Swanage Railway General Discussion

Tom,

you have peaked too early, should have saved that for April 1st

 

No one gets to do 50 on the M5 any more. Too much traffic about, so little in the way of anecdotal evidence that a Swindon product (unless it was a german built Western) ever managed anything over 45 MPH

 

A PTS does not mean that you are able to work on NWR tracks.
You still need a COSS or whatever the title is now to be in charge.
Also authority to work.

 

A SSOWPS plan created by a planner and signed off by both the COSS and Responsible Manager and (if required) a pre-booked Line Blockage which is approved.

 

And we wonder why the cost of doing something on the big railway is so high.

 

These don't actually cost anything except time. The problem comes when it comes to tendering. Mention the word railway and it's a licence to print money!

 

Or when you have to buy something and it has to be from an approved supplier. Why use a 50p toggle switch from RS Components when you must buy an identical one for £130!

 

I know exactly what you mean with your last statement. However, even time is money and that adds to the cost, as does all the extra manpower that railways seem to employ.

 

I agree but it all boils down to safety and accountability. The system is designed to ensure that those who work on the front line know exactly what they are doing, where they are and the risks on site. It may seem long and laborious but although staff accidents haven't been eradicated (let's face it, the railway is a very dangerous place) they have been drastically reduced and if incidents do happen, there is a paper trail to establish where the breakdown occurred to enable the industry to learn from it.

 

I understand the logic, but a succession of RAIB reports suggest that those processes are not landing with front line personnel, and that process is too often taking the place of safety. In your neck of the woods, the near miss at Shawford comes especially to mind.


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The mile indeed seems to have varied more than most units of measure. Looks like Norway had the longest mile:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile#Metric_mile

 

Interesting the talk of miles.
The Waterloo to Weymourh mainline is currently 100mph (160kmph max), and unlikely to be increased, (although the 442s hold the EMU 3rd rail record at 108mph and are back on the mainline) think most trains stop at Wareham and the 2017 Diesel trial worked well.
The chances of the foot crossing being replaced soon by a ramped footbridge and new points seems low, so any Swanage steam train to Wareham with the 30186 in 2020 (and hope it happens with some special runs) will have to be topped and tailed with a 33, also with the effort requied to ensure manual coach door locks are sorted, may end up more labour intensive and more costly to run than the DMUs.

Maybe in 2021 if the crossing is finally replaced by ramps, then signalling and points can be also improved to allow sidings to be used if the Wareham service works out and makes a good profit this year?

 

Good News
Will it be able to be digitalised and put online?
Also anyone know how the Museum accreditation is going, will it be done for 2020?

 

How much do Network Rail and the contractors charge per hour? £100? All this work costs money which gets charged somewhere. So that is in addition to the inflated tenders. In the power industry we used to call it wattless effort, i.e. work done that gave no result.

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Of course the mileage as far 78 mp isn’t what it seems

 

I see that the old carriage at Stobrough has gone, has it been saved or scrapped?

LSWR 10.

http://www.cs.rhrp.org.uk/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=2609

 

Its a few years since I signed for Wareham down sidings, but they all are sidings, five in number if I recall. To put a hand operated point in at the London end of one of the inner ones with a fence separating it from the main line and a lease to Swanrail of the land would reduce the bureaucracy.

 

Old road via Hurn?

 

Apparently we should give up the idea as we know nothing and its all to difficult and expensive

Nah! Much less paperwork if we slip in under cover of darkness and nock the job out in the night without telling NWR. They probably wouldn't notice.
.

 

It was removed by road [very difficult manoeuvre apparently] but do not know to where it was transported or the new owner.
I too have heard a rumour that it is destined for Swanage so we'll just have to wait and see I guess.