If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

Project Wareham

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by David R, Jul 31, 2015.

  1. buzby2

    buzby2 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2009
    Messages:
    1,624
    Likes Received:
    534
    Location:
    Swanage
    Presumably BR Mk 1 Corridor Second (SK) 24127 - After conversion was re-designated SK(O).
     
  2. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

    Joined:
    Apr 16, 2009
    Messages:
    8,068
    Likes Received:
    5,165
    Considering that we're waiting for the trial operation, probably next year, and that no-one can know how well or badly that will go until it happens, it's remarkable how active this thread is. Maybe most of us should stop coming here; but then how will we know when there is a real development?
     
    Sunnieboy, Shaggy, Andy Moody and 2 others like this.
  3. Daddsie71b

    Daddsie71b Member Friend

    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2013
    Messages:
    770
    Likes Received:
    638
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    34091
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Wait for the official press release?
     
  4. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2018
    Messages:
    1,339
    Likes Received:
    421
    Location:
    Surrey
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    More for the main thread than Project Wareham, Although the DMU may have a wheelchair facility as it was refurbished?.
    From your comment on the attachment.
    http://srstock.co.uk/attachments.php?id=20301
    "Unfortunately, at the time of writing (2021), the coach is not in regular service again although it does sometimes get an outing in Galas, etc."
    Do you know what's stopping it being from service?
     
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2022
  5. 5914

    5914 New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2007
    Messages:
    175
    Likes Received:
    520
    Though not entirely relevant to Project Wareham, I would assume that the reason is still seating capacity. With trains often running at reasonable/high capacity, and with train length limited to 5 coaches, seating capacity is an issue. Removing a coach with seating for up to 64 (in 16 bays of 4) seats and replacing it with one that has seating for up to 24 (in 4 bays of 6 - with parties reticent to share a compartment) is not fantastic commercial sense (or indeed good customer service) - especially when several of the brake coaches have had the luggage areas replaced with purpose built disabled areas accommodating 2 or more wheelchairs and a bench seat for accompanying non-wheelchair passengers. When I was a guard, and the coach was still in use, it tended to get used more by groups of cyclists - with wheelchair users preferring the converted areas of the brake coaches.
     
  6. buzby2

    buzby2 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2009
    Messages:
    1,624
    Likes Received:
    534
    Location:
    Swanage
    I have no idea as I'm not in the C&W department. I could guess that, as it was last overhauled in 2010, it might need some refurbishment perhaps. Sorry not to be able to help.
    I have to agree with 5914 on it's clientele. When I was a Driver (some years ago now) it did seem to have lots of bikes in it on many journeys. The seats installed in some former luggage areas were appreciated by those accompanying wheelchair bound passengers.
     
  7. oliversbest

    oliversbest Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2011
    Messages:
    814
    Likes Received:
    121
    www.TransportXtra.com Excellent arguments from professors on the costs of Public Transport,walking,cycling etc. The very simple premise of more use of these modes of transport leads to less costs overall to the public purse.
    Regarding disabled seating etc. Do the disabled get a view from the former luggage areas? The viewfrom the train is one of the major reasons for travelling isn't it? I am sure that the relevant local authorities will be less concerned about SRC bottom line than conforming to best practice for accommodating disabled persons,and just as surely would not condone making such passengers change trains at Corfe on a Wareham and Swanage service.
     
  8. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2011
    Messages:
    25,492
    Likes Received:
    23,721
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Grantham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    You obviously aren't familiar with how often local authorities are sued for failing to provide or maintain services, or what authority they do or do not have over an operator.

    For the nth time, there may or may not be value in the provision of non-road forms of transport. But a rural council in Dorset has minimal influence and less budget to drive such change.
     
  9. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Having endured trips into and out of Swanage via both Corfe and the chain ferry, it always astounds me that no-one has managed a successful boat sevice linking Boscombe, Bounemouth, Swanage and maybe even Totland Piers.
     
  10. johnofwessex

    johnofwessex Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2015
    Messages:
    9,185
    Likes Received:
    7,226
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Thorn in my managers side
    Location:
    72
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Cosens ran just such a service and various people have tried it since then
     
  11. oliversbest

    oliversbest Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2011
    Messages:
    814
    Likes Received:
    121

    which brings us back to that diamond in the rough;that vastly underused asset reconstructed at great pains and with much input of volunteer labour and members funds. The railway from Worgret Jct to Norden. upcoming Trials 2023(promised!)
     
  12. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2015
    Messages:
    6,078
    Likes Received:
    4,892
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Swanage
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Well even the boat to Poole only runs in the summer and then only five times a day and none before 09:15 from Poole or 10:30 from Swanage. Not sure who would want to use such a service other than tourists? There are days when the Poole boat cannot dock due to rough seas even in the bay, so a trip past Old Harry may not be that pleasant on those days. Also at £19 not cheap either, which brings us back to that bus pass issue again.
     
  13. Musket The Dog

    Musket The Dog New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2022
    Messages:
    165
    Likes Received:
    380
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Engineer
    Location:
    Leicestershire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Additionally to what has already been stated you'd have also needed to make the pier at Totland serviceable again. Someone seems to be doing quite a thorough job of it currently, but (I imagine) unfortunately for boat traffic the plan appears to be to stick a holiday let on the end of it. Then you've still got the issue of arriving in Totland, lovely though it is, is probably as far away as it is possible to be from everything else on the island, excepting if you'd have been booted off at the Needles. Mind you, the island does have a very good bus service... I wonder where else that might be useful? ;)
     
  14. ghost

    ghost Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    May 29, 2006
    Messages:
    3,967
    Likes Received:
    5,064
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    N.Ireland
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I thought you said the primary reason for travelling was for commuting? Make your mind up
    As @Gladiator 5076 has said, the bus route seems to have been proved to be much more economic and can serve a greater population than a train service. Why are you so insistent on turning the SR into a commuter railway and putting its very existence under threat?

    Why can the SR not be a successful heritage railway from Swanage to Norden with occasional incoming charters from the mainline and, if financially viable, occasional trains from Swanage to Wareham?
    The main line link can also be used to bring in materials and plant for PW work. Please explain what is wrong with this vision (without reference to a 40 year old prospectus)
     
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2022
  15. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I do recall the approach roads to the Chain Ferry having a bus lane, with said buses getting priority loading .... much to the irritation of car drivers! Is that still the case?

    It's a pity sea conditions round the UK don't allow the same ferry operations you see in many places in Greece, where a boat comes prow in and lowers a gangplank directly onto the beach. Much quicker than all that faffing about tying up and allows railway-like 'dwell times'.
     
  16. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2015
    Messages:
    6,078
    Likes Received:
    4,892
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Swanage
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Not really a bus lane as such, but the bus does get to go to the front of the queue (or wherever the ferry guys want it loaded on the boat).
    Sandbanks side it goes down the outside lane of the queue on the one way section, but on the Studland side it is a little less clear. Buses normally drive down the outside of the queue before the toll gates, but during very busy times of high summer this is less easy to do and I have seen them stuck in the queue. After the toll gates easy to go down the outside of the queue unless the ferry is unloading.
     
    30854 likes this.
  17. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2018
    Messages:
    1,339
    Likes Received:
    421
    Location:
    Surrey
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I notice local buses now have smart cards as bus passes, so bus companies can work out how many journeys were made and claim back money from the council, so if the Wareham train service with it's superior ride over the bus starts the Council may save some costs, (I admit clutching at straws to justify the train service).

    But the main use of the service will be to interconnect with SWR services at Wareham so will give SWR an extra leisure destination and should reduce some congestion of the A351, so hopefully the trial will go ahead in 2023 and be complementary to the existing bus service.

    Good the class 117 is in regular use this week and will do the evening runs on the Road to Rail event. Although the refurbished Class 117 DMU has not yet made it to Wareham, the 121 has when it was delivered by rail, and found this picture on the SR website.

    [​IMG]
     
    oliversbest and 30854 like this.
  18. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    It has to be said that joined-up inter-modal timetabling doesn't enjoy the greatest track record in this country. If any of the parties involved in shifting folks to and from Purbeck fancy takimg that as a challenge, go for it, prove me wrong ..... please!

    Loving that photo btw!
     
  19. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2018
    Messages:
    1,339
    Likes Received:
    421
    Location:
    Surrey
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    It is one of Andrew P.M. Wright's photos from the SR website
     
  20. oliversbest

    oliversbest Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2011
    Messages:
    814
    Likes Received:
    121
    Wasn't that ditty made for gricers.Norden Gates defenders and Steam Railway foot Stampers "You can always look on the Bright side of Life!!
     

Share This Page