C O N T E X T 1 2 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 2 33 S Alresford study tour Inspired by the recent issue of Context with a theme of travel, I booked the Saturday morning tour to Alresford and the Mid Hants Railway. Michael White, conservation officer for Winchester City Council, ushered us onto a Bedford OD coach which had been in continuous service since 1949, and we chugged off to Alresford. On a steep hill leavingWinchester we did wonder at one point if we would need to get out and push. The railway at Alresford was like stepping back in time. It was an authentic experience. Sometimes ‘heritage’ sites can be let down by a lack of attention to good detail. Some can be downright tacky. Every detail had been carefully considered, including gaslight fittings on all platform buildings and lampposts. The railway, run by a charitable trust for 30 years, has 300 volunteers, including engineers, train drivers, station managers and buffet staff. I took a trip on the steam train to Ropley. Here I found another station like a 1950s film set, complete with a reclaimed ticket office, waiting room and former station master’s living room, where an old television played vintage train films. Classic railway posters completed the scene. At Ropley there was a recently extended engine house, built with a £600,000 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant, where locomotives are restored. I was bowled over by the number of teenagers working here. Andrew Connor (13) and his friend (12) told me that they were Ranger volunteers, and could go on to become footplate crew and learn to drive engines. At 18, there is an engineering apprenticeship scheme. Andrew said it was ‘a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ and really good fun. It was good to see youngsters not only actively participating in the care of heritage assets but also having an opportunity to gain qualifications as a result of it. We returned to a building which had been partially rebuilt with HLF funding. The external shell was completed by contractors and the interior by the volunteers. Mark Walden, the buildings manager, provided food for thought when he told us about the development of this railway line. Buildings and structures, defunct of use, which otherwise may been lost, have been re-sited among original buildings and along the line over 30 years.This includes whole buildings like the timber-clad buffet at Alresford, lampposts from Cornwall and several bridges. None is listed and the railway maintains permitted development rights as statutory undertaker, so much work is undertaken without the need for consents. Perhaps this is just as well: otherwise this gem of a Saturday tours Delegates outside the Winchester Royal Hotel awaiting coaches for the Saturday tours, including on the 1949 Bedford OD (below).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=