Last year I had the good fortune to attend the Watercress Line’s Spring Steam Gala and what a Gala it was. Originally it was planned to be an event where you able to see three of the National Railway Museums 4-4-0s in steam together. However as everyone knows the legendary GWR 4-4-0 City of Truro…
Good afternoon, I thought I’d start this entry with the latest news on Canadian Pacific’s future. As those who regularly check the internet will know, the Mid Hants Railway were pleased to announce that it has been awarded a first-round pass by the Heritage Lottery Fund for its project “Canadian Pacific – engineering a future from…
Today was an exciting day for the Mid Hants Railway and as the railway received initial Heritage Lottery Funding to restore Canadian Pacific and a set of Bulleid carriages. The grant was lead by David Snow, the MHRPS Vice President and achieved a brilliant result in securing the first stage of the grant. It’s great…
Last Sunday during a trip to Alton, I saw for what is probably the last time in Hampshire (for me at least), U class 31806. This weekend is likely to be this locomotive’s last on the Watercress Line, so if you want to see it, this might be your last chance! It is seen above…
After what seems forever we are back!!! On Wednesday morning I received a text from our project leader saying that Alrington had given us a couple of crane operators for the afternoon. Yes the day of the big lift has arrived. The beast upon my arrival.
The Watercress Festival in Alresford is one of those events that my wife and I try to put into the heritage railway diary. This is despite the fact that it’s not really a railway event as such, but an important one that the railway supports in a big way. The event is all about food…
A trip to the Watercress Line is always well worth it and this visit was no exception! The railway has a large fleet of locomotives that is regularly supplemented by visitors. What made this visit particularly special was of course the Heritage DMU Thumper Unit 1125 (click here for more) celebrating ten years since withdrawal…
As I passed by on the Watercress Line’s Heritage DMU Thumper Unit 1125 (click here for more), I spied a visitor sitting in Ropley loco yard sitting next to a class 08 diesel shunter (click here for more), as can be seen in the picture above. The visitor was BR Standard class 7MT 70000 Britannia,…
Seeing as the reason for the May bank holiday weekend trip to the Watercress Line was to see and ride on heritage DMU Thumper 1125 in action (click here to read more), it seemed fitting when at Ropley to look at another heritage diesel locomotive a little closer than usual! 08032 is one of a…
Having popped into Alton (click here to read more) earlier, later on the same day I visited one of my favourite places; Ropley loco yard. It was early evening and the golden light from the setting sun shone across the yard. Such high contrast can make taking a photograph quite tricky, particularly when the subject…
Loco Yard 