Swanage Railway General Discussion

Day before Diesel Gala preview day led to some interesting activity.

The 73's approaching Arne Road, a busy Norden Gates, and the 73's on the rear of the 16:20 service from Norden. RTT said this was operated by 31806 which is
quite impressive given the second image.
The 17:00 was hauled by D6515 off to Eastleigh with 34028 on the back I noticed from the office when I heard the 33 "roar"

 

Spotted what looked like a class 40 (?) diesel in heritage green and a rake of maroon coaches from the A35 in Christchurch this afternoon. I assume that it was on it's way to the diesel gala this weekend

 

That will be D6515 with the LU 4TC set on what was due to be a railtour but became an ECS move.

 

Went to The Swanage today (11th May)

After watching Eddystone arrive and depart I watched the DMU complete with blue smoke arrive on the first Wareham service of the day.

It wasnt badly loaded. I got a seat at the back and enjoyed the view of the march and heath between Norden and Wareham, very different from the Swanage to Norden section.

The ride to Swanage was behind the driver, takes me back to the days of my youth, certainly it was the full DMU experience perfectly recreated.

One engine in the DMBS at the Swanage end seemed to be cutting out at stations before being 'bump started' as the train pulled away.

Who would have thought of a 117 on the main line in 2022.

After a quick trip into Swanage, because the book shop was closed on Thursdays I had enough time to get a Pork & Apple Burger from the Hog Roast on the platform, and very nice it was too.

Next train was the class 17 hauled 12.40 service, the first time I had even seen one, the train was very 'early 80's' a bit grubby and needing some TLC inside. But it was a good run up to Corfe with the loco working hard. The yard was full of 73's and Type 4's but I doubt that they would have been put through their paces in the way the Class 17 was.

I got off at Corfe and had a good look round the secondhand books before my one steam leg of the day to Norden.

All in all a very good day out.

 

I see on the webcam the 4TC middle brake carriage was lifted today, is it the first time the new jack's have been used?.
The Swanage 4TC has been making progress, having the recently refurbished LU 4TC visit working "push pull" with 33111 during the gala might be spuring the Swanage 4TC group on to get their "3TC" working?

 

No, taken March 4

 

I thought I'd leave a note of thanks to all who make the Swanage Railway run. I made a visit yesterday (the first for some years) primarily to christen the Wareham-Norden section and the overhauled 117 unit. We had a very nice day, two full trips on the DMU and one trip on the steam set. Staff were helpful, services ran smoothly and even nice weather was arranged! I was surprised how busy it was for May so hopefully that is a good omen for this year's overall receipts.

Regrettably/coincidentally the growing collection of pre-nationalisation coaches were all not in service that day, but I peeked through the window and they look very well restored inside! The next future visit will no doubt be arranged to try and sample these, perhaps with the future (3-TC?) set, the brake for which was on jacks at Swanage. Plenty to look forward to!

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Wareham service cancelled until further notice, according to SR Facebook.

 

*Timetable Update - Blue Timetable (Steam only) from Tuesday 23rd May*

We are sorry to announce that we have had to cancel our Wareham mainline DMU service due to circumstances out of our control. Our fitters are hard at work to rectify the issue, but the difficult decision has been made to cancel the service completely for now until the fault has been rectified.

However, we will still be running 5 return steam trips throughout the day with resident Bulleid Pacific “Eddystone” so you will still be able to come along for a ride between Swanage and Norden.

We will update our website and social media platforms in due course to let you know when you can use our Wareham DMU service again!

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This is most unfortunate. This suggests that both the Class 117 and 121 are out of service.

Fingers crossed the fault can be rectified expeditiously.

 

Summer arrived in Purbeck today, and not only the lack of exhaust steam.
As the 10:00 awaits departure another Purbeck Breezer is turned in to a Purbeck Freezer for the summer. Although perhaps with somewhat more planning for open tops than First achieved yesterday.
The ferry was out for a while yesterday and as a 50 came past the lounge with a number standing on the upper deck it occurred to me that you should not hang out of a Mk1 at 25MPH, but OK to stand up on a bus at somewhere between 30 & 50 MPH depending on where you are on the diversion.

 

The ferry suspended public sailings due to a serious motorbike accident on the ferry road (at the bends) just after Knoll Beach going towards the ferry. The emergency services required the road to be closed to allow ambulances (2) and the police to attend.

 

It's a bit disappointing about the DMUs. When are the Salisbury-based 158s due for replacement???

 

The 158/159 replacement programme is being formulated. But it’s 10 years away.

 

The 159s are fine units which Salisbury look after well in accordance with their reputation in the days of steam to be the best shed on the Southern. The shed stores Forman used to answer the phone ‘hub of the universe’ and could almost always find the spares I was after

 

They have a quicker method of removing bus roofs in Glasgow. <BJ>

 

Word has reached me that the advent of Worst Group has ended that.
Pat

 

Standing on the upper deck of a double-decked public service vehicle in motion is prohibited under the Public Service Vehicles (Carrying Capacity) Regulations 1984. Notices are displayed upstairs on the Breezer 50 vehicles.

 

There are class 153s and 156s off lease now.

 

Not that many seem to take notice of that.
I also found it interesting when we moved to Dorset there are signs saying remain seated until the bus has stopped. In London if you did that when I lived there you would have spent all day on the thing.