Swanage Railway General Discussion

The 563 and Polar Express trains should help out SR finances for 2023.

Hopefully viable plans for the Wareham DMU and some more one off steam and diesel railtours can be sorted for 2024?

There is a Midland Pullman thread in diesel traction forum for further discussion of the HST. Hopefully LSL will add more destinations for 2024?

 

That sir, is the way forward. Let the big boys with their track access, loco's, units, facilities, staff and insurance run those WIBN services.

 

As usual, Tom is better at expressing my thoughts than me.

 

The logic is seductive, and reasonable. However, it is also arguable that by using those funds in that way, the trustees are not making decisions in the long term interests of the organisation, but mortgaging the future to pay for today - the line between prudence and Mr Micawber is fine. By treating the steaming fee as a real cost, and investing it in the asset it is associated with, they are creating the circumstances in which running an own fleet starts to make economic sense. Done at sufficient scale - and this may be impractical - the rolling benefit you look for comes through managing a pipeline of work through the workshops, rather than relying on a steady state which history suggests is rarely there.

Otherwise, what I've tended to observe is that heritage railways that rely on a rolling funding model are often tight for motive power, and struggle to make preservation driven decisions about what to run and restore. In the worst cases, they come dangerously close to just using up residual life and then discarding; the antithesis of what heritage should be.

I don't dispute the reality of inflation - and consumer indices of inflation may also be misleading. Investing in longer term assets may help with the returns - I'm familiar with a couple of churches that use investment funds for longer term asset holding, rather than just keeping cash on deposit.

 

Using the income to pay for the overhaul of a second engine is one approach - but relies on the group T9 as there wouldn't be miua second loco, which the owners of 563 do not. Using the income earned by 563 to pay for someone else's overhaul does not sound to me to be a justifiable use of funds as there's no guarantee that the gesture will be reciprocated when the time comes. Perhaps the SRT should be looking for another loco - preferably not the T9 or M7 as there wouldn't be much of an opportunity to see them side by side if they were leapfrogging one another in overhauls! What a shame there isn't an Ivatt class 2 to be had!

 

I missed the T3 loaded test runs as I need to accompany my Dad to his eye lasering in Poole today. I did see the last one from the house and hoped there would be one more. There was not, but I did get Manston leaving on what I assume is the start of its Sussex holiday.

 

looking at the number of tickets sold so far for 8th October perhaps the T3 is not the draw the Swanage Railway was hoping for.

 

Trouble is, why would any family pay £30 (£12 more than normal) for a rerturn trip ONLY from Swanage and not being able to get off anywhere.

I hope its successful but I was little surprise they are running this like the Flying Scotsman and not as a mini gala (like the winter warm up or the LSWR weekend) this coming weekend where they could charge normal gala fares.

For example a normal steam, the T3 Stopping only at Swanage - Corfe - Norden and maybe a 3rd DMU

 

Does the ticket not also allow for travel on the 'feeder' service as well as the slot on the T3 train?

 

Hopefully they will sell plenty of tickets. However I fear many people will opt to watch and photograph from the lineside, rather than pay the premium fare. Especially as it’s well know that 563 will become a normal regular Swanage loco, so it’s not like this is a limited time opportunity to ride behind it.

It does sound slightly disappointing. The 563 group had implied there would be an exciting launch event. So I was hoping for some sort of mini gala, perhaps borrowing 1520 and/or the royal saloon for the occasion. However I wish the 563 group all the best for this weekend and congratulate them on what they have achieved.

 

It is perhaps a weekend of conflicts. It would be mainly the enthusiast community who would rush down for a public launch day and many of them I suspect are already committed to the GCR or MHR Galas.

 

Possibly not the best time of year for a relaunch either, nights are drawing in, it’s getting a bit cooler etc, maybe a low key approach and a possible high profile launch next spring time would be better?
I say this as someone who’s very excited about 563 returning to action but it’s possibly not the best time of year for a formal relaunch, that dreaded Pagan festival that retailers like to encourage us to get in sin with our flexible friends isn’t too far away either.

 

I Cant wait to see the T3 Steam and am going down Sat or Sunday to see it. See it being the important word.

I wish them all the best and it is a fantastic looking loco. But yes surly a mini gala would have been better?

I'm not sure if the T3 £30 includes return on the feeder service? Great if it does if it doesnt less great. But if you are a fam, it is little much having an hour T3 on top of then another hour on the other services !?!? (Not for me I love steam trains)

 

Can anyone clarify the point about whether the ticket price includes other services on the day? Surely many people will want to start and finish their day at Norden, given that is the predominant traffic pattern on the railway?

Tom

 

You would hope it would include travel on other services. For an adult it's a fiver more than a day rover ticket. A family of 4 parking at Norden would have to spend a minimum of £137 for a family return ticket plus 4 tickets on a 563 service. If you want to spend the day there and go for day rovers, there's no family ticket so it goes up to £165

It's a wonderful achievement, restoring a loco to steam after 75 years out of service, but does it have the pull of say 60103, 60163, etc? Are the public even aware of it? Sadly I think Swanage have massively overestimated demand. Some of the services don't even have a single ticket sold. Even on its very first train on Sunday morning you can currently have a whole carriage to yourself.

 

We may go week beginning 23rd but by rail and bus. But I won’t book anything until two weeks before to make sure there’s no rail strike, I also intend to buy day rover tickets as well as tickets for one of the T3 trains. The railway deserves our support

 

I've just contacted the railway. The ticket price for the T3 does NOT include any other services. If you wish to start your day at Norden you will have to pay to travel to and from Swanage by service train. <BJ>

 

That's disappointing. It significantly reduces my already very low (due to the rest of my diary) chances of making a pilgrimage for this event, as it will either enforce secondary spend or make logistics extremely difficult on what is already a 450 mile round trip.

 

Oh wow. So it's more expensive than when 60103 visited - at least that included a rover ticket for the feeder services.

 

That is a shame. I’m not really inclined to pay £30 plus £25 for a day Rover. Especially when the T3 will soon be in normal service anyway and you’ll be able to get unlimited travel behind it for £25.