31874 and 31625

We are being careful at this stage to contain expectations.

The loco will be fully equipped with TPWS4, OTMR, AWS & GSMR so in theory can go anywhere. Swanage Railway is in the process of obtaining its Non mainline Safety Certificate which (conversely) allows them to operate over the mainline to Wareham (in conjunction with the track access agreements). As an operator, Swanage will be concentrating on its Wareham DMU trial in 2017/18 and will look to supplement this with steam only when possible.

Beyond 2018 we will use the experience gained to look at other opportunities. As you say, Bournemouth & Weymouth are both within range but any operation would need to be negotiated with NR & SWT. Any operation would have to be viable and not compromise the core operation but one has to imagine that Summer Sundays around Dorset by Steam train has to be a winner.

In the mean time if we were approached by an established operator wanting to hire the loco we would consider the proposal on its merits. However it is only a class 4 so we do not expect to see demand for it working traditional charters. Now if you needed a banking engine from weymouth.......

 

or short trips ftom Weymouth to Salisbury ? once you have an engine plus rake of coaches, that does open up other avenues out of season, you would use the DMU, not topped and tailed steamand desiel, i assume your core mainline support wil be from the same people who looked after tangmere? so i would expect other suitable engines could become Swanage based such as 73096? and use the railway as its mainline base

 

Let me preface this comment by saying it is said entirely light heartedly, lest anyone out there gets a bit bothered.
The N 31874 would prove handy on the FW to Mallaig route I'd venture.
Its a bit far from home though!

 

someone earlier suggested that the N wouldn't be up for a full size main line trip....have a look at what the U can do, and with smaller wheels the N should have no trouble.

 

Better add new-RETB to the shopping list then!

 

I agree its a great clip but I think the days of working these engines close to their limits on the busy national network are over. More powerful locos regularly turn out now with a diesel on the back and in any case the N is expected to be the backbone of the Swanage core service for many years to come so we don't want to trash its guts out. Having said that, (dreamers mode on) I would love to fire it over the Jacobite. I suspect sustained boiler output would be the limitation tho. (dreamers mode off)

As for Swanage being a base for other Mainline engines, maybe one day in the future when we have developed larger facilities. At the moment we barely have room for the core fleet and our Motive Power depot has room for one tender loco and one tank engine including using the turntable to stable and prep on. Its a miracle we operate the intensive service we do.

In the future there are numerous shot trips possible around the area. We are blessed with a lovely part of the world. New forest, Purbeck, Seaside towns of Bournemouth Poole & Weymouth plus the tourist honeypot of Salisbury. Whether the railway ultimately has the will, ability & capacity to explore these is another matter. The Mid hants explored this with the green train and it didn't work out for them. I would like to think that there is a market for short excursions with a support coach plus 6.

 

4P5F is only just short of a black 5 in power, boiler size may be a limiting factor I agree though. Bournemouth should be a ready made market with all those holidaymakers and OAPS there.

 

I might be wrong, but I was under the impression that Bournemouth was quite a young town now, having a large student population, and the stereotype about OAPs was becoming less true.

I agree with the comments above about taking baby steps first to feel your way in. However, long term I could envisage circular Poole - Swanage by train, return by boat or vice versa as possibly quite an attractive proposition, providing working one way tender first was considered OK over the Poole - Worgret section. If you timetabled it right, it would mean both boat and train could have different sets of passengers both ways.

I noticed last time I was in Poole that the boat operators were already selling trips Poole - Swanage + return journey on the Swanage Railway, so presumably there is already the nucleus of a market for that kind of combined package.

Tom

 

Slightly more tractive effort than a Black 5 on paper. 31806 coped with the heavy gala loads on the NYMR when it visited last year but the climbs did wind it a bit.

Members of Bournemouth and Poole town council have remarked in the past how desirable it would be to have a Steam service. I'm imagining a Jacobite style operation in Dorset. But then I could get in trouble for imagining such wild fantasies. It would be impossible of course! ?

 

If I understand correctly, Tender first is ok but speed is limited to 50mph. Oh and make sure the coal is well wetted or bring goggles.

 

Mainline is mainline. Those citing the Whitby derogation need to remember it is exactly that, limited to the Esk Valley line to Whitby. With Wareham being on the SWML its a completely different ball game meaning its all or nothing. Slightly different slotting in between pacers every 2-3 hours on a line limited to 50mph compared to a doubletrack mainline with 100mph speed limit and third rail.

 

Why does Swanage need to use other groups when it'll have to train its own volunteers for Wareham? Bit of a kick in the teeth to those who restore the engines by saying well done, but we're getting someone else to operate them - you stick to the DMUs. Mogul has said baby steps in post #21, so lets give them a chance and see where it leads. Certainly exciting times for everyone involved down there.

 

I think 31625's experience at the NYMR probably refutes that idea!

 

31806 is a different engine to 31874.
31874 was built to haul heavy loads over long distances. Just because 31806 struggled at the NYMR doesn't mean that 31874 wouldn't be capable of doing anything.

On paper more powerful than a black 5 and in BR days there were no suggestion that the 2 Cylinder U and N classes were under boilered. If you get to watch the footplate footage of 31625 during its stint on the mainline you will note that fired correctly that engine stuck to the line, for mile after mile with load 10.

So lets not put these engines down before they are out.

Support crew will be drawn from the Swanage Mogul Fund volunteers. But at the moment, 31874 is destined for Wareham, not everywhere else. These options will be looked into in the future, but the SRT has invested heavily in the locomotive and it will be required to haul Swanage Railway service trains on a regular basis.
So its not going to be out on the mainline all the time, it will spend most of its time hauling normal Swanage Railway trains.

But with the occasional....JAUNT!

 

Swanage will be building the systems, procedures, infrastructure and competencies to operate and support this its self. This will take time (not to mention money) and we want to get it right. We can not threaten 35+ years of blood sweat and tears getting to the main line. We are already advancing along this path with the trial mainline DMU operation to Wareham in 2017/18. This grant enables us to start to develop steam alongside. As 007 says tho this will not be sitting around waiting for mainline work. Its primary job is the day to day Swanage Railway service trains.

I assume you mean 31806? I'm kean to see how N Class 31874 performance at the NYMR would contrast to that of U class 31806. With its extra tractive effort it should manage the same loads with a lot more ease. The difficulty will be staying on top of the boiler pressure and water. OK for fairly short - medium climbs if the fireman is on his game. I agree that the Jacobite would be a very big ask of the engine and crew. Wouldn't you want to see it try tho?

A good way of staying in touch is by joining the supporters club. Go to www.swanagemoguls.co.uk and go to the donate pages.

 

So good it seems that you had to say it twice.

 

There was a reason a whole class of engines designed before WW1 survived intact until the end of 1962 with some remaining until 1966. I wonder how many other examples of similar longevity there are? (out side of the GWR ofcourse whose entire design program stopped around then. Now where's my hat...).

 

They were staple power on the Reading -Guildford -Redhill line as well untill the mid 60's. Remember them well.