23rd Oct 2020 in
We had a great time at the Autumn Gala last weekend, it was great to see the railway pulling together to put on an event again after such a long time and its been lovely to hear so much positive feedback ...
23rd Oct 2020 in Can Pac Blogs, Carriage Works
Well, what can I say other than welcome back? Before we go any further, I’d like to thank on behalf of all of us, everybody who has stepped up to the plate during this crazy year, especially our heroes in ...
16th Oct 2020 in Buildings
September Just as an example of the many ‘bits and bobs’ we get involved in along the line was the replacement of a glass panel in one of the bridge lanterns at Ropley footbridge. One of the glass ...
10th Sep 2020 in Buildings
August Having prepared the spiked railing panels and posts for the upside if the Northside Lane foot crossing we took all the items to site by Wickham Trolley to begin installation. We thought we would have a good number in the ...
5th Aug 2020 in
1 August Well, where were we. Since the lockdown came in rather suddenly, things have been a little quiet on the building and maintenance front, but that’s not to say everything was on hold. Some preparatory work was carried on with ...
15th Jul 2020 in Loco Wednesday Gang
Ropley; Wednesday 15th July; the "New Normal" is becoming the normal normal as a smaller but a no less enthusiastic numbers of both staff and volunteers set about a slightly delayed deep Spring clean around the yard and the sheds.. Mr Sibley ...
10th Jun 2020 in Loco Wednesday Gang
Ropley; 10th June. A very strange environment these days though with a lot more life about the place than last week as the railway starts to ready itself for welcoming passengers and volunteers in the not too distant future. Last week there ...
8th May 2020 in
Today, 8th May 2020 marks the 75th Anniversary of VE Day. We had planned a bank holiday event full of 1940s music, dancing, picnics and of course steam, instead we're marking the occassion online. One of our lovely volutneers Pete Reynolds ...
3rd Apr 2020 in Carriage Works
An exciting landmark in the life of the Watercress Line happened at the turn of March, when the first part of the Canadian Pacific Project was launched into traffic in the shape of Bulleid open third carriage, No. 1456. Built in December 1947 ...
27th Mar 2020 in Ropley Tuesday Gang
The regular volunteer Tuesday Gang are a small (usually about six of us) group of fine chaps who get a thrill from hitting steam locomotives with sledgehammers when required in the course of maintaining the beasts. We are tasked with various maintenance ...
18th Mar 2020 in Loco Wednesday Gang
Well, here we are again in the middle of March – a traditional time for writing a blog about the goings-on in Ropley workshop by the world-famous Wednesday Gang. What’s that? “World Famous”? Surely not! Well, ...
16th Mar 2020 in Wagon Group
An update on Wagon Group activities over the past few weeks... At Medstead BY S 653 has been out and about a bit, partly for a photo charter and partly down to Ropley for some vac cylinder work. It is now ...
5th Mar 2020 in Can Pac Blogs, Carriage Works
What shall we do now…? Carriage workshop blog, March 2020 Well, there we have it. Passengers have travelled in Bulleid open third 1456 for the first time since the mid to late 1960s! I don’t know exactly when 1456 went out of ...
20th Feb 2020 in Wagon Group
An update from the past few weeks on wagons... Well there's been a bit of publicity recently about the Flying Scotsman, but with the recent weather a lot of our attention has been with the Flying Sheets! We have quite a ...
12th Feb 2020 in Can Pac Blogs, Carriage Works
Things have been a bit up and down in the carriage workshop this month, literally! We’ve known for some time that we have a bit of remedial work to do on the bogies of Bulleid open-third 1456 before it can enter ...
30th Jan 2020 in Can Pac Blogs, Carriage Works
An exciting year ahead! Carriage workshop blog, January 2020 First off, a very happy new year to you all! This year is shaping up to be a very exciting one here at the Watercress Line, with our impending reopening through to Alton, a ...