Swanage Railway General Discussion

The livery it carried pre-restoration was Adams’ green, it’s being restored in Drummond livery like 245 hence it being a different shade.


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A fortunate lack of traffic on the way back from visiting my Dad in Poole Hospital allowed me to get this image of Manston leaving Norden on the last train on Monday. The cloud although looking threatening did not produce any rain until the early hours of the following morning.

 

According to the latest Heritage Railway - Manston is scheduled to attend Bluebell's Giants of Steam event in October in it's current 'weathered' livery.

 

Will that mean some decisions will have to be made soon on the T9 which is currently in the engine shed?

Great from the latest update at https://www.southern-locomotives.co.uk/News/news.html "Graham's idea of leaving Manston in weathered condition and the Herston painting gang's skill of matching the paintwork on its new smoke deflectors has proved really popular with the photographic fraternity" and that several heritage railways and the newish but yet to be opened one : one Margate museum are working together to restore locos and ensuring useful parts are safe and eventually catalogued'
"Two of the containers are now at a secure location at Swanage and the transfer of items into Herston will take place soon on completion of the mezzanine floor"

 

Vacancy for experienced Fitter/Machinist at Herston Works, Swanage.

Southern Locomotives (SLL) has a vacancy for an experienced Fitter/Machinist to work on our locomotive fleet. The company currently owns nine locos, including seven Bulleid Pacifics, several of which are currently being restored or overhauled.

We are increasing our professional team to fulfil our plans to return more locos for service on heritage railways, primarily Swanage Railway who we share the workshop with.

We are looking for candidates with an interest and experience of steam locomotives. Salary and Conditions by negotiation.

Please contact Simon Troy at southernlocos@btinternet.com, or call 01474 833263

 

Heard the 33 roaring out on the 17:00 departure, so I assume an issue with Manston.
In one of my WIBN moments I did pop up the bridge just to check it was not being turned into "Lapford" for the anniversary tomorrow. Still I did get some nice images of it in the rain, as well as seeing many visitors who looked like they belonged in a wet tee shirt competition

 

I am fated with this loco. Despite many visits over the last two years I still haven’t had a run with it. We are finishing our holiday in Dorset, Somerset and Devon with four nights in Corfe Friday 14th to Monday 17th July so please those in charge at the Railway have 34070 running then. I saw it on boat trains in 1961 but not much since. If it’s working I will include a running log in my column if I can get a run with it.

 

56th anniversary marked by Manston

 

The Polar Express is coming to Swanage Railway!

https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/events/view/polar-express

Fantastic news but a little bit saddened as the railway "buys in" a second event rather than running the traditional Santa Specials . (The Polar Express is being operated by Fused Events and Crosstown Concerts).

 

Another bit of creeping Americanisation/Disneyfication of the UK. Why can't it be done with a more British feel to it?

 

Because the Polar Express is American?

 

No, not in the least bit.... well yes, actually!! It's just another example of cultural takeover - what was wrong with Santa as he used to be and why do people have to travel on an American themed train to visit him??

 

Feels to me that it's a risk mitigation - i.e. the primary financial risk is taken by the third party. Obviously we aren't privy to the contract between railway and promoter that would cover the details, but on the surface it looks like the railway has swapped the possibility of a significant profit on running it's own event (but also the risk of a significant loss if an event doesn't sell) in exchange for an income regardless, presumably at a level it considers appropriate to the scale of its input. That may well be a prudent decision in a period of considerable uncertainty about the spending patterns of the public.

Tom

 

A well presented Santa season can bring a deal of money but a lot of helpers are needed. Is this the real problem?

 

I would agree with you but previously (and I accept that there is economic uncertainty currently) the Santa Specials have been sold out with potential customers pushed to the dates further out from Christmas. Lets not forget that at Christmas time Swanage Railway also operated Christmas Belles (using Car 14) and Christmas Luncheon trains with premium fares and high load factors.

SRC is not operating dining trains currently (apparently as the Dining Set needs refurbishing) but Fish and Chip Specials operated by Fox and Edwards with presumably F and E taking the financial risk.

If SRC are moving towards a business model that reduces financial risk, then it would certainly seem to cast doubt on Wareham services being operated in the future unless some means of a third party taking the financial risk can be found.

If as @Paulthehitch suggests it is a volunteer staffing issue then this does not bode well for the future of SRC. Is there a volunteer crisis at SRC?

 

I would imagine that would be a big factor. It's not just for the 5 weeks or so that they run, it's the weeks and months leading up to it - buying and wrapping thousands of presents takes a long time!

 

There is very minimal financial risk with the fish and chip specials anyway. I believe it’s just selling the customer a seat on the normal service train, which would be running anyway. Then one of the F&C establishments in Swanage handing them a box of fish and chips at Swanage station to eat on the return journey.

 

Maybe not that much - a lot of railways bought i ready wrapped presents from wholesales. The Embsay & Bolton Abbey were such suppliers, I think, and I would imagine the SVR were too. Mind you, the presents probably all came from China and the people paid to wrap them were probably paid not far off the rate for volunteers! Not creeping Americanisation in this instance, more a case of "Christmas comes in a box from China". When will we rediscover how to do things for ourselves as a nation???

 

From what I understand, there's a volunteer crisis across the entire voluntary sector (I've heard figures of ~25% of volunteers not returning since Covid). Obviously that'll vary in different areas and sectors, but certainly a lot of lines are struggling for volunteers.

 

Also potentially more nuanced than just the headline numbers - for example, I can see that the attractions of volunteering on a balmy summer's day might be rather different from schlepping down to a distant location to perform the same duty on a wet and drizzly mid December day ...

Of course, some people may like nothing better, but Santas (and associated services) have often struck me as an awkward combination of a railway needing to run at near peak operating capacity at a time that is least conducive to making volunteering pleasurable. (The old "get up in the dark, leave to go home in the dark and likely get wet in between ...")

Tom