Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum

For all those interested in mining or narrow guage railways the mining museum at Norden on the Swanage Railway should be opening spring time. Their is work going on every sunday with the 2 foot guage line in operation to move track laying materials and other equipment around and lots of work is happening in the mine itself! For anyone interested please see the facebook page http://www.facebook.com/purbeckmineralandminingmuseum and the main website www.pmmmg.org

 

I heard that the work is not going as fast as planned and spring opening is in doubt unless they get more volunteers

 

Lifted from PMMMG on Facebook:-

"We are pleased to announce that we will have our first visiting steam locomotive this summer, in the form of Cloister, the "Alice" Class Quarry Hunslet built in 1891, courtesy of the Hampshire Narrow Gauge Railway Society.

It is due to arrive following the completion of its overhaul which is being undertaken on a private site in Dorset, hopefully by May, and it will stay until after the Swanage Railway's Steam Gala in September. Further details on steaming dates etc will be announced in due course."

 

I have asked around, and have been told that at present there are no facilities for steam engines on site and no agreement has been officially been signed between owners and the museum regarding fees and insurance.

 

4 months is plenty of time to sort out a watering facility, and the coal comes in bags so not exactly difficult to sort......

It seems like you have an axe to grind with the mining museum as you don't have anything positive to say about it?.....

 

Some form of agreement must have happened betwen the owners and a party for the work to be being carried out to the engine currently! Unless Stormforce is going to report the engine as missing and stolen?

 

Don't put too impressive facilities up there, the narrow gauge already has a bigger shed than the standard gauge down here...!

 

Looking at the website last night and it looks like the guys are doing a lot of great work down on the site. There's a complete U of track that now looks to extend just above the Norden platforms (Norden High Level?!) and a very substantial shed. Plus an opportunity for a 6 mnth curator job. I read somewhere that the idea is to eventually have up to 1 mile of track, so I assume there's an ambition to extend back over the old tramway bridge over the standard gauge. Looking forward to visiting the site and learning more about the industry. Another reason to re-visit the Swanage Railway.

 

The Purbeck & Mining Museum is open 25 May2013 - closed Mondays except bank holidays

 

Currently open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays between 11:00 and 17:00.
Now recruiting additional volunteer guides to increase number of open days.
Lovely replica Adit during these hot days!

 

"The Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum at Norden needs more help!
The museum is now open regularly which means we have a range of additional opportunities for people to get involved. We need volunteers who are interested in meeting and greeting visitors and making sure they have a safe and enjoyable visit. The bonus is that you get to find out about ball clay! If you are interested, please contact Clare Randall on 01929 481461 or by email at curator@swanage-railway.co.uk "

 

The museum will take part in the Swanage Railway Steam Gala with "Cloister" and "Emmet" on site. Also there will be a steam operated minature railway on site. The Museum will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

 

The mining museum railway has 2 Ruston 48DLs - one is "Snapper" ex Lynton and Barnstable Railway and more importantly, Richard Bentley has moved his 48DL 392117 to the railway so it is now able to run on the trackbed that it used to run on in the 1950's and 60s.
There is a long term plan to reinstate the railway over the Swange Branch line, but the work is on hold while negociations with the local council re Parking and footpaths are taking place. The Swanage Railway are also formulating plans for the future of Norden Station which will probably include a rebuild of the Station and better watering facilities. The narrow gauge bridge may even have to be raised. Therefore further extension of the narrow gauge railway will be on hold for quite awhile. There are plans afoot to run demonstration trains a few days each year, but both loco's have some running problems to sort out.
In the meantime the museum is looking for volunteers with and without skills to help develop this interesting museum about the world's finest ball clay that is exported all over the world.

 

Didn't the museum rather carelessly loose 8 volunteers earlier in the year, all the ones involved in the railway side of the museum including several very skilled people who had been volunteering for years, some of whom had been instrumental in getting 392117 in the first place as well as organising the loan of the HNGRT locomotive Cloister ? Anyway 392117 has been at the museum for several years now and has run on a number of occasions. What is wrong with it, does it not start perchance?

 

When I travelled on the Flying Scotsman and stopped at Norden managed to have a good look at the bridge, getting it renovated, plus a new home for Secundus will be good.
Sad some volunteers left and an open forum may not be the best place to discuss it? Hopefully new volunteers will join.
Are there any dates for demonstration trains in 2019 so we can plan to see them?
Or does it depend on help fixing problems with the locos?

 

Not sure what these issues are with 392117 are/were, but I did rather enjoy watching it shunting around whilst waiting for departure time at Norden last Friday.

 

Loco is fine, it is just an operating safety problem that has been ignored over the years. Will be sorted soon.

 

Purbeck Mining Museum will be open for Swanage Railway’s Autumn Steam Gala from Friday 11th to Sunday 13th October. See the narrow gauge clay railway in action each day, from 11am to 4pm. OKAY so they are not steam, but one can always dream.

 

Does anyone know if the former NG engine shed at Ridge which was sold in July attracted a sympathetic purchaser? https://search.savills.com/hk/en/property-detail/gbwirswbs180024#/r/detail/GBWIRSWBS180024

 

Am I right in thinking this is a relic of the Furzebrook Railway, whilst the Purbeck Museum's railway is more focused around the old Middlebere Plateway/Fayles Tramway?