Electric train stars at Mid-Hants diesel gala
The operation of an all-electric train on a heritage railway provided a unique spectacle and experience.
THE invitation to the ‘Watercress Line’ July 15-17 diesel gala for the EPB Preservation Group to supply a working electric multiple unit was an outstanding success. This would be confirmed by all those who found it was standing room only on the EPB runs.
This was the first time in seven years that 1959-built
Class 416 2-EPB No. 5759 had carried passengers in heritage railway operation, but in a very different form to previously.
This was a first for the EMU instead of being loco-hauled it ran in multiple with a pair of battery-electric Motor Luggage Vans (MLVs). The Class 419 MLVs, Nos. 68001 and 68002/9002, also built in 1959, provided traction as was common when these self-contained power vehicles operated over nonelectrified track in the Dover and Folkestone areas.
Shuttle services were provided by the EPB with one or both
MLVs enabling push-pull operation into the long siding at the west end of Alresford station and back again. One of the diagrammed runs, the 14.30 from Alresford was hauled up the line ‘over the Alps’ by a Class 33 to Alton. On the return journey, the ‘Crompton’ detached at Medstead and the remainder of the EPB’s run back to Alresford was under full electric power, despite the lack of a third rail, courtesy the MLVs.
The group is grateful to the Mid-Hants Railway and the kind cooperation of West Coast
Railways for conveying the stock from and return to its base at Southall. Visit www.epbpg.co.uk for more about the EPBPG.