Swanage Railway General Discussion

For some reason the Lymington units were chalk and cheese as regards bodywork. We got got the better one in 1497 but that has still needed 17 new double glazed large windows and complete rebedding in of the gutters and is by no means finished. The CIG that got away was 1881 which was in excellent order but sold to the Brighton Belle group by its businessman owner in spite of being returned to running condition on the third rail.

 

Thank you. It will make an interesting case study one day.

 

To confuse the issue still further, the Local Authority is now a different beast following the major reorganisation that we had in Dorset in early April.

 

Indeed, and I wonder how much bus services have been reduced or even withdrawn entirely as a result in cuts to subsidies from Dorset County Council?

 

Not a dig, more an observation.
The IoW line is a branch which can accommodate the steam railway with a new station (though who paid? If it were NR / SWT surely the money would have been better spent on infrastructure).
The main line, less so.

 

As of the beginning of April, Dorset County Council no longer exists (along with all of the district councils). I assume any subsidies for the Purbeck area will now come from Dorset Council?

 

Smallbrook Junction opened in 1991, back in Network Southeast/Chris Green days.

 

Was the timetable used for the Diesel Gala the same as the one used at the Autumn Steam Gala last year. Cause it seemed so but it worked this time round...

 

No, it wasn't. I realise that some Swanage Railway publicity continues to mention this 'fact' and I have tried to correct the matter - thus far without success.
Therefore, I would like to use this thread to provide an important correction to this oft repeated misconception as fact.
One of the original objectives was just "to re-connect Swanage with the main line.". No mention whatsoever of returning an amenity service to the Branch!
In 1972, BRB did not allow private operators to run their own trains, with their crews, on it's metals and it is most unlikely the SRP (or anyone else) could have afforded BRB charges.
Another consideration affecting current proposals is that, in 1972, there was no thought of Senior Citizen bus passes. This is important as their custom might have formed a significant proportion of railway business.
An amenity service [Project Wareham] has been a purely post privatisation idea but, as everyone will appreciate, the World has changed massively over the past 47 years.

 

Broadly the same, I believe, but what helped the Diesel Gala was they didn't have problems with watering, etc. suffered in October's steam gala.
Norden was very quiet this weekend, as it had only one train per hour, whereas Corfe Castle was very busy at times with through trains, terminating shuttles, loco changes, etc.
Had heard rumours that, possibly, a return to something like previous Gala timetables might occur next year. Will have to wait and see what happens I guess.

 

I don't know about the steam gala but the timetable seemed to work well on Saturday. A lot of people liked the variety of running to River Frome. There wasn't much opportunity to recover from delays but that would improve once the PW slack just short of Harmans Cross is finally fixed.

 

The New Barn Farm 'slack' is frustrating good timekeeping but a source of replacement rails, sleepers, etc have been identified, I understand, and will be installed soon - I hope!

 

I see that services are diesel hauled and are terminating at Corfe Castle rather than Norden both totoday and tomorrow. I hope there aren't any serious problems.

 

Problems with the points at Norden. Nothing can run round there.

 

Thank you. I'm pleased that it's nothing too serious. The GWSR has had to stop running north of Toddington because of worries about a bridge. Considering the only structure of note between Corfe and Norden is the good old solid stone-built viaduct, I thought that it wasn't likely to be anything along those lines, but given some of the crazy antics you see on videos about bridge strikes, you can never be too sure.

 

Someone has said on the 'Class 33' Facebook page that the 33's are also running tomorrow. They also said ' Norden station is closed due to the recovery of T9 30120.'

Whu? I guessing that officially wasn't meant to come out but I guess the points have trapped the engine?

 

You people!! The water cart of the T9 has had its annual scarifying of tyres to ensure good pick up for the traction motors in the tender. It is a water cart and not a dust cart

 

Whu?[/QUOTE]

Huh?

 

Oh no don't tell me she came off on the trap...

 

Well, if it wasn't general knowledge, it is now. On Nat Pres, anyway.