Steam returns to Swanage

Regular steam services will return to Swanage this weekend after two of the line’s locomotives were withdrawn following a shunting accident.


‘M7’ No. 30053 triple-heads with now-withdrawn ‘Battle of Britain’ No. 34070 Manston and BR ‘4MT’ No. 80104 at the Swanage Railway’s ‘Southern Sunrise’ event on July 9. CALLUM WILLCOX

Resident ex-LSWR ‘M7’ 0-4-4T No. 30053 will be helping haul the ‘Purbeck Line’s’ passenger services this weekend (August 5/6), after returning to service following a boiler washout exam.

The news comes just over a week after ‘Purbeck Line’ residents ‘Battle of Britain’ No. 34070 Manston and BR Standard ‘4MT’ No. 80104 (currently running as No. 80146) were taken out of traffic after a low-speed head-on shunting collision on July 24.

The incident left the railway without a working steam locomotive at the start of its peak summer season, as the line’s other available steam engine, Maunsell ‘U’ class No. 31806, was still being fettled ahead of an anticipated imminent return to service.

The 2-6-0 hauled its first loaded passenger trains this year on August 1 as part of its running-in trials, with the railway saying: “We look forward to welcoming No. 31806 back to our regular serviceable fleet in the very near future, but only after our engineering staff are happy with her progress and everything is all bedded in.”

No. 30053 will be running weekends only, as the Drummond 0-4-4T is now in the final months of its boiler ticket

The railway has set up a dedicated web page to provide daily updates on steam services, which can be visited here: www.swanagerailway.co.uk/train-service-updates.

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The M7 also ran both days last weekend. It is only the M7 though, the other service will be the Class 108 DMU and planned to be 2 x 33's on the Wareham service.

 

Need to get to Swanage to sample class 33 action.

 

what happened to the T9 I thourght that was an international rescue....

 

The T9 needs work doing to it, and there have been various fitters working inside the smokebox during the last couple of days. This was from the Swanage Railway August 3 Facebook update

" As way of an update, 31806 is continuing testing in readiness for an imminent return to passenger hauled trains, whilst 30120 is visiting for maintenance by our fitting staff and 80146/34070 are assessed following last weeks incident."

It could be read as purely subcontract work and it not being used at Swanage after that. Maybe someone from SR who is on NP could let us know.

The standard tank did have the front lifted on Thursday by a large mobile crane and the pony truck was removed.

 

Had a most enjoyable visit to Swanage yesterday with a preponderance of diesel haulage. The Swanage staff were very friendly and informative, the Cromptons were going well, and the U looked and sounded on good form. A few years ago I would never have thought that I would be able again to have Cl37 mainline service train haulage on two different routes within a fortnight. (Cumbrian Coast at the beginning of the month)