Hastings Diesels Ltd’s *Alpine Sunset* railtour, Part 5:
Cab view along the length of the Mid-Hants Watercress Line from Alresford to Alton, with *back-cab soundtrack*. Filmed from our preserved Hastings DEMU on Saturday 30 September 2017, during the return leg of our Alpine Sunset railtour.
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In this video we have a non-stop run along virtually the full 10-mile length of the preserved railway, from Alresford to Alton; we had to wait outside Alton for other train movements and signalling processes to be completed before negotiating the boundary between the Mid-Hants Railway and Network Rail. The Mid-Hants is famous for its steep gradients, with 2 miles of 1 in 60 uphill in this direction above Ropley towards Medstead, and the line gains 389 feet of elevation between Alresford and the summit near Medstead. 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. “Schools” class steam loco 925 *Cheltenham* hauls the train out of Alton past us as we wait for the route onto Network Rail.
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Video footage is from an unattended unmonitored forward-facing cab-camera in motor coach 60118 Tunbridge Wells. 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 (see part 4). Following a shuttle service to and from Alton, it then retraced its steps via Alton (this part) 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 5; part 6 will take us towards Ascot.
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0:00 – ALRESFORD station
7:43 – Ropley station and yard
15:22 – Medstead & Four Marks station
17:28 – Boyneswood Summit (652 feet above sea level)
24:07 – Butts Junction (site of)
29:54 – Steam train oncoming from Alton
32:18 – Mid-Hants Railway / National Rail connection
33:22 – ALTON station
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Visit the Mid-Hants Railway's website:
https://watercressline.co.uk/
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Video, soundtrack and captions © Copyright 2017–2019 Hastings Diesels Limited.
https://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 https://twitter.com/MoreToJack ; video production by Da Vinci Resolve (free).
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Here are annotated extracts from the Network Rail Section Appendix:
Outward – https://www.dropbox.com/s/p3mna0coul2u58q/2017-09-30_AlpineSunset-sectional-appendix-OUTWARD-annotated.pdf?dl=0
Return – https://www.dropbox.com/s/ijzt3beej98pux8/2017-09-30_AlpineSunset-sectional-appendix-RETURN-annotated.pdf?dl=0
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