Swanage Railway General Discussion

Steve, note the wink and smile. Being ironic. Sorry

 

The bonus of course is that the cash is coming in now, at a time when there's normally no cash coming in at all.
(Not sure when the FS bill will need to be paid though....)

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Apologies for that. Even with the smiley I've missed the irony!

 

Don't worry that will have been arranged and what ever it cost it'll already be vectored into the accounts. Like as not it won't perhaps have cost as much as it may have if the engine was just visiting Swanage, as I believe the loco is being used on a series of mainline rail-tours around the Southern London/South Coast area......

 

Presumably the 4TC was the LU unit rather than the Swanage unit still under refurbishment ?
But if 2 of the Swanage 4TC carriages are complete this Summer, could be coupled with mainline certified BoBo D6515 as Push Pull?
Also if the DMUs are ready plus the Steam U class 31806 loco there should be enough mainline certified units to run a regular Wareham service?

 

No it couldn't as a 33/0 is not push pull equipped

 

And even if it was you'd need all the safety gubbins to be fitted to the 4(or 2?)TC in order to drive from it. The LU one is certifed for haulage on the network but you cant drive from it.

 

Only a guess, but I assume guests in Car 14 would sooner see and photograph the front of the engine/smokebox rather than the back of the tender from their £85 seats. That lends itself to being chimney first into Swanage.
Chimney first into Swanage would generally give better photo opportunities as the Pullman won't be directly behind the loco. - Corfe Common LX, Afflington Bridge etc.


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The DMUs aren’t ready, that’s the problem. They were hoped to be back at Swanage in the autumn, but the fact they remain at Eastleigh indicates further problems.

Swanage does have a set of 5 mainline registered mk1s, but until they are fitted with door locks I think they can’t actually carry passengers.

 

Just looked on Railcam and Corfe Castle stn has a DMU stationary on the Swanage bound platform, does this belong to Swanage!

 

Looks like their 108. Not being mainline registered, and was up for sale last year.

 

It seems to me that as with the WSR a statement about this years Wareham services & the Swanage DMU fleet might be in order

 

Of course, another possibility could be to turn the Pullman observation on the Swanage turntable or is it too long?

During its 1994 visit, Scotsman was chimney first out of Swanage, so facing the other way would add a bit of variety. Interestingly, I have always assumed that the preference has been for big engines to face Wareham, but this wasn't the case in the 2018 Autumn gala, where 34072, 6233 and 44871 were all chimney first facing Swanage. I agree that it would be better for those seated in Car No. 14 if they could watch and photograph the smokebox rather than the back of the rather large tender - and additionally, would also make for better photo opportunities from the lineside. Obviously, these trains aren't run for the benefit of linesiders but given the relatively short run, a paying passenger travelling on the first train could well be standing at one of the many publicly accessible spots to photograph a later train, especially as chimney first to Swanage does offer more opportunities to photograph 60103 with the ruins of Corfe Castle also in the picture, which is perhaps the classic Swanage Railway image.

No doubt the organisers have already given careful consideration to these issues and we will know the answers well before the event.

 

The current turntable is too short for coaches - tender locos need to be split to be turned on it.

The preference for chimney first out of Swanage is to suit the water Tower at the departure end of Swanage platform. It's difficult to run round a 5 coach rake and get the tender under the tower if the rest of the loco is in front of it. Galas involved arriving engines running right up to the stop blocks and engine changes so the coaches were much further down the platform.
FS will have seven coaches so it will have to be shunt released anyway so the direction in faces won't matter operationally.

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The Class 108 is, I believe going to work on the Llangollen Railway. Possibly moving northward next week ?

 

For the sake of clarification:
Units being overhauled for main line use at Eastleigh are a Class 117 three car plus a Class 121 single ('Bubble') car.
The 4TC vehicles being restored at Butterley (Midland Railway Centre) are not currently intended to have necessary cab equipment installed to permit main line operation in push-pull mode. Whether they are intended to gain main line certification as hauled stock, in the 'near' future, I'm not sure. Summer 2018 Update: http://www.4tc.org.uk/unit/index.php Not sure if anyone involved in this project can provide an update.
The five 'main line' Mk1s should be able to carry passengers once appropriate paperwork is received. No idea of timescale for this.

 

Is the somewhat protracted delay in SR running its own regular service to Wareham down to bad luck or incompetence or some other cause? I’m just a regular visitor to Swanage with no axe to grind and no inside information, but I am puzzled by the causes of this lengthy hiatus?

 

Is there any update on where the Swanage's Operators Licence and Track Access Agreement have got to?

With them, the DMUs are no use.

Steven

 

The delay was mainly due all the wheel sets and bearings needing replacement on the DMUs. These parts are no longer available, so suppliers had to be sourced who could re manufacture them. Manufacture of low volume non standard parts like this was not a priority for the manufacturers.

I think these parts are now delivered and fitted, but there seem to be further delays in registering the units for mainline use, and also rumours of engine problems.

In hindsight it would have quicker to overhaul Mk1s and diesel locos for the Wareham service. The mainline registration and parts availability for this type of stock being a known quantity. But that’s easy to say now.

 

Just to add a further remark with regards to the visit of Flying Scotsman. Bear in mind all the hullabaloo about her being "The Peoples' Engine," so why not cash in and offer her a temporary home whilst on tour around the London/South Coast area.......