TANK ENGINES BRIGHTEN UP SPRING GALA AT MID-HANTS
London Transport maroon ‘57XX’ No. L92 and Longmoor blue ‘USA’ No. 300 will make for a colourful Spring Steam Gala at the MidHants Railway on March 8-10.
The American 0-6-0T, actually BR No. 30070, but restored in the guise of Longmoor Military Railway engine Major-General Frank S. Ross, is being hired from the Kent & East Sussex Railway. The pannier tank (GWR No. 5786) is travelling from the South Devon Railway in exchange for the loan of Ropley-based Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No. 41312 to Buckfastleigh last October.
Both engines are making their debut on the MHR’s ‘Alps’, but are not entirely inappropriate to this area of the Southern Region, as Eastleigh Works carried out overhauls on LMR locomotives and LT ‘57XXs’.
Resident engines for the event are to be confirmed, but will be drawn from ‘Schools’ No. 925 Cheltenham, ‘Standard 4’ 2-6-0 No. 76017, ‘9F’ No. 92212 and the Ivatt tank.
Usually one of preservation’s ‘big engine’ strongholds, the steeply-graded ‘Watercress Line’ is switching to smaller fare for this gala because its ten-mile route is temporarily severed at Alton. Until July, trains will only run over the 5½-mile Alresford Medstead & Four Marks section, while the bridge at Butts Junction near Alton is rebuilt for road improvements (SR482/486).
“Because we’ve got a shorter line, it’s an opportunity to have some smaller locomotives,” said General Manager Jason Houlders.
A special replacement bus service will operate between Alton’s main line station and Medstead during the gala, in addition to the normal Stagecoach service; details will be published on the MHR website nearer to the event.