Fire at the Mid Hants

[ews60002]

Not being a steam fan (Love my diesel's too much), i'm sad for the loss of stock at the Mid Hants. If I had my way, i'd be down there now with my shovel and brush and using my elbow grease to do some good for the MHR. Donation on way to you asap. I'll ask a customer who's a tool wholesaler if he can ''give me a few tools to send''.

 

Mathew

 

 

[simplex]

Very sad news, I was looking at their website very recently and being pleased to see the Maunsell coach going into the shed. Reminds me of the fire in the German Railway museam a couple of years ago.

[Enterprisingwestern]

Please note, this is not a negative posting.

 

I hope other preserved lines take a look at this incident and learn from it, heaven forbid we have a MHR2 incident and lose even more valuable stock.

[roythebus]

When I used to be a regular at the IoW many years ago, I was always told by the C&W staff that we must stop using any heating/flame equipment at least half an hour before we finished just in case there was anything left smouldering. Remember all the ioW stock is wooden-bodied.

 

It seems a sensible precaution in today's circumstances.

[PhilH]

A photo of the C&W workshop being demolished around the mortal remains of the MK1 coach.(Photo by John Barrowdale, used with permission)

 

 

Another pic here.

[Oldddudders]

Dreadful shame.

[coachmann]

Phil, do you know what actually remained of the SR Dining Car after the dreadful fire?

[PhilH]

Larry, there is a short video view of the remains here. I believe, although not 100% sure, that these remains are considered beyond redemption and are to be / have been cut up.

 

edit Information from another forum has stated that the underframe has indeed been cut up with possibly the bogies going to the Bluebell Railway and the buffers to the Isle of Wight Steam railway.

[coachmann]

Thanks Phil. No doubt the chassis had lost its strength to support a body. The coach was unique, not having served as a dining car since 1939-ish. I suspect its bogies are 9ft w.b. 'Ashford' type as fitted to 'Ironclad' coaches. Also unique. Life's a sh*t.

 

Larry

[John M Upton]

Video in that link seems to be a non runner?

[PhilH]

Video in that link seems to be a non runner?

 

Works fine for me (click on the arrow)

[John M Upton]

No arrow or anything. Doesn't do anything for me, seems to be a problem with Flash Player (one of the worst inventions in the history of computing!)

 

EDIT - Reinstalled Adobe Flash Player for about the third time in as many weeks (why is such a weak product allowed to be a so called 'industry standard' media player?) and now I can see it!!

[PhilH]

No arrow or anything. Doesn't do anything for me, seems to be a problem with Flash Player (one of the worst inventions in the history of computing!)

 

EDIT - Reinstalled Adobe Flash Player for about the third time in as many weeks (why is such a weak product allowed to be a so called 'industry standard' media player?) and now I can see it!!

 

It's funny you should say that - I keep getting a message that my flash player has failed when I come out of a site.

[St. Simon]

Hi,

 

It is such a shame to see all that hard work, gone in to both the coaches and the building, to go up like that.

 

When I first heard about it, I was shocked, but now I have seen the photos of the devistation, I'm utterly speechless.

 

I hope that the Mid-hants get all the support they deserve!

 

Simon

[60526]

And a view of the shunter.

[PhilH]

And a view of the shunter.

 

That's going to Harry Needles' scrapyard apparently.

[D605Eagle]

That's going to Harry Needles' scrapyard apparently.

Yes, for component recovery (I wonder whats recoverable off that?) and then scrapping. Very sad indeed for such an old loco. Not heard anything about the U class tender though?

[PhilH]

Yes, for component recovery (I wonder whats recoverable off that?) and then scrapping. Very sad indeed for such an old loco. Not heard anything about the U class tender though?

 

That can just be seen beyond the remains of the TSO in the photo I posted. I've heard conflicting reports on the severity of the damage to this, I'll try and find out some more.

[Jenny Emily]

Yes, for component recovery (I wonder whats recoverable off that?) and then scrapping. Very sad indeed for such an old loco.

 

There may be something that can be recovered. Whilst the paintwork has mostly been scorched off (you can still make out the remnants of wasp stripes) it may be that what's inside may have fared slightly better. That said, given how oily these things can be, it wouldn't have taken much for the fire to spread into the engine bay and burn like a torch. The heat would have destroyed the electrics, burnt through all the hoses and would have distorted even bigger componants like the head or block. The body panels don't look to have distorted in the heat - I seem to recall a picture of an 08 that was the victim of a shed fire (1980/90s?) that looked worse with distorted body panels and radiator grill bent by the heat. That said, looks are quite decieving, and having worked in haulage I've seen enough engine fires on wagons to know that even something that looks not too bad from the outside can be well and truly terminal on the inside. The underframe still looks black, rather than rusty, suggesting that whatever's below the solebar level might have fared better. The fact that it can roll freely on its own wheels suggests that the wheelsets and side rods may well be reuseable, as will the buffers and axleboxes.

[Tom Bayford]

There may be something that can be recovered. Whilst the paintwork has mostly been scorched off (you can still make out the remnants of wasp stripes) it may be that what's inside may have fared slightly better. That said, given how oily these things can be, it wouldn't have taken much for the fire to spread into the engine bay and burn like a torch. The heat would have destroyed the electrics, burnt through all the hoses and would have distorted even bigger componants like the head or block. The body panels don't look to have distorted in the heat - I seem to recall a picture of an 08 that was the victim of a shed fire (1980/90s?) that looked worse with distorted body panels and radiator grill bent by the heat. That said, looks are quite decieving, and having worked in haulage I've seen enough engine fires on wagons to know that even something that looks not too bad from the outside can be well and truly terminal on the inside. The underframe still looks black, rather than rusty, suggesting that whatever's below the solebar level might have fared better. The fact that it can roll freely on its own wheels suggests that the wheelsets and side rods may well be reuseable, as will the buffers and axleboxes.

 

Well if you listen to the internet rumours going round some seem to suggest that the sump exploded

[Mr Brunel]

Yes, for component recovery (I wonder whats recoverable off that?) and then scrapping. Very sad indeed for such an old loco. Not heard anything about the U class tender though?

 

From reading the reports on the website, I believe it's salvageable but needs major work and possible replacement

of the tank. In the meantime it will be borrowing the tender from the Bluebell's 1638.

[D605Eagle]

From reading the reports on the website, I believe it's salvageable but needs major work and possible replacement

of the tank. In the meantime it will be borrowing the tender from the Bluebell's 1638.

Not Brilliant news but at least savable.

Jim

[John M Upton]

To be honest MHR would be better forgetting the 11 and buying an 09 of the current DBS sales tender list. It would be fitting for the Southern Region and its higher speed would prove useful I would have thought. As long as they don't make a typo on the application and accidentally wind up with a 60...

[D605Eagle]

Harry Needle has it now so its immaterial. I see that DB has put several 09s up for tender you said John.

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

There may be something that can be recovered. Whilst the paintwork has mostly been scorched off (you can still make out the remnants of wasp stripes) it may be that what's inside may have fared slightly better. That said, given how oily these things can be, it wouldn't have taken much for the fire to spread into the engine bay and burn like a torch. The heat would have destroyed the electrics, burnt through all the hoses and would have distorted even bigger componants like the head or block. The body panels don't look to have distorted in the heat - I seem to recall a picture of an 08 that was the victim of a shed fire (1980/90s?) that looked worse with distorted body panels and radiator grill bent by the heat. That said, looks are quite decieving, and having worked in haulage I've seen enough engine fires on wagons to know that even something that looks not too bad from the outside can be well and truly terminal on the inside. The underframe still looks black, rather than rusty, suggesting that whatever's below the solebar level might have fared better. The fact that it can roll freely on its own wheels suggests that the wheelsets and side rods may well be reuseable, as will the buffers and axleboxes.

 

That sort of heat where all has gone apart from the metal, will have altered the chemical structure of the metal, tempered it and generally made it unsuitable for purpose and prone to sudden failures. Rebuilding such a structure would be more expensive than making a new one and the acquisition of a working example to use for spares would not really gain anything.