Project Wareham

It do be lots nearer to I an' all .....

 

They were running HSTs down to Weymouth on a summer Saturday one time, so I'm sure they are aware of the numbers going Weymouth. Not defending their actions now just I'm sure they aware of the numbers.

Maybe they short of rolling stock?

 

A bit of a subject in itself, is that. I well remember annual family trips west from Paddington is stock which had most probably spent the winter in a siding somewhere, ekeing out it's last few seasons on peak summer traffic. I've seen oodles of images of 'winterised' carriages (and locos, for that matter) filling sisidngs across the Isle of Wight, where, until the 50s, there was also frieght stock which (in theory, at least) wasn't just there to keep grass-grown sidings from floating away

 

They are, and the DfT's micromanagement of the franchise doesn't help. Not helped by the inability of classes 165 and 166 to work in multiple with classes 150-158.

But there is also the issue of what that seaside travel demand is, and how it relates to what is now a rural branch.

 

I’ve seen one coach trains put on by GWR from Salisbury to Bath on a day when Bath Rugby are playing - so go figure.

Tom

 

It's not economically viable for the cheap end of the market, but it's a shame more 125 sets couldn't have been used to form a charter fleet.

 

This is a railway that tells people to use other means of transport for engineering works, weather disruption etc. It provides what it provides and if you don't like it, use the roads.

It makes economic sense in the conditions it has to operate in, but if wider conditions were possible to consider...

 

Apart from coal and possibly some sugar beet, virtually all goods traffic went by road in the I.O.W by the early nineteen fifties. Railway enthusiasts do need periodic reality checks otherwise much money can be wasted

 

You forgot cement there Paul. Until the mid-1950s, the Island's 'trainload' commodity to Medina Wharf .... even if they weren't terribly long trains!

Actually, from photographic evidence of rotting stock on badly overgrown sidings, I'd put the collapse in "general goods" on the IoW back in the 1920s, when so many demobbed WWI veterans invested in 'War Surplus' lorries.

 

I think the "(in theory at least)" covers that off, no?

 

Yes agreed being undercover is a very much to the good when one considers all the stock standing outside suffering the weather.

I am not quite sure what the "lover level of the mine building" is? Perhaps this is a term specific to "ball clay" mining?

 

The reassembled and restored mine building has two floors, the higher one were the tubs from the mine came in and is currently has most of the displays are. The lower level of the building where the narrow gauge wagons were loaded with clay from the higher level was supposed to been the area were Secundus+wagon was to be on display. As of yet this area is inaccessible to the public let alone anything in display.

 

You might want to check the spelling of the word "lower" in your initial post...

Steve B

 

Did that a few years ago, first trip of the season with the refurbished set.

Domestic Facilities Management was suitably horrified to see a photographer on top of a ladder in the car park at Weymouth

 

oh...

 

Gives a whole new meaning to "ball mining" ...

Tom

 

GWR have retained some HSTs, but currently not using them for Bristol to Weymouth. Sometime a HST seaside special could run from Bristol to Weymouth and continue to Swanage?

 

The retained HST's are only 4 car and there are various issues with the MK3's both on 3rd rail and generally with clearances, especially I would imagine on the Swanage line

 

Surely the station capacity at Swanage would rule that out, or at least make it operationally very restricted? While the HST is at Swanage, nothing else can arrive or depart because the length of the set would foul the approach.

Branch line with long single track sections + limited capacity at terminus = recipe for tying yourself up in operational knots. At the very least, you find the tail wagging the dog - i.e. the whole timetable ends up getting recast to the detriment of your regular passengers, in order to accommodate one train from the mainline which in toto represents a much smaller part of your day's income.

Tom