Visit to Mid Hants Railway

Hello, I've had a fandabidozi day riding up and down on the chuff chuffs. I love playing around on steam trains. The Mid Hants Railway is also known as the Watercress Line, it runs from Alton to Alresford, passing through Medstead and Ropley. You buy a day ticket and can ride up and down all day, getting on and off at whichever stations take your fancy. We spent time at all four of them, exploring, and chatting to people. Everyone was in a happy mood, all enjoying their day out.

For two days the theme has been a WWII Christmas, with civilian and military re-enactors returning home from the war. There was song and dance and Christmas merriment.

This is our train now waiting to depart from Alton Station.    

 

Love the sound of the rush of steam.

There's a good fire going in the cab, and the crew were just tucking into their fried breakfast before they moved off.

Tickets please. The inspector doing his rounds.

A picture from the train window as we were stopped at Ropley. We went all the way to Alresford first, then stopped at the other stations on the way back.

This was our loco which has been detached from the carriages, run a short distance up the line, changed track, and is now coming back to be reattached to the other end, for the return journey.

There was a lot going on at Alresford Station. Lots of enthusiasts were dressed in period costume, and these were really getting into the spirit of the occasion by dancing along to the big band music which was playing..

Some had come in their military vehicles.

 A group of soldiers were gathered on the platform.

And burst into a rendition of war time songs. Even Sir Winston Churchill joined in.

 'Ello 'ello, what's all this 'ear then. An English bobby on the beat.

More re-enacters in forties costumes.

The railway is mostly run by volunteers, and everyone we spoke to was happy to answer our questions. The signalman invited us into his box and explained how everything worked. His enthusiasm for his work was evident, he told us he had worked for forty years as an engineer on the railways, so knew all about the mechanics of it. He could fix things if it went wrong.  

His signal box was immaculately kept, freshly painted and clean. Everything that happens is recorded in the log book on the desk.

 There are two machines with keys in them. In one machine they have a red circle on the end.....

and in the other they have a green triangle. These keys are passed to the train drivers as they pass through the station. It's a system which ensures the safety of the trains. It sounded quite a complicated system to learn.

These are for changing the points and signals.

Here is the signal man getting ready to exchange the keys with the train driver. They are in a sort of leather handbag thing with a steel handle, which can easily looped over the arm or grabbed while the train is moving. 

At Ropley we had time for a look around the back of the station to see the stock in the yard.

We hopped off at Medstead for an hour to look round.

There is Carol looking for the train.

We had time to get a hot drink in the buffet while we waited for the train. There are old style posters everywhere taking us back in time.

It was a fabulous day out, I'm glad that Carol organised this for us. The railway has a web site, if you want to know more you can read about it here. They have lots of exciting events throughout the year, some of them are very popular and have to be booked well in advance. It is a charity and all the money goes into the preservation of the trains and stations. It's a great day out.

Tomorrow is a trip to see John from Don't unplug your hub. He has a new dog you know, a German Shepherd called Mia. I'm looking forward to seeing them both. Toodle pip.