Hampshire Unit on MHR

On Saturday 24^th July I was rostered to be Guard on the Mid Hants Railway Preservation Society (MHRPS) owned Hampshire Unit number 1125. As part of the MHR Open Day the unit was due to run 3 round trips from Alton to Alresford. Also in service were these steam locos. Standard Class 5 No. 73096 on a demonstration freight train and U Class No. 31806 & Black Five No. 45379 on passenger trains.

1125 arrives at Alton having worked empty from Alresford

The first departure from Alton was at 1032. As thee is only a single track between eack station, the Signalman issues a single line token to the driver as his authority to travael over that particular section of track. There is a local instruction on MHR that Guards carry the single line token from Alton to Alresford in that direction only.

An Alton to Medstead single line token

The token is passed by the Signalman in a leather pouch

We did three round trips Alton to Alresford and passenger numbers were good all day

Below are some other photos I took during the day.

The Guards van. My 'office' for the day

Another view of 1125 at Alton

At Medstead and Four Marks with demonstration goods train in the other platform

Now some of you may have noticed from the photos that one end of the unit has a black triangle but not the other. This was to signify which end the Guards van was to aid station staff loading luggage etc.

Below are 2 photos of the unit in BR service as number 205025 and are (c)Tim Shore

A history of Hampshire units and 1125 is shown below (with thanks to Jim Russell).

HAMPSHIRE UNIT DEMU’s

The Hampshire Units were one of several classes of Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) built by the Southern Region of British Railways.

The Hampshire Units were designated as Class 205 under the Total Operations Processing System (TOPS).

The Hampshire Units were build in three batches (although technically the last batch were Berkshire Units with smaller destination blind windows and a larger Guards van).

The units were based on the 2HAP Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) that were being built at the same time. The DEMU’s were built at Eastleigh although the frames were constructed at Ashford. They were powered by a 500hp English Electric 4SRKT (4 cylinder, Supercharged, Re-engineered, Type K, for Traction) fitted with a Napier MS100 Turbocharger.

As originally built the units were not fitted with any silencer on the exhaust system although silencers were quickly fitted to pacify people who lived in the vicinity of railway lines that the units worked over!

The engines were uprated from 500hp to 600hp by replacing the turbo charger with a Napier MS200 and making modifications to the fuel system.

The units had a design life of 15 years as it was envisaged that the lines over which they operated would have either been electrified or closed by the time that the units planned life cycle had been exhausted. In actual fact the units completed 47 years main line service with several examples passing into the hands of Heritage Railways and are now approaching 50 years old – a real tribute to British engineering.

1101 – 1118 were built in 1957 as two car units but were later fitted with a centre trailer coach to take the units up to three coaches.

1119 – 1122  were also built as two car units in 1958 which were later augmented to three coaches.

1123 – 1126 were built in the latter part of 1959 as three car units.

1127 – 1133 (Berkshire Units) were built as three car units in 1962.

 

UNIT 1125 (formerly 205025)

Unit 1125 was ordered as a three car unit and entered service between December 1959 & February 1960. The first recorded working of 1125 on the Mid Hants Line was  on 21^st April 1960 when it worked 1453 Southampton Terminus to Alton and 1553 Alton to Portsmouth services. Following re-gearing in October 1960 1125 was regularly seen on the line.

1125 suffered an engine room fire whilst at Alton on 30^th August 1971 and was recovered back to Eastleigh by a Class 33 locomotive.

1125 was on duty on the Mid Hants line on 4^th February 1973, the last day of BR services. On this occasion it was coupled to unit 1121 to make up a five coach train. 1125 left the Mid Hants line on the last day whilst working the 2002 Alton to Southampton service, it would not return again until May 2004.

In June 1986 the unit was renumbered in line with the TOPS computer system and became 205025.

In April 1998 205025 was reduced to a two coach unit with the removal of its centre coach.

In September 1998 205025 was sent to Eastleigh for an overhaul where it received the engine that it uses in preservation. The unit was also painted in Connex yellow and white livery.

In 2003 new Class 170 diesel units started to appear on the Oxted – Uckfield line which started the final decline of the DEMU’s. 205025 was withdrawn at Selhurst depot in February 2004 when it became due for a bogie overhaul.

The unit was sold to the Mid Hants Railway in May 2004 and was delivered to Alton by rail and under its own power on 18 May 2004.

I was due to guard the unit when it arrived at MHR on delivery as I was the Guards roster clerk at the time. Unfortunately the date was changed to 18/5/04 and I had to roster another guard as I was attending my trade unions Annual Delegate Conference.

The units would have normally displayed the following headcodes:

16 = Alton to Southampton Terminus (Mon – Sat)

76 = Alton to Southampton Central (Sun only.  Southampton Terminus was closed on Sundays)

43 = Alton to Southampton Central (from 1967 – 1973)