Steam railway volunteers at the Mid-Hants

The Watercress Rangers welcomes young people of 12 to 16 years with an interest in railways and especially steam trains.

You'll see something of what you could be doing by reading their Newsletter below.

If you are between 12 and 16 years of age and would like to join in, contact the Rangers Manager (Keith Homewood) via our Membership Secretary (mhrps_membership@watercressline.co.uk) at Alresford station You'd need to ask your parents to sign some forms before you start work (you could print these from the linked page and send them to our HQ if you want). It's a good idea to show your parents also the Code of Safe Practice so they can be see that MHR takes safety very seriously.

The Watercress Line, The Railway Station, Alresford, Hampshire, England, SO24 9JG
Tel No: 01962 733810 Fax No: 01962 735448
e-mail: information@watercressline.co.uk

"So what makes you think I'd want to get all mucky climbing over some dirty old steam engine? "

You'll find that working on these lovely machines with enthusiastic people is hugely rewarding and enjoyable. Give it a try and you'll be hooked. Follow what's going on at MHR by browsing this website regularly : Latest News Loco Shed Latest About helping us

We look forward to working with you soon

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work" - Thomas Edison

From: Darren Pilton
Sent: 17 June 2006 20:28
Dear Tony
Myself and some of the other Rangers were at Ropley MPD today so I took some photos. In the photo of the three Rangers from right to left it is me (Darren Pilton), Matt Oakley and Olivier Collins. Nick Clark and two other Rangers were draining Can Pac's tender (as shown in pic) so it's ready for offloading. Meanwhile I, Matt and Ollie steamed the Black 5 ready for tomorrow's Father Day Special. The last photo is Bittern inside the shed, looking slighty more complete.
Darren Pilton
M.H.R Ranger
One Two Three Four

Heritage Railway have an article (p59) in their January 2005 issue about our young volunteers

Watercress Rangers Newsletter, May 2007

The Rangers have been going from strength to strength and gradually rising in numbers. Most of my time is spent at Ropley with the most dirtiest, greasy, chatty bunch of ‘monkeys’ or is it ‘Hobbits’ that you could possibly imagine.

What a crowd. There is now a regular group of 10 to 12 who turn up most Saturdays and some Sundays and most days during their holidays from about 8.00am onwards. They spend all day gradually getting dirtier and dirtier through a range of jobs from cleaning out the ash pit, helping dismantle locos in line for rebuild or repair, cleaning their favourite engines ( they all have at least one they call ‘their own’), to helping staff light them up or keep an eye on them when simmering in the yard. They love every minute. All of us can be proud of the way they diligently grease up and polish anything that moves. These are the guys who are the future of the Mid Hants. It’s great to see just how much time the adult volunteers and staff have for them. Nothing is too much trouble even when they need forgiving for putting their ‘foot in it’ from time–to-time. A metaphorical clip round the ear helps too!!

Rangers start at the very bottom, just as they did in the good old days of steam, and work their way up; doing many jobs that their elders won’t or can’t do. Even I feel my age when I see then crawling under locos and in and out of fireboxes and smoke boxes. I daren’t follow!!! They go in clean and come out looking like a mobile bit of soot apart from the white patch where they have had their goggles on and the white ring around their nose and mouth from the mask!!!

Rangers get trained and work towards a restricted PTS (personal track safety) certificate. Most will know (or think they know) how to fire and drive a locomotive in theory even if they haven’t done it for real. For the very keen ones, they get ‘homework’ from the regulars on issues such as how an injector works or what check valves do to signalling. There’s a super bunch of permanent staff, regulars, drivers and firemen at Ropley who bend over backwards to encourage the Rangers and share with them all they know – even telling the boys to shut up and listen when enthusiasm gets the better of them.

Every single one of the Rangers at Ropley can’t wait until their 16th birthday when they can apply and hopefully start learning to be cleaner on the footplate. All the Ropley Rangers want to be a driver one day and get onto the mainline. Already a number of ex-Rangers are on the footplate and our most senior and knowledgeable Rangers - Tom Homewood, Ollie Collins and Darren Pilton, to name just three, are due to turn 16 in the next few months and are ready to move on. It’s great to see the way they look after the younger and new Rangers. Others such as Nick, Mark, Seb, Alex, Andy, Alastair and Harry (sorry if I have missed some off – I know I have) are also keen every week. The Rangers come from far and wide; Guildford, Ash, London, Reading, Kent and further.

What many of them don’t know (or think they know) about injectors, superheaters, blowers, cut off, Arthurs, Nelsons, Spam Cans, Black Fives, Kings, Princesses, Coronations, Austerities and Prairies and anything else that makes a steam locomotive work or move is hardly worth thinking about. In fact, it sometimes gets a bit heated in The Manor at break and lunch times listening to their views on this and that, as their fingers get gradually cleaner as they munch their way through their pies and sandwiches – what ever happened to washing before eating???? Some of the guys are starting to make their own 5 inch live steam locomotives and a few own their own already and drive them regularly.

Obviously, there are far more Rangers than these guys. There are those who work on the stations, in the Buffet, seeing to passengers and many other jobs. I never seem to get time to see all these hard working youngsters. If you are interested in helping with the Rangers in any capacity then please drop me a line at Alresford. You do not have to do every week – just once a month would be fine.

Keith Homewood

Watercress Rangers Newsletter, February 2005

Welcome to all for the New Year and new ranger leader. For those who don't know me my name's Jack Baigent and I have now taken full reins of the Ranger Group. I'm 18 years old, and currently training for a job with SouthWest Trains, and I'm a happy family man with my wonderful girlfriend Charlotte and our angel of a daughter Aimee-Lee.

Since my taking hold of the Rangers new personnel have joined us:
Ailith Morrey, who will be trekking in from Reading to work in loco dept,
Billy Neal and Peter Novis also join Ailith in Loco.
Carys Redman-White joins the ranks too, following her brother Nye who is now one of the more established Rangers.

For those who will be working with the groups at Ropley you haven't quite got rid of Mr Pretious as he is going to be assisting me with supervisory aids for work parties along with my brother Tom and Ailith's father Rex.

Any other parents wishing to give up a few of their weekends are welcome to come and help assist me as I can guarantee that Mark or Tom will worm their way out of helping sometime! :-)

At the end of the year I will be giving prizes to the most hardworking Rangers (a new idea to get you all working!) This will take place at the annual safety talk and it will be decided by Staff in other departments, such as loco, catering, and station to name a few.

Watercress Rangers Newsletter, April 2003

Well after many complaints from the Rangers that the Web page has not been updated for a long time, here is an update.
Since December last year three Rangers have turned sixteen but have stayed with the Mid-Hants Railway and eleven new Rangers have consequently signed up. During the Christmas period the Rangers helped a great deal with distribution of presents to all of the younger children who had come to see Santa. They all entered into the spirit by dressing up in the pantomime style costumes playing Mr Holly, Jack Frost and even Tinkerbell.
After the New Year had passed and normality returned I was approached by one of the Directors to repaint some wagons for the Demonstration Goods Train. Since then we have completed four wagons with the chassis black and prepared up several others for painting at a later date.
For the week prior to the Easter Thomas The Tank Engine Event the Rangers spent the first day down at Ropley making a start on the cleaning and preparation of the engines for the Thomas event. On the Sunday we were down at Medstead & Four Marks station painting up a two-plank wagon which will be used in the Goods train for Douglas in mid week. We also set to prepare some more wagons up for the next time we were painting.
For the Monday through till Good Friday we spent a day on each engine cleaning them all up and making them look presentable.
On Monday we did Thomas with three Rangers in attendance. Two of which were new Rangers. There was also five more down at Alresford helping to clean the coaching stock for the event. On Tuesday we cleaned the Standard Class 5 No. 73096 and as soon as we had finished cleaning it Duncan the Painter came out with some magnetic covers for the cab side and tender to put it in the guise of No. 3 Henry The Green Engine. On Wednesday we cleaned Douglas and made a start on the Ivatt No. 41312. As the group on Wednesday was a small group the Rangers also got to help to light up the Ivatt Tank under the supervision of Keith Loughlin. Thursday was a busy day as we had a group down from the Didcot Railway Centre consisting of two of their supervisors and nine youths. With the Rangers as well there was at least twenty of us cleaning up the Ivatt tank, the 9F and we made a start on James the Red Engine. We also had a group painting some of the wagons for Douglas's Goods Train.
On Good Friday we were there a little earlier to assist with sending out the engines for the days duty and once the yard was clear of engines we continued with James and had a relaxing day to round the week up. On the Tuesday one of our Rangers turned Sixteen so happy birthday to Chris Pearce. This now means that he can now work towards the footplate and gain more experience on and around the railway.
I would like to close by passing on my thanks the supervisors who helped me throughout the week. So to Jack Baigent, Ruth Cooper, Paul Hamilton and Ian Robinson thank you for all of your assistance.

Watercress Rangers Newsletter, March 2003

There have been nine new Rangers joining the ranks and three that have turned sixteen and moved on to the adult membership core. Sadly one Ranger who was a foster child has been re-homed to a new family in the West Country has also left us but on the up side he was able to get a place on the West Somerset Railway and has settled in well.

The working pattern for this year will be more intense with extra working parties thrown in along the way to give more Rangers a chance to be more involved in the maintenance and running of steam engines and the railway as a whole. I have been asked by several heads of departments to try to bring the demonstration goods train back up to spec. In some cases this only requires a simple clean down in others it is a little more involved. There are indeed lots of wagons on the railway and unfortunately as they are all parked next to trees and shrubs, birds nest in them, moss grows on them and we have to clean them before we can paint them! We recently had a small group of Rangers helping to clean up "Toad the Brakevan" for our Easter Thomas the Tank Engine Gala. It was an involved job of cleaning off all of the plant life and preparing the surfaces for painting on the following weekend.

For the Rangers over the next few months there are various working parties as well as opportunities for exchange trips with other railways youth groups to try to keep the interest of railways paramount in the youths as they are the future of preservation. Last August we had a working party up at Ropley and a particular Ranger had just come back from holiday in a sunny part of the world and as he was last to arrive he got last pickings of the jobs. The worst one in effect ,and this did not put him off as he came back for the next working party, and early I might add. Its people like him that we need more of.

I feel that we at the Mid-Hants Railway are the premier attraction in the South of England and have a potential to improve further to this by giving our Rangers more interesting tasks to do as and when they have proved they are trustworthy and dedicated. This will also help to recruit new Rangers and keep it going as a popular and worthwhile pastime for these young adults.

Watercress Rangers Illustrated Newsletter, September 2002

It has certainly been a busy summer for the rangers at the Mid-Hants. With six new Rangers joining the ranks it has been most pleasing to hear the responses from other longer standing members of the railway sing their praises. I won't mention any names but they know who they are and thank you for all your support.

As I have already mentioned it has been a busy period and on July 27th I took a working party to Didcot Railway Centre to see some real engines (apologies to any Southern fanatics but don't worry; I have heard all the meanings of GWR, my favourite is "Gresley Was Right"). We departed Alton in Alan Fairbrother's bus at around 0730 and we arrived at Didcot at about 0900 in time to see the King joining to our own mainline train to the West Somerset Railway. After the King had departed we proceeded to the Railway Centre and had a briefing with their youth group about all the jobs for the day and between Karl Huber (Didcot Youth leader) and myself we divided them up equally.

Four of our Rangers and myself went help with re-laying part of the track on the incline to the coaling stage. This included lifting out the rail and then with yokes we took out the old rotting sleepers and the ones we could not lift out, we shovelled out. By about twelve thirty we had all the new sleepers in situ and decided it was time for lunch. We were provided with a hot meal and drinks and then it was back to the grind stone to finish the job of lifting the rail back into the sleepers and raising the sleepers where necessary using pinch bars and jacks. The biggest problem we had was the last section of rail which had expanded in the heat of the sun, so when we came to put it back in one end was not going to budge, so we got a bigger mallet and eventually the rail dropped into place. The other four Rangers were split into two two's and one pair were working down at the broad gauge station on some unusual wagons, and the other two were repainting an oil tank wagon into black. During the afternoon the Rangers were also given the chance to have a go on the regulator of one of their smaller engines on the branch demonstration line. The engine was No.1338 an 0-4-0 saddle tank. The rangers were of course under the supervision of a Didcot crew. But I am pleased the girls also had a go at the regulator trying to show that the women are as good as the men. There was no "kangaroo coal" or "stalling" so not bad at all to Rebecca Staple and Rachel Sumner.

The other six Rangers who attended were Andrew Driver, Phillip Hathaway, Alec McCloskey, Christopher Pearce, Andrew Stonor and Simon Wiseman.

A thank you should also be extended to Karl Huber and the people of Didcot for allowing us to visit their Railway Centre. I am pleased to say that they will be paying us a return visit next Easter. So with this in mind I am looking to arrange a working week with the Rangers the week prior to the Thomas event so I need as many jobs as possible from all departments to involve the Rangers and the Didcot Youth Group.

The Rangers have also been involved with the repaint of "Henrys log wagon" at Medstead at the request of Denis Grace and the same day we had a party of five Rangers doing jobs around the station for Keith Brown the stationmaster.

Although the wagon was completed in the day sadly Denis Grace was unable to acquire the logs in time and alas the wagon was not available for use on the Thomas Event. But I have now received a few requests for the Rangers to help with the repaint of the wagons in the demonstration goods train and I am also trying to get hold of all the people from WACAW regarding some restoration work to be carried out on their vehicles. I have an enthusiastic bunch of Rangers and it is not always easy to find jobs for them to do so any one who has a job ideal for the Rangers then please contact me on 01420 88005.

Prior to, during and after the Thomas Event there have been lots of working parties on the railway at Ropley with loco cleaning and light maintenance as well as the repaint of a wagon at Medstead & Four Marks as well as a working party to help with site care at Medstead.

On Sunday August 24th I took four Rangers to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway to see their Annual Steam Extravaganza. We travelled from Petersfield Station to Portsmouth Harbour and then by Catamaran to Ryde Pier Head and from their to Smallbrook Junction by 1938 tube stock. After paying for our tickets we had a short wait and Terrier No.W8 Freshwater pulled in, hauling four bogie vehicles from the LBSC and SECR to take us to Haven Street where the steam Rally was being held. As well as the railway there was also a Mods and Rockers display of bikes, a jousting display on horseback and a traction engine display. This included a beer race which was running three traction engines from one end of the arena to the other and back stopping every hundred feet to take on further refreshments before returning to the wheel. Once this was over there was a tug of war between Elizabeth a fifteen ton traction Engine and all the Mods and Rockers and they won even with the hand brake on!

I would like to close by welcoming some new Rangers and saying farewell to those who have turned sixteen. The two that have departed the Rangers but not the railway are Lucy Huber who is now a junior porter on Alresford Platform Station. The other Ranger who will be leaving us is extremely well known throughout the railway for her comical wit and hard working nature; this obviously comes from her mother who also works on the railway. The ranger is of course Belinda Billie Jacobs who I am pleased to announce is heading towards the Loco department alongside her mother Rosie. Good luck and I hope all goes well for you on the footplate. The new Rangers are: Jack Baigent, Tom Baigent, John Harris, Alexander Hurrell, James Morley, David Perrin and Michael Webb. All of these new rangers are already active in various departments throughout the railway from traffic to loco, shops and the dining trains.

If you are between 12 and 16 years and would like to join in, contact the Rangers Manager (Keith Homewood) via our Membership Secretary (mhrps_membership@watercressline.co.uk) at Alresford station. You'd need to ask your parents to sign some forms before you start work (you could print these from the linked page and send them to our HQ if you want).