Swanage Railway General Discussion

Are you the man who is volunteering for the role of TTI at Swanage then? If there isn't a volunteer for this available then there isn't a volunteer available. What do you do - suspend the service? You surely hadn't forgotten that heritage railways depend on volunteers and in many areas they are in short supply. A thoughtless criticiasm IMHO.

Or are you just advertising the fact that if you are so inclined you might get away with travelling for free.

Peter

 

That's a completely uncalled for remark. I have been to the railway many times and always pay even on the days I don't travel. Surely the train guard could have acted as TTI? Or one of the station staff of which there was more than one at each station. The chap at Corfe simply asked where we were going. I live 70 miles away. If I was closer I would volunteer.

 

70 miles is neither here nor there when it omes to volunteering. There are many people who live much greater distances than that. I know people who live inHolland who regularly volunteer in the UK as footplate crew and I personally spent 14 years on the Talyllyn, a good 160 miles away. Having said that, if you don't want to travel a distance, so be it but it is not a good excuse.

 

Not a good excuse to you maybe, but to many it is. Particularly if they have a line closer to home they can volunteer at.

 

I think that's a little harsh Steve. Some people just aren't as able to / comfortable with that long a drive either side of a long day of volunteering. Just because some people choose to do it, doesn't mean it isn't a valid reason not to join a particular line for other people. Especially with the cost of living crisis and the cost of fuel, some people might not be able to afford to be a volunteer at a railway that's 70 miles away because there just isn't room in their budget for the cost of the fuel for driving that kind of round trip regularly.

 

For some reason you seem to have it in for me. As it happens I have only just got back to being able to drive any sort of distance and must have someone with me. I have heart problems and had a mini stroke a few years back and was banned from driving completely for three months. I suggest you think before you post.

 

I would add that I now usually travel by train and bus to the Swanage Railway but in this occasion I was staying in Corfe with my wife and grown up son, which we do twice a year, bringing not only revenue to the railway but to the area as a whole

 

The Guard's function is one of safety of the train and its passengers, as such the guard needs to remain in his compartment and is unable to act in a revenue protection position. By "station staff" I assume that you are referring to the station porters who also have safety at the base of their training and do not have revenue protection experience. It would be possible to give then such training but that would then take them away from their main safety tasks on the platform. Our trains do carry TTI's who are volunteers, as are guards and porters, and like most heritage railways we have a shortage of volunteers.

 

I have seen people with the specific guard responsibility perform revenue work, on preserved railways and on the "big railway". I am also aware that the safety of passengers is not always best achieved by the guard remaining in their compartment, though to be fair that is less an issue on preserved railways.

For the clarity of myself and others, do I interpret you correctly that the Swanage rulebook specifically requires that the guard remains in their compartment during normal operation of a train in motion?

 

I'd be a very bored, lonely, and hungry guard if I had to stay in my Compartment all day! I usually arrange with my TTI that I do tickets on the 'short half' of the train. I don't really see why you'd need to be sat next to the setter and handbrake at all times.

 

Ok but wouldn’t it possible for one if the platform staff to ask to see tickets? As I said the chap at Corfe simply asked where we were going and most times we never get challenged. My only concern is revenue protection. Without fail all the staff we have had contact with over the years have been nice to talk to.

 

I appreciate that every rule book is different; and also that I am not a guard, but in ours at least it is clear that the normal position for a guard is in the brake van; and also it is explicit that the guard should not "collect or examine tickets except under special instruction". I think the logic of both rules is to make it explicit that the guard has a safety-critical role around the movement the train, and therefore shouldn't be distracted by carrying out other non safety-critical tasks - at least that is my interpretation.

Tom

 

Having acted as both Guard and TTI on SR in the past, I can only comment that on 5-car loco-hauled trains it is almost impossible to effectively undertake TTI duties whilst guard. Taking the up direction as an example:

Once the train has safely been observed leaving Swanage there is then the need to make an announcement. By then Herston is approaching, and there is a need to stay in the Guard's compartment in case there is anyone requesting this as a stop. Having passed Herston, there are then a few short minutes before an announcement needs to be made on approaching Harmans Cross.
Again, on leaving Harmans Cross there is not much time before making announcement for those leaving the train at Corfe Castle.
Between Corfe and Norden there is no time at all!​

It is different on a relatively lightly loaded 2-car DMU - and I often did the combined Guard/TTI duty on these. However, on any occasion when I was tempted to try both on a loco-hauled day-time train I never got through more than about half a coach between necessary guarding duties! With longer gaps between stations it might be possible - but the longest time between leaving a station/passing a request stop and arriving at the next is little more than a couple of minutes.

 

Thanks to you and others for the clarification on both rules and practicalities.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Just to echo that the best steam time I have ever recorded from Swanage to the HX home signal just before Haycrafts Lane is 7 mins 31. That same run took only 2 mins 12 to Victoria Avenue Bridge so as you say impossible really to do anything before HH, so you get at best maybe 4 minutes before the HX announcement. Coming back my best time from Corfe to Afflington Bridge is 2 mins 41, so maybe another minute before the HX announcement. Sure some trains will be slower, but you will not know that until it happens.

 

A variation of that old game "how many people can you get in a mini?" In this case how many in the smokebox of a U?
On a more serious note I only took this as I had to go down to Boots because as usual the 3 prescriptions I went to collect yesterday, only one of them was ready. Weather poor all day here, low cloud and rain and at 11:45 only 32 vehicles in the main car park and of those 3 were vans and 3 were camper vans. I suspect the railway may have not done very well today. Hopefully the rest of the weekend will be better.

 

At the back of my mind, 31806 had been due to have a boiler wash out so, perhaps, they were just tidying up things before putting in a warming fire.
It was in service today and seemingly working well on load 5.

 

Took over the 15:00 and 16:30 services yesterday from Eddystone, and as you say all steam services today. Eddystone was being worked on and about 16:35 did two LE runs up past the Swan Brook signal.
I guess off to the GWSR tomorrow?

 

A superb loco for their gala. I'm sure that the crews will appreciate her. [BJ]

 

New set of superheater elements fitted over the weekend.