Swanage Railway General Discussion

This weekends effort, well only Sunday actually as I never left the house yesterday due to the incessant heavy rain, which returned this afternoon.
The U banking (or top and tailing) the T9 was a nice addition, although the Belle passengers in the observation car may not have thought so, as they had to view its tender both ways. Still I suppose they could always just have another glass of champagne!
Also a great piece of driving from whoever was on the U on the first train on Saturday. Close on 10 minutes from leaving the station to make about 500 yards, but it kept moving (just) and finally got away.

 

And it was nice the event was well patronised, my grandson (5) was well happy to see Santa clause, actually I think my son (36) was as well.

 

28 December 2018 sees the latest of the Swanage Railway's annual 'Winter Warm Up' event. Featuring 30120 and 34072 on the steam-hauled set and D6515 and 33111 on the diesel hauled set, both individually and in double headed combinations, this is an ideal way to blow away the cobwebs between Christmas and New Year.

Unfortunately this year, unlike previous years, we have recently had to take the decision that there will be no freight workings over the Winter Warm Up. An updated timetable has therefore been issued today. For much of the second half of the year we have had a short Temporary Speed Restriction between Swanage and Harmans Cross; pending winter maintenance work this has now unfortunately been extended, to the point where trains are taking an additional 3 minutes to traverse this section. With a three-train timetable, there is simply not enough slack to allow for this and still maintain punctuality of passenger services; following the much-discussed issues at the Autumn Steam Gala, the decision was taken that we could not risk running an event with a timetable that we knew would be unlikely to work.

For further information and a copy of the timetable with the latest version of the loco workings included (v.4), please see the Swanage Railway's website at https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/events/detail/winter-warm-up. I hope to see you there!

 

For the second day running some bright yellow thing appeared in the sky, and today it did not rain at all!
Couple of images of the Santa trains, the last three of which are top and tailed as I guess the six coaches foul the run round points.
The T9 (as becomes one of elderly years) seems to be allowing most of the power to be provided by the banking loco as they pull away from the Wilderness TSR.
Finally at the end of the day next to the Swanage Christmas Tree.

 

Thank You. great shot at Harmans Cross which is a great place to while away an hour or two with a good (railway) book

 

TSR in the Wilderness, I thought it was at the top of Newbarn Bank?

 

recently extended to Wilderness crossing, hence the extra 3 minutes in #Rumpole's post #2083

 

Thank you

 

Back to the regular services today and the T9 with some nice black smoke!

 

?

 

August.

 

This is quite unforgivable, especially in the middle of an urban area. Those who would ban the use of coal altogether could use this as a propaganda picture.

 

A lot of people are working hard to ensure that coal remains available for use on heritage railways. Those that encourage locos emitting black smoke are doing the movement no good at all. In recent times, the main threat to heritage railways has been seen as an ageing workforce. That is relatively easy to overcome compared with the environmental threat. And for those whose interest lies in diesel locos, the environmental lobby is starting to get their teeth into these, as well. Old diesel engines are seen as just as polluting as steam locos. Polluting for pleasure is a phrase gaining momentum and it will have far -reaching repercussions, not just for our movement.

 

Well my father lives in the block of flats on the left of my Swanage departure shot, and he certainly does not object to it, as the railway is the reason he moved to Swanage and purchased the flat in the first place.
As it offended you here are two with white smoke also from today. I just thought they were rubbish images so did not bother.

 

Whether it "offends" me or not matters not. Whether or not pictures such as this give ammunition to others who would do away with steam propulsion is quite another thing. Ironically, if Dugald Drummond had witnessed scenes such as these from one of his T9s, the crew would be summoned to his carpet, showered with profane language and be lucky to keep their jobs.

 

Right, slight change of plan for Friday’s Winter Warm Up; I am told that due to a small amount of additional work being required on planned maintenance, 34072 will not be available for the Winter Warm Up; this has therefore been replaced by 31806. Both 31806 and 30120 face Norden.

Also, if you are travelling to Swanage please be aware that the Chain Ferry is currently not working after a hydraulic failure before Christmas. I believe it is not likely to be working again until the New Year.

 

Possibly a new thread?

Because of the location of the station & MPD its a particular issue at Swanage but one all lines need to be active on.

 

Unfortunately your father is probably in the minority. Apart from the risk that pictures showing dense black smoke will be used by the environmental zealots it simply shows bad firing. FWIW the images you describe as rubbish show condensed steam not "white smoke".
Ray.

 

It's a serious issue for most lines when you think of the location of their terminal stations and MPDs. Bridgnorth, Bury, Lufbra, Pickering, etc etc, and way back in the 70's dark smoke was taken very seriously on the KWVR, particularly when sat in Keighley or lighting up in Haworth. Back then the local council still employed smoke inspectors, and woe betide the crew that precipitated a visit, or were caught during a snap inspection. As @Steve says, the potential harm to the cause nowadays is severe, and I would urge people not to encourage such, or publish photos. Ultimately it's down to the crews to use the skills they possess (or should possess) to minimise smoke at all times. Of course smoke also = money straight up the chimney.

 

It is basic good neighbourliness. Don’t pollute and make your neighbour’s lives unpleasant. I used to have neighbours who had motorbikes, which was fine part from the fact that every Saturday morning they would start their bikes and leave them running for the best part of an hour, stopping to occasionally rev them up. The bottom line was that i had to keep the windows closed because of the fumes and noise which on a sunny Saturday morning sucked arse.

Images like this may fit into a ‘classic’ type of photo, and you only need to read the comments on flickr to see how many people get so enthusiastic about smoke. I swear to god I will throw a brick at the next person who writes ‘Great clag mate’ in the comments.

All it takes is for the next person who objects to a railway extending to their town to trot out photos like this and say ‘look at this air pollution’.