Swanage Railway General Discussion

Speaking as an SR volunteer, its good to hear you enjoyed your day. As you say, in the absence of a DMU all diesel diagrams will be loco worked for the foreseeable future, hence the ongoing hire of 26007 after the Diesel Gala to provide added resilience to the operational fleet.

 

It seems to me that the Ivatt/Riddles 2MT's are sadly under rated machines - having seen a picture of a 2MT tank taking a 6(?) coach train through Parkstone unassisted they may well be small in stature but great of heart.

BTW why were some of the tender versions painted Green?

 

Makes a change from Black.

I've got my taxi fare.

 

Hope this is well supported (Loco hauled vice DMU)

Be able to justify asking for the money to hire something else next year maybe.

 

What is the current situation with the DMU's?

 

I visited once in 2017 when the connecting service from Wareham was running. That was easy to do in the day from London but I wouldn't consider driving all the way and back in a day.

 

Had a good visit on the Flying Scotsman.
But surprised there is complete silence on the Wareham service this year other than rumours of bearing and engine problems?
There are internet photos showing the DMUs bodywork looking good.
Just seems a backwood step that a bus service had to be arranged for the Diesel Gala.

 

No one has answered my question of the gala thread about why Swanage can’t use there own mainline stock to run to Wareham, at least a couple of times a day.

 

From an article in SVR News at the time. In July 1987 the SVR sent 2MT 46443 to replace failed 4MT 75069 on the BR Cardigan Bay Express season. On arrival, the BR footplate crews expressed the opinion that they would be "creeping around with three coaches at 20 mph!". The first on-time arrival at Barmouth brought forth the comment "She steams quite well, doesn't she!". An early return to Machynlleth gave rise to "She isn't a bad little engine, is she!". Within two days, "I'd take ten to Pwllheli with her anytime!".

 

(Post in a personal capacity) I would be concerned at the reduction in capacity on the core service that taking SR’s own sets out of the main Swanage-Norden cycle would result in. Last year, there were 3 sets working Swanage-Norden, plus the TC working Wareham-Corfe, and loadings were generally comfortable; if you lose one of those internal sets, then particularly for popular locos passenger loadings could very quickly become an issue; not worth the risk in my opinion. The rail replacement bus is quite a smart solution, particularly the wit in billing it as such!

 

I can't answer your question, but you may like to keep an eye on the following webpage
https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/wareham-timetableandfares
Which currently just says

Watch this space I guess.

 

Also, I believe I read somewhere that whilst the stock has been upgraded to run on the main line, it requires work to be done on its door locking in order to actually carry passengers. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that count.

 

Thinking of visiting tomorrow, does anybody have any insight as to the locomotives rostered and on which diagrams?

Suspect No. 46521 will be on one diagram, but crossing my fingers for pure Southern Steam should the Bulleid and/or T9 be available.

Thanks in advance.

 

Just driven past the loco shed, and 34072 and 80104 are on shed this evening. 34072 looks to be in the right position for the 10:00 ex-Norden, 80104 for the 10:00 ex-Swanage. Usual caveats apply, particularly as this is only based on going past the shed!

 

Does 34072 still face south?

 

Facing Swanage.

 

Brilliant. Thanks for the information!

 

Some of the Ivatt 2MTs (& Standard 2MTs) were located to the Western. Therefore when the WR went mad and painted lots of engines express green both 2MTs designs were seen in green too. 46521 was a WR example so it fits.

 

That's my understanding. It can run on the mainline, but not carry passengers.

Sent from my SM-A300FU using Tapatalk

 

Other stock has been upgraded to central door locking, so surely can't take much to fix on the DMUs?