So you like railways, especially the steam variety, and wondered whether you'd be useful. They look a friendly lot at MHR, and you live within travelling distance of there. Read on ...
Without the volunteers there would be no mid-hants railway
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'Bodmin' approaches Ropley, October 2001. Photo © Henry O'Dwyer |
Without the volunteers there would be no Mid Hants Railway. From the first idea of its preservation up to the present day, volunteers have built, restored and run it, doing everything from laying the track to driving the engines.
Some spend a day a month with us, some a few days each week. Some fit their MHR days around the shift patterns of their full-time work. Some join us when they retire. We have many volunteers who regularly travel from over 100 miles away to lend a hand at Mid-Hants Railway. Some even come from abroad and spend weeks with us each year.
Why? It's not just altruism. Working with a common purpose alongside like-minded people is hugely rewarding and enjoyable and keeps you healthier
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So what would you like to do to help keep steam trains running in this country? |
Here are some ways to get more information about helping at MHR:
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Tel No: 01962 733810 Fax No: 01962 735448 e-mail: information@watercressline.co.uk |
| Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Department
is responsible for restoring, maintaining and running these vehicles.
Training is given as required. Commitment and aptitude may result in
your selection, training and rostering for footplate duties.
Loco Shed Pages show in detail what we do at Ropley Motive Power Depot |
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Traffic Department provides Station Staff, Shunters, Guards, Signalmen, Booking Clerks, Travelling Ticket Inspectors and Stationmasters. You start as a Porter and progress with training through the ranks. Frontline staff need the natural courtesy and charm for which MHR is famous
Alresford Traincare, under John Dunkerley and Jim Lawrence, do normal maintenance on our carriage sets, and Paul Hamilton sorts out the cleaning. (Paul is in the foreground of this photo)
An enthusiastic Wagons Group is renovating trucks and we have an ever-lengthening goods train which draws admiration, especially at our Gala events
Vintage Carriage Group own and are renovating three pre-1948 Southern Railway coaches
Infrastructure and Permanent Way Department installs and maintains track and signalling equipment, working in all weathers. They are a jovial lot, get about by Wickham trolley and are particularly welcoming
Building Department, based at Medstead and Four Marks, is responsible for most of the new building work, building maintenance tasks and civil engineering around the railway. The volunteers also undertake restoration of railway artefacts such as platform items (e.g. benches, trolleys, lampposts, etc.) and heritage railway signs together with the manufacture of iron, steelwork and carpentry items as required. People of all skill levels are welcome as there is work to suit most abilities. For more information please contact the Department Manager: markwalden@watercressline.co.uk
Catering Department prepares and serves meals on the dining trains, the West Country Buffet at Alresford and the T-Junction at Ropley, and also serves in buffet cars on our service trains
You may have noticed how lineside clearance has opened up magnificent views for our passengers across the Hampshire countryside. Andy Ford (023-807-83195) and his colleagues would welcome your help with this constant task. You would get training in track safety, and probably also in the use of chainsaws and strimmers
Our Reservations Department at Alresford Station seeks more volunteers to help with the increase in bookings for our Footplate Experience, Dining Trains and Special Events. If you could perhaps give the MHR just 1 day a week, please call Rod Wicks on 01962-733810 or e-mail: reservations@watercressline.co.uk
The Wednesday Gang keeps Ropley Station shipshape
Some of the Wednesday Gang at work |
AND ...
Of course our Booking Offices, Shops, General Office, and Information Office, are all also staffed mainly by volunteers
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work" - Thomas Edison
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Tel No: 01962 733810 Fax No: 01962 735448 e-mail: information@watercressline.co.uk www.watercressline.co.uk |
Webmaster: tonywood@watercressline.co.uk
Graphics: Henry O'Dwyer
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Here's a little story that might interest anyone thinking of volunteering for the Mid Hants.
I've been a member of the Preservation Society since the early days but
apart from a couple of stints in the booking office at Ropley in the
mid 70s I'd never been much more than an armchair enthusiast. I always
tried to keep up to speed with what was going on at the Mid Hants, but
in the 1990s the railway seemed to have lost its way and become
synonymous with in-fighting and general ill-feeling so I let my
membership lapse for a while. Lately though, things seemed to be on a
more even keel again and with a bit more leisure time at my disposal, I
decided to take a chance and ask to join the Loco Department. I figured
this was asking quite a lot considering I have no engineering
background and my only first-hand experience of steam locomotives was
limited to a couple of Footplate Experience courses on the West
Somerset Railway. To put it bluntly I wasn't in the position to offer
anything much that would potentially be of use to the railway, and I
fully expected my general lack of knowledge to be greeted with
indifference or worse still derision.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Since joining the Loco Department in November, Frank and the guys have
been absolutely fantastic and I couldn't possibly have received a
warmer welcome.
The order of the day at Ropley Manor seems to be that they believe you
CAN do things, not that you can't, and I've been chucked right in at
the deep end doing tasks I would never dreamed of attempting before.
Sometimes people of great skill and knowledge don't want to share it,
so the patience, understanding and first-rate tuition that's been shown
to me at Ropley is rare indeed. Didn't know how to take the
streamlining off a Bulleid Pacific or remove a brake ejector but I do
now.
We railway enthusiasts often very wrongly assume we know a lot about
the subject from our vantage points on the other side of the fence, but
until you confront a working railway hands-on you'll never know
quite how much you don't know.
The Loco Department isn't for everyone and standing up to your knees
with a shovel in a filthy and flooded inspection pit won't appeal to
some, but the point of this e-mail is to assure anyone thinking of
volunteering that the Mid Hants is now a really friendly and
flourishing line, and if you want to get out of your armchair and
really learn something about railways this is a great place to do it.
All the best
Martin Orford
(Bishops Waltham, Hampshire)
13 January 2008
Father Daniel, a monk in a German monastery, has his fortnight's 'holiday' with us each summer;
Leo Kennedy came (April 03) from Melbourne, Australia, to lend a hand; and
Kyoichi Oda comes to us several times each year from Japan.
If you need basic, cheap accommodation at MHR on our accommodation coaches, contact Nigel Bulpitt on 07771 544525 a few days in advance to book
| If you are
a regular
browser of this website and wish
you
too could join in all this manifest fun, why not become truly a part of
MHR by:
(1) Becoming a member of the Mid-Hants Railway Preservation Society (ideal if you really do live too far away to offer practical help); (2) Helping us finance the restoration of our recently purchased Black Five; (3) Lending a hand* (if you are over 12 and under 85 years of age, and live near enough); (4) Being a customer: Buy a ticket to explore our line for a day, come to one of our special events, do a footplate course, treat Mum to Sunday lunch on The Countryman, join real ale enthusiasts on a RAT, or give any of these as a present. Details *As an enjoyable hobby it even beats mucking about in boats! ... tw |
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