Project Wareham

Enquiry: AIUI, the NR boundary is well down the branch from Worget Jc. so do mainline requirements not kick in at that point, rather than the junction itself?

 

If I remember correctly, the boundary moved from Furzebrook back to the protecting signal at Worgret Jn during the Poole to Wool resignalling project.

 

Not far off. When SR took on a long lease of the branch the property boundary was moved to Bridge 2, the first underbridge round the corner from Worgret Junction. Hence why internal SR trains at special events can operate to the River Frome.

 

The only event in Bournemouth that attracts a very large number of people is the Bournemouth Air Festival where audiences have been in the high hundreds of thousands though that is over 4 days.

 

IMHO toilet retention tanks should be fitted to all carriages irrespective of where they are operating ie mainline or heritage railway.

 

Hear! Hear! Not every historic way of doing things is worthy of being maintained in use and in the case of some, there really is no reasonable counter argument to be made.

 

A bigger question post Covid I guess is if Heritage Lines have done without toilets on trains for 2 years are they now needed, at least for lines around 5 mile long or so. I accept it is more of an issue on long lines like the NYMR and WSR.

 

Indeed!

 

The only downside of toilet tanks is: cost to install and extra handling of the waste, since with the old system you just filled it with water, with the new you fill with water and empty the waste tank
Though there are a lot of benefits, cleaner for the track, not having waste chutes on the coaches right next to couplings.
However some lines have got the ball rolling with installing them mainly for mainline use, this should in theory innovate and reduce the cost of installation and infrastructure when more lines go in for them

But yeah there are a lot of lines that have locked the toilets and not reopened them, however on a lot of lines, you need the ability to use the toilet or very good high capacity toilet facilities at stations.

But this is getting off topic a little bit

 

I'd venture to suggest, as much as journey time, the answer depends on catering facilities, most especially of the onboard variety.

 

Well it is and it isnt.

If SRC operate on the mainline then the coaches either have to have retention tanks fitted or the toilets are put out of use. That is the on topic for project Wareham.

However going off topic whilst from a regulatory point of view this key difference exists, from a staff / volunteer / customer / environmental / h and s point of view that difference should not exist and retention tanks etc should be fitted.

It could be argued that most of the time SRC does not require onboard toilets due to length of line and facilities at Swanage, Corfe Castle and Norden. However when the Santa Specials run there are a great many children onboard who due to a combination of excitement, being fed and watered by parents (and on the train) and that the special is a there and back (with only a run around at Norden) need onboard facilities.

 

One idea at the moment is putting on motors on the carriages so they can help the steam engines use less coal and this could also be an idea to help them on the mainline to Wareham as it could make them speed up and fit in better

 

This could be developed further, in fact to the point where the locomotives aren't needed at all, and we just use the carriages. Perhaps a distinct description could be given to these trains. Something like "multiple units"?
Just an idea...

 

One idea at the moment is putting on motors on the carriages so they can help the steam engines use less coal and this could also be an idea to help them on the mainline to Wareham as it could make them speed up and fit in better

 

I can see a few issues, you’d need to incorporate a driving cab into the carriage itself for a start.

 

I think you'll find that Mark was being sarcastic in response to the Hon member for Honiton's suggestion

 

Weren't they both?

 

Yes perhaps that is something that could be incorporated into the the design of these proposed new ‘multiple units’.

 

Wouldn't you need one each end?

Tom

 

I can't see this idea catching on at all. Driving cabs at each end; multiple engines driving bogies. Think of all the time the coaches would be out of service whilst the engines were maintained. Much simpler to have one larger engine with one cab and run it round to whichever end is going to lead and when not required for a passenger train it can be use to haul freight trains and shunt. Far more versatile.