Mid Hants Steam Railway Loco Shed

Introduction

View across the vale from Ropley Loco Yard (4th December 2002): Tony Wood Download this photo for your desktop wallpaper (142KB J-peg) More from here

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The Watercress Line is a standard-gauge heritage steam railway running over ten miles of steeply-graded scenic track in mid-Hampshire, England.

Because of our gradients, we use steam locomotives mostly of the higher power classes and they are worked hard. This is particularly exciting to visiting enthusiasts and for our working volunteers, but creates a lot of maintenance work. Steam engines always were high-maintenance machines but in their heyday labour was plentiful and cheap, so this was unimportant. Nowadays it would be financially unviable to operate them without the unpaid help of dedicated volunteers.  Our trains in action

Riveting the smokebox

Worldwide, there are many enthusiasts of steam railways with a constant and avid interest in what we do. Many are heavily involved in their own local railways, but large numbers regret through age, location, or health, an inability to give practical help to the cause of keeping steam alive. Unsurprisingly, for these it is the locomotives that get most attention and we see guests fascinated by what goes on at our Ropley MPD (Motive Power Depot). They like to follow every step of our restoration and maintenance processes. Often visitors are disappointed to have missed something special by just hours or days. For these, and for armchair enthusiasts everywhere, we maintain the Loco Shed sections of this website.

Gavin in the smokebox of #92212 during its heavy general overhaul 2008/9

Browsers interested in the practicalities of maintenance or renovation will find many years of our work illustrated with photos and web-movies via this website's Loco Shed Page Archives. There are sections on the complete restoration of such locomotives as: Bulleid West Country, Ivatt  2MT, Riddles BR Std 5MT, Stannier Black Five #45379 and Gresley A4. For students there is an illustrated set on How A Steam Railway Locomotive Works

Assembling an injector

The commercial side of this website show in detail what we offer to our customers including sections with photos and videos of our past and present  mainline operations and of our own special events, e.g. Thomas the Tank Engine, 1940s Re-enactments, Steam Enthusiast Galas

Further pages cover other aspects of the work needed to maintain a fully operational railway (e.g. carriages, permanent way, station restorations, facilities), and use of our railway as a location for film or TV

Loco superheater header and elements

Evening at Ropley Loco Yard         Photo (22nd December 2006): Craig Semplis

 Latest News from MHR Ropley Loco Shed

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 Latest News at Mid Hants Railway's Ropley Loco Works

Our trains in action (web-movies)

Loco Shed webpage Archives

Carriage Restorations and Maintenance   ... Earlier ... Earlier

Goods wagon restorations and demonstration goods train

Wagons stock list as at Feb 2009 (.xls)

Diesel Locos at Mid Hants Railway

 Latest News at the Mid Hants Railway     ... Archives (Index)

Guide to Mid Hants Railway (The Watercress Line)

Spectacular dawn and dusk scenes at Ropley

How to get to the Watercress Line