Hastings Diesels Ltd’s Alpine Sunset railtour, Part 4:
Cab view along the length of the Mid-Hants Watercress Line from Alton to Alresford, with *back-cab soundtrack*. Filmed from our preserved Hastings DEMU on Saturday 30 September 2017, during our Alpine Sunset railtour.
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In this video we cover the connection between National Rail and the Mid-Hants at Alton, and a non-stop run along the full 10-mile length of the preserved railway. The Mid-Hants is famous for its steep gradients, with 3 miles of 1 in 60 uphill in this direction from Alton to Medstead. The descent to Ropley and on to Alresford is longer though not all quite as steep. The line was known as “The Alps” on account of its hilly nature, and our outing coincided with the Mid-Hants Railway celebrating 60 years since the line was first operated by DEMUs - indeed we see their preserved sister DEMU, Hampshire unit 1125, running ahead of us to Alresford. The video is affected by rain during part of the ascent from Butts Junction towards Medstead, but we hope this does not impair your enjoyment of the journey.
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Video footage is from an unattended unmonitored forward-facing cab-camera in motor coach 60116 Mountfield. Because our driver was being ‘talked over the road’ by a Mid-Hants Route Conductor, and it is not possible to publish such material, the soundtrack you hear on this video is instead an accurately synchronised audio recording made in the rear cab.
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This outing began at Hastings and ran via Tonbridge (see part 1), Redhill (see part 2) and Guildford to Alton (see part 3) and onto the preserved Mid-Hants Watercress Line to Alresford. Following a shuttle service to and from Alton, it then retraced its steps to Aldershot; it ran via Camberley to Ascot, then to Reading, before returning via Wokingham to Guildford where the outward route was then retraced.
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This is part 4, and part 5 will take us back ‘over the Alps’ to Alton.
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0:00 - ALTON station
1:40 - National Rail / Mid-Hants Railway connection
2:26 - Meon Loop
4:08 - onto single line
6:21 - Butts Junction (site of)
13:35 - Brick Kiln Lane overbridge
15:27 - Boyneswood Summit (652 feet above sea level)
16:30 - Medstead & Four Marks station
26:11 - Ropley yard and station
35:00 - ALRESFORD station
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Visit the Mid-Hants Railway's website:
watercressline.co.uk/
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Video, soundtrack and captions © Copyright 2017-2019 Hastings Diesels Limited.
www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/
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Equipment: video by GoPro Hero3+ camera with focus modification, suction-mount and extra batteries; back-cab audio by Tascam DR-44WL courtesy of / moretojack ; video production by Da Vinci Resolve (free).
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Here are annotated extracts from the Network Rail Section Appendix:
Outward - www.dropbox.com/s/p3mna0coul2...
Return - www.dropbox.com/s/ijzt3beej98...
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11 июл 2024