitors’ perspective.

No.35005 CANADIAN PACIFIC PROJECT – Circa £310,000 The engineering elements of the Canadian Pacific project are charging on, but completing the boiler, restoring the second carriage and finishing the mechanical overhaul require a final funding push if they are going to be completed by the end of next year. In addition to Canadian Pacific, we have forecasted spend amounting to £145,700 this year for the overhauls of Swanage and Lord Nelson.

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Newsline . . Newsline . . Newsline . . Newsline . . Newsline RAILWAY’S NEW FILM UNIT

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Above: Former S&DJR Class 7F No.88 doing battle with the rising gradient between Ropley and Medstead on 12th Sept. 2010. Photo: Tony Storey

Stop Press . . Stop Press . .

WELCOME No.53808!

Former Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR) 7F 2-8-0 loco, No.53808 is coming to the Watercress Line for the remainder of its current boiler ticket, until Autumn 2022. Owned by the S&D Railway Trust, the loco will be moved from its current base, the West Somerset Railway, as soon as pre-arranged maintenance work has been completed in August.

WO Railway volunteers, Will Stratford (fireman) and Liam Ketchenten (guard, shunter, fireman), have recently started producing films for the Watercress Line on YouTube. The films are well researched, informative and entertaining, and cover topics such as historical events on the line, individual locos, the most recent challenges starting up after lockdown, and more.

Besides being the presenter, Will also shoots the spectacular drone footage, giving us all a unique, bird’s eye view of our Railway. The plan, so far, is to release new films every Wednesday and Sunday.

For you to enjoy on Watercress Line's YouTube channel: • Bringing the Railway Back to Life (How the Railway copes with the challenges of reopening) • Most Spectacular Train Crash in Cinema History (Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway Line’s involvement in a cinema stunt in 1928)

Built in 1925 by Robert Stephenson and Co., this powerful loco was used to pull heavy goods and coal trains over the S&DJR’s steep gradients. This makes it an ideal engine to work over 'the Alps' for the coming two seasons. It will, no doubt, be the star of the upcoming MHR’s S&DJR themed October Gala. No.53808 last visited the MHR 10 years ago for the autumn gala, as No.88, sporting the traditional S&DJR blue livery.

DEREK CREESEY

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T is with great sadness that we announce the sudden and unexpected death of Derek Creesey at his home in late June. Derek had three passions in life, his family, his cats and the railway. He had been a volunteer at the railway for 26 years, latterly in the Information Office at Alresford. Our sincere condolences go to Derek’s family and friends.

Top: Will Stratford presenting a film about how the Railway is ‘waking up’ the locos after shutdown.

Above: A screenshot from one of Will Stratford's excellent videos featuring Flying Scotsman passing Bishop's Sutton.

BLAST FROM THE PAST !

Former United States Army Transportation Corps S160 Class No.WD701 Franklin D Roosevelt at Ropley in 1990 - John Barrowdale

COLIN FULLER MEMBER NO 1

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T is with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Colin Fuller (Member No 1). Colin passed away in March, following complications from an operation. Colin’s devotion to the railway was unquestionable with him taking on many roles over the years with Carol by his side. His knowledge and work behind the scenes played a huge part in establishing our wartime events and their continued success. We send our sincere condolences to Carol and his family.

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Newsline . . Newsline . . Newsline . . Newsline . . Newsline ALRESFORD STATION SITE ENHANCEMENT TEAM (ASSET)

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S we gradually approach the end of this very unfortunate closure of the Railway, along with everything that is familiar to us, it is very pleasing to report that some small but important steps have been taken by ASSET volunteers to smarten the station and grounds ready for the eventual return of the Railway’s visitors.

Whilst observing social distancing, Brian Hirst’s ‘heavy gang’ volunteers have focused their efforts on the picnic area and surrounding spaces by treating the picnic tables to a coat of preservative, mowing and strimming the grass and edges, cutting back the vegetation on the bank below the picnic area and by the black shed, and also tidying the wild flower garden by the water tank. Although, at the time of writing, our gardening team have yet to return, platform volunteer Sue Nash, who lives locally, has been coming in to tend to the vegetable patch by the signal box.

Meanwhile, Neil Goulborn’s maintenance team has returned to repaint the white edges along the front of the two platforms and cattle dock, to be rapidly followed by the redecoration of the front of the West Country Buffet, the Platform 1 running-in board and touching up the paintwork on the top of the footbridge and the containers behind the staff car park.

Our grateful thanks to these dedicated volunteers for giving up their time to achieve some very useful tasks in readiness for the return of visitors to our Railway.

Tony Storey, Station Foreman

Malcolm in the No.828 shed in Ropley.

Photo: Sue Dixon

MALCOLM TOMLIN

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Above left: Steve Morley having problems with the mower. It was subsequently repaired by John Moody of the Permanent Way Department. Photo: Peter Clarke.

Above right: A colourful display by the water tank. Photo: Steve Morley.

Below: The cattle dock grass has been cut and the bank has been strimmed nearly as far as the lamp room. Below right: A scene reflecting the good work of both ASSET groups: the well strimmed tidy bank and the freshly painted platform seat. Photos: Brian Hirst

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HE Railway and the heritage steam world lost a great and knowledgeable champion when Malcolm Tomlin died suddenly at age 72 in February this year.

Following a full career at Eastleigh Works, Malcolm devoted his remaining years to restoring steam locos. In 1981 he, along with a few others, went with a bag of cash to Barry to buy ex-LSWR Class S15 No.828. Over 11 years, his group returned No.828 to main line steam service. Malcolm then worked on Cheltenham, Lord Nelson and Canadian Pacific, returning the former two to heritage line service.

Malcolm was somebody you could warm to very quickly and his friendly banter was a great part of his personality. He was an accomplished engineer who regarded problems as a challenge rather than a setback. His patience with ‘non-engineering types’ meant many learned much from him. He will be sadly missed by all the No.35005 and No.828 volunteer teams and neither Eastleigh or Ropley will be quite the same again, but, wherever he is now, he will, no doubt, be encouraging us to finish both engines.

Newsline . . Newsline . . Newsline . . Newsline . . Newsline THE 200 CLUBS

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RAWS of the clubs were made on Sunday, 22nd March 2020, with a paid up membership of 136 members in the “A” Club and 117 in the “B” Club.

CLUB “A” First: £150.00 Mr N. C. Hasted – Forrdingbridge Second: £75.00 Mr J. Patrick – Hungerford Third: £25.00 Mrs S. Johnson – Basingstoke Fourth: £25.00 Mr I. Douglas – Alton Fifth: £25.00 Mr M. Robinson – Scunthorpe CLUB “B” First: £150.00 Mr V. J. Freemantle – Salisbury Second: £75.00 Mr G. J. Davis – Tunbridge Wells Third: £25.00 Mr R. Parfett – Southampton Fourth: £25.00 Mr D. B. Bates – Southampton Fifth: £25.00 Mr L. H. Fielding – St Albans

Additional members are urgently required at £12.00 per membership per year, payable in one instalment by cheque or annual banker’s order.

Application forms and more information may be obtained from any of the information offices on the Railway, by email from rgardner2@tiscali.co.uk or by writing to the MHRPS at Alresford Station, Station Road, Alresford, Hampshire, SO24 9JG.

The dog's owner has a good sense of humour !

Photo: Colin Metcalf

BOOK FOR REVIEW

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E have three books and a booklet for review in the next issue of Mid-Hants News up for grabs this time. The incentive for any reviewer is that you get to keep the book once you have reviewed it. If you would like to give us your thoughts on these books, please get in touch, either by email to suedixon@ritel.co.uk or by post to Mid-Hants News, Alresford station, Alresford, Hampshire SO24 9JG – first come, first served.

• Rail Guide 2020

by Colin J. Marsden • Rail Atlas Great Britain and Ireland by S. K.Baker • Railway Atlas Then and Now 3rd Edition

by Paul Smith and Keith Turner • Bideford: the story of a steam locomotive by Clive Fairchild.

Eds

RESCUE MISSION

A RAFFLE TICKETS FOR 2020 PRIZE DRAW

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TEAM of volunteers regularly travel on our passenger services to sell raffle tickets for the annual Grand Draw. These tickets cost £1 for a book of four and there are prizes of £1000, £350, £250 and £100. The draw takes place on 31st October 2020.

YEAR-OLD roe deer was found lying injured beside the line in Alresford’s Sun Lane cutting by members of the PWay team on Saturday 4th July 2020. The poor creature had the honour of travelling from the cutting to Ropley aboard the Wickham trailer where it was collected by Hart Wildlife, a registered charity which runs a wildlife hospital in Medstead.

Sadly, despite the rescue and care given to it by the PWay team, it was later learnt that the deer had to be put down as she had a broken pelvis and internal bleeding.

According to PWay volunteer Brian Hirst, “She certainly wasn’t hit by a train as none ran today and she was dry and so she hadn’t been out in the overnight rain. We think she may have lost her footing and fallen into the cutting from the top, or perhaps been hit by a car in Sun Lane and managed to get over the fence and onto the railway. We in the PWay gang are quite saddened by the outcome”.

With the Covid-19 situation, we cannot sell tickets on the trains as we normally do, but tickets are still available via post. If you would like tickets, please download the postal form on our website.

To find the form:

1. Click on the Urgent Appeal notice on the main page of our website.

2. Scroll down to the Recent News section on the right of the page.

3. Select the ‘Raffle Tickets for 2020 Prize Draw’ item.

4. Click on the link to see the postal form, then either download or print it and fill it in.

Thank you for your support.

MID-HANTS News Copy date for next Mid-Hants News: Saturday, 3rd October 2020

Corina Stevens looks after the young deer aboard the PWay trolley.

Photo: Brian Hirst 13

Mid-Hants Footbridges Bridging the Stations

By Mark Walden

Part 3: MEDSTEAD AND FOUR MARKS

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HE third and final footbridge was the one at Medstead and Four Marks. In the early days of the Railway, a member, who was employed with Portsmouth City Council, was keen for us to have a footbridge that was in storage at Hilsea Lines. The council had obtained the bridge from Cowes on the Isle of Wight, who had it for a scheme at Portcreek Junction that never happened. We viewed the bridge, but, at that time, the Railway was having one of its impecunious periods, so the project did not proceed, despite being given the bridge and we just having to provide the transport.

The history of this bridge is rather interesting. It was built by the Handyside Bridge Company and then erected by the Isle of Wight Central Railway. Although a railway bridge, it carried a footpath over the station site. One side of the bridge was on an embankment and the other side had legs and an iron staircase down to a road.

However, when it came to us, the bridge was just the main girder and three legs!

The other interesting point about Cowes was that some trains arrived by gravity.

The station was at the bottom of an incline so that, when a train arrived at the top of the incline, the engine was detached and retired to a siding and the train descended into Cowes terminus station only under the control of the guard – how would the powers that be view that nowadays? But it is interesting to know that gravity trains once ran under our bridge!

In the Autumn of 1982, the project started with the delivery of the main girder and three legs to Medstead. This was also the time when the Railway was opening up to Medstead and our architect George Pitman was preparing the working drawings. The chosen site was really Hobson’s choice from our point of view, as it was to be where a footpath had traditionally crossed the track.

The land on either side of the track was a public right of way, although where the path crossed Railway land, it was not. Locals got hold of the idea that we were going to shut the footpath and divert the footpath over the new bridge which was certainly not our intention. This led to a lot of correspondence between the Railway, local councils and the Hampshire Rights of Way Officer, but it was all sorted out eventually so, with the main girder in the yard, work started on shot blasting, painting and decking.

As so often happens with a lot of our jobs, we were asked to divert our efforts to the erection of the Uckfield bridge at Alresford, but this allowed the legal ramblings to take their course.

Work was then restarted and this initially involved manually digging the holes for the foundations on each side of the line, only to discover that on the Down side, a four inch cast iron watermain and an 1100 Volt 14

Top: Bridge girder about to be lifted out of the long grass at Hilsea Lines. Above: Bridge piers built and ready to receive the girder. Below: Steam crane lifting girder into position.

Bottom: Dennis Grace fabricating the stair side girders.

electrical main would pass straight through the concrete foundation. We decided, with the owners of the two services, to route them directly through the foundation by means of plastic sleeves cast into the concrete and leave them undisturbed and easy to remove. With suitable reinforced concrete foundations designed and cast on both sides, the brickwork could then be built by our ‘brickie’ Peter Thorne, with bricks supplied by Malcolm Paul, our then, PLC Chairman. Meanwhile we had the main girder shot blasted, painted, and decked out and the upper stairs fitted. The bridge did not come with bed stones so we made a mould and cast and fitted four concrete bed stones.

From the beginning of the project we were very aware that we would have to build two lower staircases for the bridge from scratch. At the time, we had no workshop, except the little wooden goods shed on the platform which we were using as a store.

We cleared a space and, with the design to hand and Dennis Grace and Jack Stanford itching to go, we were off. It had been agreed beforehand, with the Station Master, that the welding and fabricating could be done actually on the platform when trains were not running, and the platform left clear when passengers were about. All this worked well and, in fact, the rusty mark on the platform could still be seen many years afterwards and was the only sign that we had been there.

The main girder and piers were now ready so, during a quiet period, the steam crane came and lifted the pieces into position.

Luckily, we had discovered before lifting, that the bridge was of different heights on each side, so the pier height had to be adjusted accordingly to conform to the loading gauge.

Meanwhile Dennis, assisted by Jack, had completed the fabrication of the stairs so that they looked very Southern Railway, and only painting needed to be done. With the foundations completed, the side members of the stairs were lifted into position and fixed, the wooden steps fitted together and the appropriate lighting added.

With the bridge itself now complete, it was necessary to make gates and fix fencing and renew the foot crossing. All this had to be completed with the public and our passengers still being able to cross the railway safely.

The source of the materials we used had been collected from other railway sites: the main girder came from Cowes via Hilsea Lines, the fencing came from Southampton Airport station, the bricks for the fence wall from Privett Signal box, the paviour bricks on the two landings from North Tawton and the bridge iron treads from London Transport, so it is quite a hybrid bridge!

It was now necessary to get Railway Inspectorate approval before the public could use it. This process had changed since the other two Railway bridges had been completed and had to be physically inspected by HMRI. But now we had to complete a Certificate of Completion which was duly accepted and we were able to

officially open the bridge on 14th October 1996.

This bridge, in common with many other structures on the Railway, has had to look as if it has always been there and I think the Building Dept have achieved that.

As a footnote, we were very pleased to be awarded a Certificate of Excellence in the 1997 National Railway Heritage Awards for the bridge.

Above: The opening of the bridge by Councillor Mike Hancock Leader of Hampshire County Council on 14th October 1996.

Below right: The finished bridge on the Upside.

Below left: Bridge girder complete and ready for lifting. All Medstead Photos: Jack Stanford Bottom: The bridge in its original position at Cowes station in April 1965 behind O2 Class No.33 Bembridge. Photo: Tony Storey

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Flying Scotsman Top left: Passing Northside Lane PWay Hut on 7th March. Photo: Steve Morley Below left: Climbing the gradient from Ropley on 1st March. Photo: John Barrowdale Top right: On Wanders Curve - late afternoon on the 1st March. Photo: Tony Storey Right: Admired by a large throng of visitors at Alresford on 8th March. Photo: Colin Lee Below: Signalman Kieran Wilding exchanges single line tokens with Driver Neil Mackenzie and Fireman Ben Chapman on 8th March.

Photo: George Streather Below right: Surging through a heavy shower of rain on 8th March. Photo: Julian Clark

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Above: Operations Manager Richard Bentley and Fireman Phil Hathaway pose for the camera before Nos. 60103 and 41312 head for Alresford on 7th March 2020. Photo: Dave Ryding Left: Driver Richard Faithfull, Fireman Dave Zehetmayr on No.60103 with Jack Johnson, the loco’s representative, seen at Alton on 14th February 2020.

Photo: Dave Ryding Below: Alan Titchmarsh on Cheltenham with Driver Simon Baggott and Fireman Ollie Egan at Ropley on 8th March. Photo: Colin Lee

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My Day On The Watercress Line

By Alan Titchmarsh

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VER since I was a small boy…I guess you know what’s coming…ever since I was a small boy I dreamed of being an engine driver. And when I was a small boy all railway trains were powered by steam.

Not until I was nineteen did the last ones disappear on the Ilkley to Leeds City line in Yorkshire. There is no need for me to say why I was so captivated, for if you are reading this you will know the reason – the magic, the sight, the sounds, the smells and the sheer personality of those locomotives gave them characters that no modern diesel or electric models can match.

At the age of eight or nine, along with mum and dad and my younger sister, we made a trip to London by rail. I had one of those cardboard books that young children are given, showing various forms of transport: a car, a lorry, a plane, a ship and a steam engine – in this case a sky-blue locomotive called ‘Mallard’. How I loved that image. And when my dad said that it ran on the Leeds to King’s Cross line I was thrilled beyond measure by the possibility that I might actually see it in the flesh.

All the way down – a five hour journey in those days – my nose was pressed against the railway carriage window in the hopes of seeing ‘Mallard’. Nearer and nearer to London we travelled but not a glimpse did I catch of my beloved engine. “Never mind”, said dad, as we staggered from the carriage with our cardboard suitcases. “Maybe next time”. Though we both knew it unlikely there would be a ‘next time’ since trips to London were costly and dad was only a plumber.

We heaved our luggage along the platform towards the ticket collector at the barrier and…well… we found that ‘Mallard’ had been pulling us all the way from Leeds. I don’t think I could speak; I just looked up at this towering beast panting and hissing after its 200-mile journey. The memory still brings a tear to my eye.

So you can imagine my delight at being asked, a few years ago, to become a patron of the Mid-Hants Railway – The Watercress Line. We have lived in Hampshire now for almost forty years (doing missionary work I tell my Yorkshire friends) and the whistle of the steam trains can be heard quite clearly from my garden. The sounds still make me smile as I potter in my flowerbeds and borders.

The arrival of Flying Scotsman to reopen the line (was it really closed for only a year?

It seemed so much longer…) was an event I looked forward to with child-like anticipation.

I have an old car – a 1929 4½-litre Bentley – and cherish the story of a Bentley of similar vintage racing ‘The Blue Train’ from the South of France to London in 1930. Wolf Barnato was the driver, and he had a wager that he could leave Cannes at the same

time as the train and arrive at his club in London before The Blue Train could reach Calais. He won the race – by four minutes – and the relationship between Bentley cars and steam trains has forever been lodged in my mind. I asked Jules Johns, the Marketing Manager of the Watercress Line, if there was any chance of me parking my Bentley alongside The Flying Scotsman for a photo. Not only did Jules manage to arrange this (I now treasure a framed photo of the encounter) but she also invited me to be on the first train to reopen the line and cross the new Butts Bridge, to unveil a brass plaque on Alton station to commemorate the event, and to have a day on the footplate of Cheltenham on Sunday 8th March. All my Christmases had come at once.

I turned up at crack of dawn (well, to be fair, 7.30 am. Crack of dawn for the crew was about 4.30 am) to be greeted by Simon Baggott, the driver, and his fireman. Well… what a day we had. Sunshine and heavy showers alternated as we plied our route between Alresford and Alton between 8.30 am and 2 pm. I learned how to fire the boiler (when as a gardener you have been a right-hand spade/shovel wielder it is quite hard to change to being a left-handed operative and to master the single swivel without moving your feet) and where to put the coal (to left and right of the firebox). I enjoyed the best bacon sandwich I have tasted since the one I demolished at 6 am in the old Covent Garden market as a teenager, and along with my workmates I drank copious cups of tea “You’ve got to keep up the liquid intake” they insisted.

At around 2 pm I was asked “Do you fancy a spell on the footplate of Flying Scotsman?”. And so, for the rest of the afternoon I had the delight of being assistant fireman on the most famous engine in the world, driven by the capable Jack, assisted

by Phil – two of the brightest, kindest twentysomethings I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Fancy being in charge of ‘The Flying Scotsman’ in your twenties!

The day ended in a haze of thank-yous, of coal dust, of cups of tea, bacon sandwiches, smiles and handshakes and of good wishes for the engine’s journey back up north in a couple of days’ time. What remains are memories of the crowded platforms, the joyful atmosphere of the Watercress Line’s reopening, the camaraderie of the footplate on both engines, my photos, and my bit of coal that escaped the boiler of Flying Scotsman. It sits beside me as I write.

Sometimes it takes many years for dreams to come true. In this case, it was well worth the wait.

Above: Alan takes the shovel during his footplate experience on Cheltenham. Photo: Simon Baggott Below: Alan pulls up next to Flying Scotsman in his vintage Bentley. Photo: Jules Johns

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Around the Yards Lifting Tackle (or not!)

By Colin Chambers and Les White

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F course, since March we have been off-site, so there is obviously nothing to report. However, perhaps Lifting Tackle could be a little different this time. I (LW) thought a few tales of when I maintained the cranes while in BR service might be of interest.

I was made redundant from the Eastleigh Loco Works in 1966 and transferred to the (little known) Outdoor Machinery Department (ODM), also in Eastleigh. One of my first jobs was actually on Basingstoke shed coaling crane, albeit electric!

I soon got involved with PWay cranes, both steam and diesel, with steam being withdrawn in 1981. After that, there were still diesels until their maintenance was transferred to another department in the latter 1980s.

Most of our work was carried out on a regular monthly maintenance cycle and, of course, breakdowns in the Eastleigh Pre-assembly Depot. However, occasionally, there would be failures out on the road, to which the ODM would attend.

Perhaps a few words about the ODM at this point. We were only a small, local depot covering the area south of Basingstoke, Salisbury, Havant to Weymouth, although this area was extended in later years. The Eastleighbased staff consisted of three general and two motor fitters, with three or four electricians. We also had various ‘mates’ or assistants plus apprentices. lt was custom and practice for us fitters to specialise in a particular field and mine became cranes.

As stated earlier, the ODM was required to sort out errant cranes at engineering sites, usually on a Sunday, so perhaps some incidents might be worth recalling.

Soon after I started on the ODM, we were called to Bournemouth MPD, who reported that steam crane DS 1997 had injector failure. Apart from the obvious danger of low water level, the engineering work was being disrupted. As it transpired, the problem was resolved before we arrived (no mobile phones in those days!). Most of the Taylor Hubbard cranes had one injector, which overflowed back into the tank, which made little difference to its water temperature, but the feed pump could be used in case of difficulty. However, DS 1997 had two injectors only and, somehow, the driver had allowed the injector to overflow sufficiently to make the water too hot to feed. Before we arrived, someone had had the sense to refill the tank with cold water, problem solved!

There were, though, very few steam crane failures during engineering work as I recall.

One such was where the counterweight arm 20

broke off the reversing weigh shaft, which made operation virtually impossible, but there was little we could do on-site. Another involved a Grafton crane which ran a ‘hot box’ at Micheldever. Unfortunately, Graftons were prone to this as their bearings were 9 inch x 5 inch rather than the 10 inch x 6 inch of the Taylor Hubbards for virtually the same axle loading. Sometimes, no doubt, not helped if the 25 mph maximum speed intrain formation was not adhered to! Not a lot of fun at Micheldever in November jacking the crane up to get the wheelset out!

Most call-outs to diesels were usually in darkness, such as one Saturday evening when a crane had suffered engine failure

near the closed Wellworthy Halt on the Lymngton branch. The engineering job involved the turning of rail lengths to even out the wear on the curved track.

So, what was wrong? Apparently, the driver had topped-up the fuel tank from a 45-gallon drum kept on the match truck but, unfortunately, the drum also contained a large amount of rainwater. Fortunately, the engine hadn’t suffered any damage and, once drained of water; restarted and ran satisfactorily. Mind you, walking along the track to find the crane in the New Forest darkness was not to be recommended!

One quiet Sunday afternoon, almost knocking-off time, the phone rings.

“Afternoon, ODM here, what is the matter?”

“Diesel Depot here, a crane has run away and hit the footbridge at Hamble station, but as it is not derailed, it is all yours. Best of luck!” On arrival, there was the crane, a Taylor Hubbard 15-Ton, with its jib dangling over backwards. Obviously, another crane would be required and had been arranged by the PWay manager, but what had actually happened? The crane had arrived

on-site in train formation and the driver and his mate had started to get it ready to work, raising the jib. The next operation (by whom?) uncoupled the crane and its match wagon from the train without ensuring some handbrakes had been applied or the crane travel gear had been engaged. With a falling gradient (about 1in100) towards said footbridge, and a roller bearing fitted crane, the inevitable happened. Now it might have been prevented if the crane handbrake had been applied when it started running away, but as I found out with the unimpressed local MOM in attendance, an unauthorised modification had been made to the brake wheel. A simple chain had been applied to PREVENT the brake from applying itself whilst in transit and it was on the driver’s blind side! This was Woking’s PAD crane so Eastleigh Depot was not guilty. It was about midnight before Eastleigh’s own 15-Ton crane came to our rescue, as it had to first finish another job.

I booked off something like 6.30 Monday morning!

Generally, the Taylor Hubbards were pretty reliable but one teething fault gave me an early Sunday morning call-out. It had been working near Laverstock Junction (Salisbury) and had finished, but the driver could not disengage its travel gear, so, consequently, it could not be towed. To disengage the driven axle from the traction motor, it was just the case of sliding a gearwheel along its shaft, much the same as a steam crane; however, there was one minor difference. The design office had incorporated a leather gaiter over the shaft to keep it clean but, unfortunately, it had the opposite effect. This gaiter had partially broken and jammed in the keyways.

With a crowbar and verbal encouragement, the gear was freed and fully disengaged and I was home for breakfast, somewhat dirty.

The gaiters were subsequently removed completely.

Changing the subject, the latest issue of Branch Line News of the Branch Line Society overviews the development of early miniature railways, i.e., track gauge 7¼ inch to 15 inch. What has this to do with the MHR? The first such recorded railway dates from 1843 at Alresford and belonged to Lord Robert Rodney, closing upon his death in 1864.

Unfortunately, few details are known, not even the track gauge or its motive power, but certainly not diesel or electric! Further information would be gratefully received.

One minor typo in the last Lifting Tackle: in column one near the bottom, it is NOT five feet but 5 inches!

Above: No.DS 414 10 ton capacity Taylor Hubbard Civil Engineers steam crane, originally based at Eastleigh, and seen here in Ropley yard in 1987. Photo: John Barrowdale

The Mid-Hants Wagon Group

by Chris Le Corney

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AGON Group works stopped after 21st March, and there was not really much we could do off-site. After the Covid19 break we were able to restart, with appropriate precautions, from Wednesday 19th June onwards.

Works identified to be done from Fitness To Run testing carried out in January are being completed on several wagons at Medstead. These include such things as adjusting/changing brake blocks, changing over defective OLEO buffers, excess play on drawbar hook, tightening loose bolts.

Three vans have come up from the upper yard at Ropley to Alton, M 517317, B 772824, and B 760337. By lockdown the first had had timber repairs, sanding down, filling, priming, and is in undercoat stage. B 772824 has had a bauxite topcoat applied, and B 760337 is in primer stage.

Richard Bentley had the opportunity to do some further shunting in lockdown, with BR Meat van B 870073 moved up from Alresford to Alton. The owner is keen to make a start on it …

Sales of our 2020 model van ‘G&E Hall’s Brewery Alton’ are going well. Details of how to get these and also replicas of our actual running wagons were in the last Mid-Hants News.

Chris Le Corney

Top: Jamie topcoats north side of B 726064 on 13th June 2020. Photo: Dillon James Centre: LMS Vanfit M 517317 largely in undercoat at Alton March 2020.

Photo: Chris Le Corney Above: Preparing to change OLEO buffers on Palvan B 782114 at Medstead 13th June 2020.

Photo: Dillon James

Canadian Pacific No.35005

by The CanPac Team

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T the time of lockdown, preparation had been made, the crane booked, to lift the final firebox section into place for welding, but that window of opportunity was lost. As a further consequence of the lockdown, sheds at Ropley had been emptied to allow the safe storage of the Watercress fleet. So both the CanPac boiler and tender have spent a number of weeks out in the yard exposed to the elements. As the Railway slowly comes to life again, many of the locos are now back out in daylight, and our boiler is now again in the shop where it can be worked on. The next boiler task, once welding is complete, is the small matter of 3000 stays!

At the other end of the Ropley yard, the tender is also back inside and, as can be seen, work has started on fitting the dragbox plate and the stiffener plates. Orders have been placed for new tender horn guides. Most of the remaining elements of the valve and cylinder motion are complete. These will be moved to Eastleigh for fitting at the earliest opportunity.

Below: CanPac boiler sunbathing in the yard at Ropley, May 2020. The boiler on the right is from Swanage.

Photo: Andrew Woodroffe Bottom: Trial fitting the dragbox plate to the inverted tender, June 2020.

Photo: Steve Kilford

The Traffic Division of the Operations Department by Stewart Legg

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T the outset of the Covid-19 Lockdown, I set my team the challenge of maintaining a two way flow of contact with our staff. Since we have over 200, this was a big ask. However, I am pleased to say that this challenge has been taken up and the various teams learned about telephone conferences, Zoom and various other technical aids to maintaining contact.

These methods are also being looked at to see if we can conduct rules retesting in certain grades, as the longer the shutdown goes on, the more people whose competencies lapse. The Guards Inspectorate run a quiz every other week and there are a selection of other online activities that staff can involve themselves in.

The Line Managers have all done much work to keep in touch with their teams and I am very proud of them and their efforts. The Division place great score in looking after our people and collectively we are all working hard to do just that.

Alongside that, Frank Taylor and I have just completely revised the arrangements for training and assessing Train Despatch for Station Staff and introduced new training to deal with Platform/Train Interface. This is a new topic which is designed to train our staff to consider the key risk area to passengers, namely getting on and off the train. It sounds simple but industry figures show that this activity is the one which has the most risk. New training elements have been drafted and we have been lucky enough to have had some feedback from the Railway Inspector (and a good friend of the MHR), Paul Thomas, who was Chairman of the Railway Safety Standards Board when I first met him. The input from these sources has helped us future proof these new elements (we hope) for some time ahead and their input is much appreciated.

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Steve Morley

Photocharters

By Steve Morley

I was struggling to get to sleep the other day, so reached for my favourite book, the Mid-Hants English Dictionary, and happened upon a few definitions new to me, namely: Photocharter n. Foe-toe-chah-ter – an event where several dozen photographers gather in bright orange clothing to stand or sit in line in various positions around the Railway and take pictures and video of trains, moving or static, and people on or about said trains.

Photocharter Organiser n. Foe-toe-chah-ter Ore-gan-eye-sir – a deluded soul who thinks it is a good idea to run a photocharter and imagines they can manage and direct several dozen photographers each in pursuit of the ‘Master shot’. They can sometimes be found hiding in the yard at M&4M or pretending to be invisible in the head shunt at Alresford Reader, I am one of the latter! Dave Ryding of the Wagon group, and no stranger to M&4M station and yard, and I (Stephen Morley of ASSET down in Alresford and also occasionally to be seen in the kitchen of the Watercress Belle, gazing wistfully and sweatily out of the window at the attractions of Medstead and wondering whether it is time to go home yet) combine our meagre talents to ‘run’ Mad Hants Charters – whose aim is to raise some money for the MidHants by organising photocharters with a unique Mid-Hants flavour.

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For those of you wondering what a photo charter actually is, here is a brief, preCOVID description. Post COVID charters will still happen but will be socially distanced and probably involve less actual travel by train!

By hiring a loco and consist for a day, a small group of photographers can amuse themselves by taking photographs in a much more controlled environment than just turning up and waiting for a train to go past.

Key elements such as a the actual consist of the train, whether that is passenger or freight, are known and likely to be more unusual, and possibly authentic, than those running on public services. Locations not accessible to the public can be used, both on stations and lineside. The train can perform multiple “runpasts” to enable photographers to vary their viewpoints, use different lenses, etc, and also to make the most of the light – which can and does

vary from minute to minute. In addition, photography can be at times when trains are not normally running, early morning, evening or even night (a speciality of Mad Hants Charters) Photographers will form a gallery by the lineside or on the platform before the train is called past. This obviously requires good communication between the organisers and stewards and the train guard and crew. Safety is paramount, with suitable ‘gallery’ locations pre-checked out to ensure there is enough space and the ground is free from trip hazards. In addition, the movement of participants is controlled to ensure everyone remains a safe distance from moving trains (and in the future from each other!) and that noone wanders around whilst the train is in motion. You may have spotted such groups of orange clad photographers as you drive up the A31 or pass by one of our stations.

There may be sometimes the possibility of confusing photographers with various workers on the Railway such as the PWay gang, but the photographers can normally be told apart by the fact that they aren’t leaning on shovels drinking tea.

The Mid-Hants offers some great locations for charters, including Medstead and Four Marks station, which, with its well-kept and attractive buildings and platforms, is a prime site, as is the sweeping embankment at Wanders Curve (for those of you who don’t know, it is the line above the A31 between Rookwood Lane and Grosvenor bridge) The efforts of lineside clearers and the PWay gang with the flail are much appreciated by charter participants as well as allowing normal passengers to enjoy the Hampshire

countryside. There are also some good views around Bishop’s Sutton with PWay hut and the ‘single ash’ being favourite spots, Chawton Woods (including Baigents Copse).

Some Charter organisers, such as Timelines Events, like to include re-enactors from various decades, and Dave and I recently ran a Mad Hants Charters ULS loco No.506 and some authentic 1940’s reenactors, a mixture of professional models, experienced re-enactors (of the sort seen at War on the Line and Christmas Leave) as well as some new to this experience and some MHR platform staff, at least one of whom leads a double life as a member of a 1940s platoon of the Home Guard.

All this enables photographers to practice their skills and capture some unique images,

bringing in revenue to the Railway and generating good-will and positive publicity.

As the Railway re-opens in the post-Covid era, things will be different, but with careful planning, photocharters will still be a part of life on the Railway and the chance to enjoy a different view of our trains and people.

Above opposite: The Gallery at Ropley on 16th November 2019. Photo: Tony Storey Opposite: Battle of Britain Class No. 34081 92 Squadron Passing Northside Lane on 3rd July 2017. Photo: Dave Ryding Top: Ivatt Tank No. 41312 on Wanders Curve on 3rd November 2018. Photo: Steve Morley Above: Re-enactors on the platform at Medstead and Four Marks on 16th November 2019. Photo: Steve Morley 23

S&T

30 Years Behind the Levers PART TWO by Clive Jackson

Early Years as a Signalman I was accepted onto the 1988/89 Winter Signalling course, and managed to blag a few unofficial training sessions in late 1988 at Alresford box. A couple of these were with the late Doug Hannah, who, I gather, managed to continue to offer his services signalling on the MHR until the ripe old age of 90.

By the end of 1989, I had passed out in all three boxes, which, even for those days, was probably quite unusual for someone with no previous signalling experience. The most memorable event was in Medstead box, where I had District Inspector Jim Russell as mentor for my first training session. Around halfway through the day, he said something like “You are quite happy working this box aren’t you?” to which I replied in the affirmative. “Well, in that case, I will pass you out” he said.

In those days, signalling at the MHR was somewhat more straightforward than it is today. There was no sequential locking and no track circuits anywhere on the Railway, the signalling layouts were much more basic, back locks were unheard of and the only levers with electric front locks were the section signals.

Above: Duty Signalman Tony Storey checks the instruments in Ropley Signal Box on 11th July 2015. Photo: Dave Ryding Below: Ropley Signalman Tony Johnson exchanging single line tokens with the Ivatt tank's crew. Photo: Tony Storey

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Alresford As described above, by the time I started working Alresford box, most Down trains had to be brought into Platform 1. Under these conditions, the ex-BR signalling was of much less use. Trains had to be brought in using the shunt signal, and the Down Home signal, which read only into Platform 2, was rarely used. Similarly, the Down Starter and Up Home signal were of limited use, and a shunting bell was provided for communication between the country end of the station and the box, with hand signalled movements at that end being the order of the day. While the LSWR type 1 signal boxes we have on the MHR are delightful structures, one of their disadvantages is that the operating floor is a little low to give the signalman good visibility over rolling stock. As a result, it is impossible for the signalman to judge accurately whether a loco moving away from a train in Platform 1 is clear of the country end points. This was a problem in the early days and will remain a problem until the country end points are track circuited.

A shunt signal under a fixed stop signal was provided for signalling the engine onto the single line as it ran round through Platform 2. With no Advance Starter, a token had to be withdrawn to protect the engine as it ventured onto the single line during its run round. The shunt from Platform 2, the Up Starter and the Up Shunt Ahead signal, were all locked electrically to the token instrument. A locked/free indicator on the block shelf showed if a ‘free’ was available to work either of the two shunt signals, while a similar indication was provided for the Up Starter by means of a Sykes lock and block instrument. A two-position rotary switch was provided on the block shelf to enable the signalman to select whether he wanted the ‘free’ on the section signal or one of the shunt signals and this switch

was notorious amongst the Mid-Hants signalling community, as it was very easy to leave it in the wrong position, so that one didn’t get a release on the required signal, resulting in the need to recycle the token with the switch in the right position!

These features would have all been add-ons when the Tyer’s Electric Key Token (EKT) instruments were installed. In the initial days of heritage operation, Tyer’s earlier No. 6 Tablet instruments were installed on the Alresford/Ropley section. However, these were found unreliable, so they were only used for sending bell codes, and the section was operated by Staff and Ticket. Only recently have I had the doubtful privilege of operating No. 6 instruments, the operating procedure of which is considerably more fraught than that of EKT machines.

During my time as a Mid-Hants Railway signalman, the Alresford/Ropley and Ropley/Medstead sections have been operated using EKT machines. Until the comparatively recent introduction of the colour light signalling system at Alton, the Medstead/Alton section was normally operated as a one engine in steam section, being temporarily upgraded to staff and ticket during galas and other events where more than one train was required at Alton.

Now this section is also controlled by EKT machines.

The first improvement at Alresford was the introduction of the ex-Swanwick Gallows signal to replace the original Down Home signal. At last, all Down trains could once more be signalled into Alresford using a proper running signal.

A major re-signalling project saw the country end of the station disconnected from the box for some considerable time. During the closed season, the track layout was modified to its current arrangement, with the Up (Watercress Belle) siding points being positioned at the end of the

Platform 1 road and worked from the box.

The points and signals to and from this siding were put on the levers originally used to access the Goods Yard, although a facing point lock (FPL) was now required on the points, due to the need for passenger trains to run over these points in the facing (diverging) direction. As a result of this work, there were, at this stage, two threeposition levers operational in Alresford box.

Three-position levers were at one time quite common on the ex-LSWR lines, as many of the LSWR signal boxes were quite small and could not accommodate frames large enough for even many small stations when the requirements for signalling shunting moves became more rigorous. As a result, the entire Southern Railway adopted the practice of shunt dummies reading in more than one direction, reducing the number of signals required, but further lever saving methods were often required in ex-LSWR boxes, of which the three-position lever was the most common. In this arrangement, one lever typically operates two opposing shunt signals with both signals being ‘on’ when the lever is in the middle position.

Under further re-signalling work at Alresford, the three-position lever controlling the Up siding dummies was done away with, so it would appear that lever number 5 at Alresford is unique, being the only example of this arrangement still used to control trains, although other examples exist in demonstration boxes.

Operationally, the most important aspects of the re-signalling were the provision of bi-directional signalling on both platforms and the introduction of Outer Home and Advance Starting signals, as befits Alresford’s current role as a terminus. Terminating trains could now be properly signalled into and out of both platforms, and shunting moves within the Advance Starter no longer required an Alresford/Ropley token to be withdrawn and could thus be undertaken even while a train was approaching from Ropley.

These arrangements greatly improve the operational flexibility at this station for busy events such as galas and Thomas.

As part of the project, the station was signalled throughout with LSWR pattern lower quadrant running signals mounted on lattice posts, enhancing the heritage aspects of the MHR. The Railway also gained its first motor-worked semaphore, the lower quadrant Alresford Down Distant signal. This signal does not have its own lever, but automatically clears for trains bound for Platform 1 when the outer and inner home signals are cleared. In the course of the above works, Alresford lever frame gradually grew from 16 levers to 18.

Lever 18 is a spare, but all the others are in use.

Ropley The extension of the Railway to Medstead necessitated the basic signalling arrangement situated at the country end of Ropley station to be replaced by a system

suitable for crossing trains. This was implemented by means of a knee frame with 14 operational levers located in a similar position to the original Type I box, close to the London end of the Down platform.

Home and Starting signals were provided in both directions, with the Down Home signal positioned beyond Bighton Hill bridge to give good sighting. This necessitated the provision of a running shunt signal – the only one on the Railway – at the approach to the London end loop points. A further four shunt signals were provided to give full flexibility for shunting in the station area and in and out of the yard.

Initially, the signalman’s accommodation was in a wooden PWay hut with inadequate head room, which must have been uncomfortable to say the least. This was improved using the structure currently providing accommodation for platform staff operating Blake’s crossing. Although, to the uninitiated, this looks much like a garden shed, it is actually an ex-LSWR building and is, in fact, quite substantially constructed. Although this provided greatly superior accommodation for the signalman, token instruments and train register, the frame itself was still outside. By the time I started training at Ropley the situation had improved by means of a basic structure which provided a roof and back wall, but, otherwise, the signalman was still exposed to the elements while working the frame.

Sometime later, when it became apparent that there would be a delay in moving to the ex-Netley box, the accommodation was improved with the entire frame enclosed.

Arguably, at this stage, Ropley box was the warmest of our signal boxes to work during the winter.

When we moved to the current style of Santa Specials, with the man himself distributing presents throughout the train, all the three boxes still had their original (for preservation days) basic signalling layouts.

With the Alresford train terminating at Medstead and the Alton train terminating at Ropley, the Ropley signalman was kept quite busy releasing tokens for running round engines at all three boxes. The net effect was that for a comparatively infrequent train service, the number of train register entries at Ropley grew out of proportion. Currently, it is only normally necessary for Medstead signalmen to have to obtain a token for shunting purposes.

The signalling in the ex-Netley box was commissioned in two phases. With a few minor changes, phase one basically controlled the signalling already provided.

Phase 2 saw the system as it currently exists, with Outer Homes and Advance Starters at each end of the station and both platform roads being signalled bidirectionally. One can easily argue that Ropley is over-signalled, but the installation comes into its own during Thomas and galas, when it facilitates busy and complex traffic patterns at this station.

To be continued

Signalling & Telecoms Report

by Chris Hunt

A

S with all other departments on the Railway, the lockdown has meant that most of the S&T team have had to go into self-isolation. In the first week of lockdown some of the signal engineering staff carried out essential security works at all the signal boxes and also fitted a camera system on Medstead and Four Marks Station for added security. Two or three key staff have been carrying out essential fault rectification, both on the signalling side and in the telecoms department. This activity had to continue throughout the period, otherwise further damage could have resulted to the various systems if the faults were left to carry on. In fact, several signalling faults would have prevented any rail movements, while the telecoms faults restricted vital call circuits from being used by those still working on and off the railway.

This period of lockdown has enabled a lot of jobs that have been on ‘the back burner’ to be completed at home. Such tasks included bringing up-to-date the wiring diagrams and records for the Alresford signalling, the writing of MHR signalling standards, and other design drawings for the new signalling at Medstead.

Unfortunately, due to some vandalism at Alton, the decision was made to temporarily board up the signal box windows hopefully to stop any further vandalism. With almost no personnel on the Railway, and with the vandalism at Alton, the decision was taken to board up the other three signal boxes as well. Rectification of a cable defect at Medstead was completed as no trains were running, and some other minor essential work on the Wickham Trolley was undertaken to enable its continued use.

The running of a diesel locomotive for inspection of the line has kept the track circuits, and the auto-signalling at Alton, working during this period.

On one of these trips, shunt signal AT 104 at Alton did not operate and, after it was reported, our S&T Chief went out to rectify the fault with his assistant, the wife. The actual fault causing AT104 not to show a ‘proceed’ aspect was that AT23B points had failed to complete their movement to the reverse position.

In the meantime, the signalling and telecoms infrastructure are being looked after and maintained so that on our return to operation, all the systems will be safe and behave as normal.

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Volunteering

My life with the Mid-Hants Railway

By David Mead

It was way back in 1973 when outside the Gaumont (now the Mayflower) in Southampton, I met Charles Lewis, a businessman who knew me from various railway exploits and main line rail tours which I had organised. I recall our conversation well, as it was the start of my involvement. The idea mooted was to save the Winchester to Alton Railway service which was to close 5th February that year.

Fortunately, there were other, like-minded, gentlemen and the ‘Winchester and Alton Railway Company’ was formed to save the whole railway by means of a share issue.

The legal matters sorted, a prospectus was issued, inviting shares in the new company.

At that time, I was working for Ordnance Survey and was able to drum up a lot of support from the employees who purchased shares. I was also able to get support from my railway society contacts. However, 1973-74 were challenging years, due to the oil crisis and coal mining strikes, resulting in electricity shortages and the 3-day work week, so money was tight. Railways were a low priority, so the share issue never raised enough to secure the retention of the Winchester to Alton railway. However, all was not lost and, although investors lost 10% of their stake due to legal costs, a new prospectus was produced to purchase the railway between Alresford and Alton and to run it as a heritage line. The investors were invited to allow their stake to be retained and there was enough to pay British Rail to retain the route of the line. Needless to say, the Winchester to Alresford track had been lifted along with Alton to Ropley.

I paid several visits to Alresford as, gradually, locomotives and rolling stock were acquired. I recall not everyone wanted the railway, especially some of the residents who wanted Alresford to remain a sleepy country market town, and there were several, fairly confrontational, meetings held in the town. However, I was at the reopening in April 1977.

I joined British Rail as an employee in 1978 as a booking clerk. I enjoyed the

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David Mead. A volunteer for over 40 years work and, as I was professionally trained in ticketing and railway accountancy, I joined the volunteer booking office team under the leadership of a gentleman named Malvern Buck, who was the first clerk on the Railway.

Tickets were Edmondson card stock. At first, of course we had a few issues, having just one station. The booking office was just one original window with gas lighting in the entrance hall. There was a connecting door to the old Parcels office, which then became a supervisor’s room.

I volunteered mainly at weekends and, by 1983, track had been re-laid to Medstead and Four Marks station. I was still in contact with Charles Lewis and a film unit from Southampton University had been commissioned to make a film called ‘Over the Alps’. The theme was of a commuter to London, played by Charles Lewis, who wasn’t able to travel in the late 70s, due to the Railway being closed. The film unit followed the re-laying of the track and eventually, the reopening of Medstead and Four Marks. I was the booking clerk and was able to sell Charles Lewis a ticket so he could, once again, travel by train. The booking office scene took a whole morning to film. (The scene was towards the end of the film.) I often worked the booking office at Medstead, and we acquired more card stock to cover the extra station. I remember that we were selling First Class tickets at that time which added to the stock in the ticket rack. We also had a ticket office at Ropley where I volunteered at. Ropley was fairly quiet and, during rebuilding work, we had only a hand-built office from which to work.

At Alresford, the booking office was altered, and a second window was built.

This was useful on busy days when two booking clerks were required. I also became a trainer and tested new recruits. By 1985, the whole 10 miles to Alton had been completed and this required more ticket card stock. We have been fortunate that the West Somerset Railway (WSR) at Dunster had an old British Rail printing press, and they were able to supply us with Edmondson card ticket stock. The First Class tickets were withdrawn and the Alton Return ticket became an All Day ticket, which enabled

the visitors to break their journeys and also to have more than one round trip when the service was available. Intermediate stock was also used for tickets to Medstead & Four Marks and Ropley, but when the whole line had been reinstated, these tickets were not used so much. There were varying priced tickets which had to be maintained, including Child discounts and Members tickets. Paper carbonised tickets were used for large groups travelling together and there was a Travelling Ticket Inspector’s pad for journeys where there was no card ticket.

All the ticket card stock had to be carefully split into blocks of 100 so they fitted into the ticket racks. All new stock was recorded in a Ticket Control folder.

For those who were not familiar with the historic side of the tickets, Thomas Edmondson invented the railway ticket system in 1842, for recording the payment of railway fares and accounting for the revenue raised. The Mid-Hants Railway uses the same system. At Alton station, ticket sales, for many years, were done on a commission basis by South West Trains, until such time when sales were eventually done from the railway shop. From then on, I became responsible for providing the ticket stocks. The original railway date presses are used at Alresford, Ropley and Medstead & Four Marks stations. However, the ribbons are now hard to obtain.

During a three month period in 1997, when I was made redundant from British Rail (South West Trains), I worked in the Reservations office under the guidance of MD, Margaret Parker. This involved handling advanced bookings, lunch and meal train bookings, party traffic and general correspondence. It was an insight for me to learn that side of the business.

On special event days, when the main attractions were based at Ropley, we obtained a mobile ticket office and a mobile rack was made. I am responsible also for ensuring enough tickets are set aside for these events, such as Day out with Thomas and Galas. The years have progressed, and I have seen many changes to the business which has grown and grown. The future of obtaining card tickets is going to be difficult, as the WSR has stopped printing due to non-availability of card compatible with their printing press.

My fellow clerks and I must also ensure all the ticket numbers have been taken and recorded in the Continuity Control Book, that the float was correct, that all vouchers and third party takings have been correctly recorded and that the day’s takings balance with the tickets sold. I also have to be a good communicator with the public, as the booking office is often the first contact with the Railway and, as always, first impressions are important. Although I do not have much chance to see or ride the trains, I feel proud to be part of the railway heritage and I will continue as long as my health allows. Little did I realise in 1973, that in 47 years’ time, I would still be involved— almost a lifetime of volunteering!

VE Day

WAR ON THE LINE With lockdown preventing the Railway from holding its normal mid-Summer War on the Line event, the MHR was not able to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE day, although we are sure that many of our readers would have been in their front gardens raising a cuppa or something stronger on the afternoon of the 8th May. As a reminder of what we missed, we have a selection of photos from past War on the Line events. Photos by Steve Morley and Tony Storey

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Regional Groups

CROYDON

PORTSMOUTH

Attendances were good for the early part of the year. In January, we had Christian Wolmar provide us with a story of the Trans Siberian Railway. In February, Steve Pilcher updated us on the Beachy Head new loco build on the Bluebell Railway, and in March, we had an update on the P2 new build LNER loco. Obviously our talks ground to a halt after this, for some unforeseen reason… But, we plan to get going again in September, subject to approval.

January’s meeting was entertained by Paul Gosling’s ‘Gallivants 2019’ which had a sizeable mix of images of locos (No.30925, No.506, No.76017, Flying Scotsman on display and No.35005 Canadian Pacific being worked at Eastleigh) and the miniature railway at Ropley. There were images of the hybrid 800312 to Paignton at Westbury station, No.6998 at the Didcot Railway and the Swindon signal box mock-up, No.5797 topped and tailed with Met 1, and No.1501 and No. 9462 double headed at Bridgnorth.

February’s meeting with Ian Wright’s ‘Steam around Europe’ featured Austria’s 2-10-0, ­­fully-flanged and some with condensers­­­­, for long journeys, and a 1760 mm gauge preserved railway. The presentation also included Belgium’s express 4-4-2, built interwar for intercity to Paris, Bulgaria’s Polish-built 2-10-2, a British Class 87-004-8 electric loco leaving Pernic, and a German-built 2-12-4 T monster, not suitable for the GCR or MHR! The journey also included Czechoslovakia’s 2-8-2 built by Skoda, the 475 Class 4-8-2, a modern, do-it-all, loco; mechanically stoked 4-8-4 T; an Austrian 2-6-4 for steep slopes; the Czech Republic’s narrow gauge near the Austrian border; Slovakia’s 4-8-4 T with underslung saddles, 498 Class double-heading over the high viaduct and 475 Class circa 1955 below a hilltop castle; Denmark’s several preserved K Class as well as a 2-6-0 T; France’s several branch lines, the 231K 4-8-0 fine loco; and the post-war USA loco used in the film “The Train”.

During March’s meeting, we saw Keith Brown’s historic photographs from the MHRPS archives. Among many were images of Alton’s Platforms 1 and 2 serving the Watercress Line, and Platforms 3 and 4 serving the Meon Valley Line, with the 1909 signal box which lasted until 1980; a M7 push-pull which was the last steam before DEMUs in 1957, the last of which was 4 Feb 1973. We saw the 1913 Ropley signal box (exterior and interior) along with the topiary that exists to this day. The selection of Alresford images was particularly good, including the 1873 grain store with LSWR Watercress wagon (1917); the very last Watercress Special in the ‘60s and the first lady signalman during WW2 (who then left after marrying). February 1973 saw the last day special with 4-TCs. Other images included Itchen Abbas station, Winchester Junction signal box, Mid-Hants trains operating in 1956-60 by Class 33 and 4-TCs; Shawford station with Mid-Hants steam to Southampton; and Alton Platform 3 with DEMU 1125 on Route 13.

Upcoming Events - Mondays 7th Sept. The Kent and East Sussex Railway

by Doug Lindsay 5th Oct.

The History of Railways in Paris

by Michael Bunn

2nd Nov. Lady Lisa at the Lavender Line

by Chris Heeley 7th Dec.

Christmas Meal

Chris Le Corney

SOUTHAMPTON & WATERSIDE The February meeting was a trip from ‘Waterloo to Weymouth’

by MHR member, Mike Pym. Mike took us on an imaginary journey with the use of colour slides taken in the 1950s and 1960s. There were many unusual photos including un-rebuilt Merchant Navies in blue livery and a view taken in Eastleigh Depot during the ASLEF strike in 1955. The scene showed 27 idle steam locomotives during a crippling dispute which lasted 17 days. The end of the line at Weymouth showed the tramway being used for tomato goods traffic from the Channel Islands and the British Railways ships that sailed from the port. While concentrating on the main line, Mike’s talk ventured off-route to the unadvertised service from Clapham Junction to Kensington Olympia run for postal workers, and the Lymington and Swanage branches.

Upcoming Events - Wednesdays 16th Sept. Indian Hills Railway by David Peel 21st Oct. Railway Allsorts by Ken Mumford 18th Nov. The Illustrated Goods Life Part 1

by Stewart Smith 16th Dec. Photographic Evening. Bring along slides

and digitals for showing.

David Mead

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Upcoming Events - Tuesdays 15 Sept.

TBD (if meeting is held)

20 Oct.

Devon Belle Part 3 by Ken Mumford

17 Nov.

Preserved Steam on Main Line and Heritage Railways by John Barrowdale

15 Dec.

Members slide evening

Anthony White

WOKING & GUILDFORD Our February meeting featured Andrew Goodman who talked about the various items that he had arranged road transport for, ranging from locomotives upwards. Andrew has plenty of experience in this field and provided a very entertaining talk with members requesting a repeat visit. He had come from the Birmingham area so, many thanks, Andrew.

As an aside, it is hard to believe that, after the weather we had in April and May, on the night of our February meeting, the River Wey had flooded in Guildford and had reached to within 20 feet of our church hall meeting place!

After much debate, we decided to go ahead with our March AGM on March 16th. Twenty members attended and ten offered apologies. We managed to get the AGM over quickly; Robin Higgs was sadly, no longer in the chair. Stephen Evans, the new chairman of the MHRPS, came to talk to us. As well as talking about himself and the Railway, he answered questions from the floor. It seems the Society are very fortunate to have such a chairman. Thank you, Stephen, for attending our meeting in such circumstances. After the meeting, a few of us went to the nearby White House pub as usual and, just as well, as it the last time most of us have been to a pub!

We had a good line-up of speakers this Spring who hopefully can come another time. These included Canon Rev. Brian Arman, President of the RCTS, Christopher Wheeler who was to talk about Terence Cuneo as Chairman of his appreciation society, and renowned photographer Jack Boskett whose talk was titled Railways to Royalty.

Upcoming Events - Mondays 17 Aug. A new venture with a members’ evening with 15-minute slots.

21 Sept. S.S. Great Britain talk.

19 Oct. Mike Beale from the S & D Trust with images from the John Woods S & D Collection.

16 Nov. Our very own Peter Bassett (TTI and Educator on the Railway) will talk about West German Steam from visits between 1968 and 1975.

David Pegg

SOUTH WEST LONDON Upcoming Events - Tuesdays 1st Sept. The railways of Sweden by Alan Norris 6th Oct.

Crossrail by Christian Wolmar

3rd Nov.

AGM and a Quiz

1st Dec.

Christmas Social

2021 5th Jan.

An evening of vintage films with Stuart Saunders

2nd Feb.

Steam on railways north of the Southern (196568) Part 2 by Ian Wright.

Stuart Saunders

Regional Groups’ Programmes Details of all Regional Groups’ meetings can be found by contacting the people listed below. Alternatively, go to the Mid-Hants Railway website, click on ‘ABOUT US’, then on ‘Mid Hants Railway Preservation Society’ from the drop-down menu under ‘ABOUT US’, then on ‘REGIONAL GROUPS’.

ALTON Meetings fourth Thursday, The Community Centre, Amery Hill, Alton GU34 1HN Contact David Mould on 07711824335 or email david.j.mould@hotmail.co.uk CROYDON Meetings first Monday, The Crypt at St Mary Magdalene with St Martin’s Church, Croydon CR0 6QD Contact Chris Le Corney on 01843 843215 PORTSMOUTH Meetings third Tuesday, The Railway Social Club opp Fratton Railway Station, Portsmouth PO1 5BL Contact David Meyer on 02392 671251 SOUTHAMPTON & WATERSIDE Meetings third Wednesday, The British Rail Institute, Romsey Road, Eastleigh SO50 9FE Contact David Mead on 02380 293186 SOUTH WEST LONDON Meetings first Tuesday, Surbiton Hill Methodist Church, 39 Ewell Road, Surbiton KT6 6AF Contact Stuart Saunders on 020 8979 6484 SUSSEX (NOTE RECENT CHANGE) Meetings second Thursday, London Road Station, Shaftesbury Place, Brighton BN1 4QS Contact Nick Kelly on 01273 703489 THAMES VALLEY Meetings fourth Thursday, Church House, Church Street, Caversham RG4 8AX Contact Rob Latham on 01628 633914 WOKING & GUILDFORD Meetings third Monday, St Nicolas Church Hall, High Street, Guildford GU2 4AW Contact David Pegg on 01483 834062

Below: S15 Class No.506 climbing the gradient to Medstead on 1st January 2020. Photo: Steve Morley

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Ways to get involved with the Watercress Line T

HE Mid-Hants Railway is a not-for-profit organisation, meaning that all profit generated from our visitors is re-invested in the Railway. We rely upon your generosity and support, whether it is through paying to visit us, contributing your time or through personal donations. There are several ways you can support our continuing mission to preserve an important part of the country’s railway heritage for future generations.

DONATE

See the website www.preservation.watercressline.co.uk for a list of appeals. You can also donate £10 by texting WATERCRESS to 70085.

BECOME A VOLUNTEER

Join the Watercress Line community of over 400 volunteers who form the backbone of our Railway. Join because you want to be around steam trains, learn new skills, develop existing skills, contribute, meet new and interesting people, enjoy some camaraderie. There is a place and a warm welcome for everyone, whether it is as an engine cleaner, wagon, coach or engine restorer, refreshment engineer, gardener, carpenter, station staff, train guard, tour guide, information office staff.

See the website www.preservation.watercressline.co.uk to learn more about volunteering for the Watercress Line.

JOIN A REGIONAL GROUP

Join one of the social groups that meet regularly, usually monthly, around the south of England. This is a chance to meet up with likeminded transport enthusiasts as each group hosts photographic presentations on transport themes, social events, and trips out. You are welcome to join in at any of the meetings; find one that is close to you.

Regional groups are in Alton, Caversham, Croydon, Eastleigh, Fratton, Guildford, Southwick, and Surbiton. For more information, see our Regional Groups list on Page 29 of this issue.

BECOME A MID-HANTS RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY MEMBER Your membership fee is used to directly fund the preservation projects on the Watercress Line. Join the MHRPS to support our railway heritage and receive the following benefits:

 50% discount on Watercress Line fares (except Day Out With Thomas, Santa Special, Dining trains and RAT).

 FREE Members’ and Shareholders’ weekend once a year  FREE magazine, the Mid-Hants News, issued 3 times a

year to keep you up-to-date with the latest information and reports from the Railway. (Note: The printed version of this magazine is usually mailed to members, however, because of social distancing restrictions, we are offering this magazine in its on-line form, free to the public, for this edition only.)

2020 MEMBERSHIP RATES Adult - £28 (annually) / £112 (5 years) Junior (under 18) - £12 (annually) Over 70 - £20 (annually) / £80 (5 years) Family (2 Adults + 2 Juniors) - £40 (annually) / £160 (5 years) See the website for more on how to join the MHRPS, or phone 01962 733810. Please note that membership is valid from 1st January to 31st December each year. New members joining between September and December receive membership until the end of the following year.

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Our railway volunteers undertake a wide range of essential tasks, including maintenance work and operational roles.

Information / Sylvia Smith MID-HANTS RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY LTD (Registered Charity No. 284406)

Patrons: Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Alan Titchmarsh MBE DL

Directors: Steve Crowther, Stephen Evans CMG OBE, David Ford, Liam Kenchenten, Robert Latham, Derek Simmonds, Peter Smith, Gregory Watson

Directors: Simon Baggott, Mervyn Dunwoody, Stephen Evans, Peter Greenwood, Richard Hawkins, Alison Houghton, David Jones, Richard Lacey, Martin Rossiter, Jim Russell

President:..............................................................................................................................

Vice-Presidents:........................................John Rees, David Snow, Mark Walden Chairman:................................................................................................Stephen Evans Vice-Chairman:.................................................................................Derek Simmonds Secretary:...........................................................................................Peter Greenwood Membership Director:..............................................................................Rob Latham Finance Director:...............................................................................Gregory Watson Correspondence should be addressed to the appropriate person c/o Alresford Station, Alresford, Hants. SO24 9JG. Please enclose a suitable s.a.e.

Tel: Alresford (01962) 733810 Fax: (01962) 735448 E-mail: info@watercressline.co.uk

MID-HANTS News

Mid-Hants News is produced three times a year by the Editorial Team of Sue Dixon, Brian Dolton, Steve Morley and Tony Storey supported by the Design & Graphics Team of David Frith and Richard Howells.

Distribution is organised by Allan James, with packing, despatch and delivery

by Alresford Information Office staff and a network of volunteer distributors.

Steaming “Oop North”

by Sylvia Smith

T

O us southern softies, the North starts at Watford Gap or Sutton Scotney Services (depending on how parochial one is). In 2018, my husband and my brother died within seven months and with some of the money they left me, I decided to take steam train holidays: both Phil and Robert enjoyed travelling on steam trains—they’d been on the RATS—so what better way to spend their money.

I booked a holiday based in Worcester which included a ride on the Severn Valley Railway and one on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. My first problem was getting to Worcester by train without going via London. Easypeasy! Catch the Brighton/Southampton train to Great Malvern which stops at Salisbury and Worcester. On the appointed day, luggage and I settled on the 11 o’clock train, unfortunately rear-facing and in the aisle, but when the lady sitting next to me got out at Bristol Temple Meads, I sat by the window. We went out of Bristol Temple Meads the same way as we’d gone in, so I was facing forward. However, when we got to Gloucester, we did the same thing, so I was facing the ‘wrong way’ again.

Our first trip was on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway which doesn’t travel in or out of Warwickshire.

We boarded the train at Cheltenham Race Course station. (I didn’t know they had

MID-HANTS RAILWAY LTD

Chairman:................................................................................................. Richard Lacey Vice-Chairman:.....................................................................................Simon Baggott General Manager:................................................................................Simon Baggott Secretary:...........................................................................................Peter Greenwood Finance Director:.................................................................................Martin Rossiter Departments: Operations Manager:........................................................................Richard Bentley Infrastructure, PWay & Buildings Manager:..................................Bernie Dench Engineering Manager:................................................................................Chris Ellick Carriage & Wagon Manager:...............................................................Keith Jackson Catering Manager (WCB, RMBs, Goods Shed):..............................Elaine Scown Watercress Belle:................................................................................Sandra Johnson Countryman Pullman:.................................................................. Christine Mousley Consultant Civil Engineer:.........................................................Martin Choularton Consultant Bridge Engineer:.........................................................Andrew Clayton Archivist:.......................................................................................................Keith Brown Registrar:.....................................................................................................Keith Temple Reservations:.............................................................................................. Karen Butler Safety & Standards Director:.................................................................... Jim Russell Marketing & Publicity:.............................................................................. Jules Johns Education and Interpretation Officer:................................................. Sheila Love Retail Consultant:............................................................................Christine Knights S & T:....................................................................................................................Pat Butler Volunteer Coordinator:..........................................................................Dave Yaldren

one either.) The line takes racegoers to Cheltenham Race Course during the Gold Cup meeting.

When the engine (Merchant Navy Class Peninsula and Orient S.N. Co.) was joined

to the train, the Cotswold Express, quite a few of us made our way to the engine where many photographs were taken.

We settled ourselves at the tables in our carriage and off we went. A railway volunteer with us told us about the line.

The scenery was splendid with quite high

hills including Cleeve Hill, Prescott Hill and the Cotswolds. We went through Great Tunnel (693 yards) and over Stanway Viaduct with its 15 arches. Some of the stations en route had lovely gardens and interesting buildings containing tea rooms, gift shops and even a Have-A-Go mini signal box. When we arrived at Broadway, we detrained and were taken to a couple of Cotswold villages.

Our second steam train ride was on the Severn Valley Railway from Bridgnorth, which I kept on calling Bridgend, to Kidderminster. We travelled by coach to Bridgnorth where we had an hour or so to wander around the town before making our way to the station. More beautiful scenery, quite different from the Cotswolds, and the stations had various amenities and gardens. At one stage, we went quite close to a Safari park where most of the people in the carriage, including me, waved to an elephant and a rhino (as you do).

When we got to Kidderminster, I looked around the Railway museum and recognised some things from when Alresford was a British Rail station. I had planned to go away with the same company this year, on a few Yorkshire heritage lines, but because of the current unpleasantness, the plans have been shunted into a siding.

Sylvia, on the arm of a volunteer, beside No.35006 at Cheltenham Race Course station. Photo: Sylvia Smith Collection 31

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