A day out on the Mid Hants "Watercress" line

[TT-Pete]

A few pics from my birthday treat out on the Watercress line yesterday;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My only complaint was the timetable; a 40 minute wait at Ropley on the Up journey (workshops and shed not accessible) followed by yet another 40 minute wait at Alton for the run-round and then another 20 minute wait at Ropley again on the Down journey - paying £48 for a steam train ride I do not expect to spend over one and a half hours of it sitting stationary listening to a lecture on how valuable shopping time is being wasted....

 

[Bucoops]

Immaculate as always :)

 

Timetabling can be frustrating, I just want to go up and down on the train but not everyone does - and that's the really costly bit these days for the lines as well so spacing services out a bit can reduced costs significantly.

[TT-Pete]

Point taken, however don't space out the services themselves, space out the time between them. Overall the "movement to stationary" ratio of a journey should be in favour of the former, not the latter.  And if you are going to enforce long periods of stasis on your guests, make sure there is something for them to do, see, spend their money on, whatever. In the case of Alton, make it long enough so that you can go to town and come back again.

Edited May 15, 2022 by TT-Pete

[Nick C]

The long break at Ropley was introduced during Covid to allow people to make use of the catering, kid's playground, look round the yard, etc, and then re-board the same train

 

The other gaps are to fit around the dining train, which wasn't running on the day you visited. It's less confusing for non-enthusiast passengers to keep the normal service trains at the same time regardless of the working timetable used, rather then keep shuffling them around when extra services are on.

 

Nick (MHR volunteer - usual disclaimer; my views are my own and not those of the company or society)

Edited May 26, 2022 by Nick C

[rogerzilla]

We've been scared of going back to the MHR since a rainy Sunday when we were shadowed by a troupe of very in-your-face morris dancers 😳

[Nick C]

As a couple of people have mentioned it now - the Watercress Line timetable will be reverting to the Pre-Covid regular interval service from 1st July, so there won't be the long gaps any more.

[rogerzilla]

On 26/06/2022 at 20:37, Nick C said:

As a couple of people have mentioned it now - the Watercress Line timetable will be reverting to the Pre-Covid regular interval service from 1st July, so there won't be the long gaps any more.

Nick - would you happen to know what locos are running on Monday 29th August?  Thinking of visiting but would like to see the Schools or S15.  The website hasn't been updated.

[Nick C]

2 hours ago, rogerzilla said:

Nick - would you happen to know what locos are running on Monday 29th August?  Thinking of visiting but would like to see the Schools or S15.  The website hasn't been updated.

Should be the schools and the standard 4 I believe - subject to the usual provisos of course. 

[rogerzilla]

Cheltenham was steamed up but not on a train - although I did see it moving around the yard, so that was a first.  Maybe it was in a bad mood today?  The engines being used were the S&D 7F and one of the Class 20s.

 

Saw Lord Nelson's tender and a surprise Class 47 and 50 parked up the line at Ropley.

[Nick C]

Quite possibly - there's all sorts of reasons why they might need to change the rostered loco at late notice. The 20s are proving themselves to be very useful - especiallylast month when it was too dry for steam. The 50 is broken at the moment, it's owners are trying to raise money for a repair. 

[Chris116]

I am having a afternoon and evening out on the Mid Hants Railway today. Doing my first RAT guard duty since February 2020. Always an enjoyable time as the Real Ale Train is great fun for everyone although as guard I have to take all the passengers safety very seriously. I am hopeful that there will be a steam engine on the front as there has been some rain over the past week but if we have had to follow other lines and go diesel hauled again then that will not spoil my trip.

[Chris116]

I had a great afternoon and evening on the Mid Hants Railway. Had a nice Alton - Alresford - Medstead trip behind S&D 7F 53808. Then switched trains to get back to Alresford behind 30925 Cheltenham which also hauled the RAT.