MOLPRO+MRCC run; is it stuck or proceeding okay

As a complete novice trying to make sense of the output is hard work and what to do in the case of a crash so I would appreciate some info on the progress of this job.
If the latter is a restart possible?

It is strange. The molpro interface should generate some input at this point as it was done at the first mrcc calling, then mrcc should start running. Probably the I/O is buffered, and a bigger bunch is coming later. Alternatively, something has got stuck. You should check the machine if something is running there and you can also check the /localscratch/698298/mrcc_76468/mrcc.out file, into which mrcc should write.

Okay I have discovered how to do that (checking the mrcc.out file) which I will do as that second call to MRCC is implemented. In general is there a restart capability between MOLPRO & MRCC so that I can initiate the job at the end of the last successful routine?

For that purpose you should specify the directory where mrcc is executed. E.g., to restart a CCSDT calculation from converged CCSD amplitudes you need:
mrcc,method=ccsd,dir=mrccdirectory;
mrcc,method=ccsdt,dir=mrccdirectory,rest=1;