Swanage Railway General Discussion

You can find the correct fares on the Swanage Railway website https://swanagerailway.co.uk/re-opening-services

The fares are towards the bottom of the page

 

Yes the fares are on the website but not the fare for 1 person travelling on their own which is £12.50.

 

And worth every penny.

 

More like a winters day in Purbeck yesterday.
257 Squadron with the late running 15:20 to Norden at Afflington Bridge.Part hidden in the mist there is a castle, and in the steam a Bulleid!
I was told by a life member the other day 80104 has finished. SLL site says will only be limited use. As it has not seen any use post lock down anyone know the true position?

 

80104 is hanging on but has firebox leaky stay issues. Its ticket expires next year (cant remember date) but its not considered to have many steaming days left in the boiler. As such its being kept back as a rainy day spare. As long as 806 and 257 are able to support the service its unlikely to see much use. If not called in from the bench as a sub, I'm sure it will get a last hurrah at some point before its time is up. Every appearance could be the last tho as its difficult to predict when the work required to keep it available will become to much.

If I hear of it being put in traffic I'll post on here as it might be the last chance for MT4 pictures for a few years.

Nice mody pictures of 267. They capture a damp Purbeck day well!

 

It sounds as if you will be pretty right for motive power in the next couple of years. 34072 and 31806 have so far managed very well since reopening, thankfully. Hopefully 34028 will be ready by early 2021 with 34070 possible by the end of the year, but 31806 will have to be withdrawn then, albeit quickly being returned to traffic using 31874's boiler, so you suggested in an earlier post. So early 2022 could see three Bulleids but nothing else - or will 30053 and/or 563 be ready by then?

 

three Bulleids are better than having no steam,

 

Tbf, they are different Bulleids. one is a West Country for a start

 

Absolutely - I didn't mean to sound negative - after all, as you can probably guess from my "avatar", I rather like Bulleids. I was merely asking whether or not my analysis of the motive power situation at Swanage in 2021-2 was correct.

 

Again

Its not impossible that one or even both could be ready in 2022 but who knows with overhauls. I would think that the M7 will be the first back in traffic and that could be in late 2021 if its prioritised and funds are available.

563 can only progress at the pace that fundraising allows so this is a big unknown schedule wise. We will need to see how it performs when its finished but it will probably be more of a special occasion loco than a day to day regular. It would also be nice to see it go on tour a bit. Being an ex NRM semi celebrity I'm sure it will be popular. It would also be nice to earn some fees to start building its next overhaul fund. Given that I don't think it can be assumed that it will count towards the required headcount for the core fleet. Certainly not initially.

If there are only 3 Bulleids available I would think that Swanage would look to hire something else in however I think 806 finishes in the early part of next year so likely to go to the works after Santa is finished with it. With a boiler on hand and the bottom end already in tip top condition I should hope to see it back by 2022. Possibly later in 2021. Swanage shed is a bit tight for two tender engines and 2 Bulleids don't fit so having a tank engine is handy if you want to run a 2 train steam service. I hope we will be back to that by 2022.

The early part of 2021 is going to be particularly tight for steam. Unless Eddystone is ready I can only see us only having 257 available from the current fleet.

 

I’ve had to explain to a friend of mines kids how 34027 and 34053 were the same type but they just have different nameplates, we were lucky that something like 34081 wasn’t around!

 

A line up of 34007, 34027, 34053, 34081 and 21C123 for a confusing game of these are the same as these and different from these.

 

I rather like my Dad’s quote from a few years ago when we saw 34070 in action at the SVR ‘Didn’t we see this at Loughborough a few years ago? (1996) I thought this was one of those rebuilds, oh I can’t keep up with these bloody things’

 

Considering it was the SVR and all those GWR locos I can understand the confusion. The 57xx, is very different from a 64xx and a 74xx etc etc

GWR - the loco is the same, just the country estate is different,

 

DMU training starts on Monday

 

In accordance with my usual attempt to find a location so I am on my own, the 15:20 from Swanage with 257 Squadron at the 10mph New Barn Bridge TSR.

 

Isn’t that ex Norden? I thought it was facing Swanage

 

No it has been facing Norden for a while now Don (as does 31806). Only loco facing Swanage is 80104 which of course is not in use as Mogul said.

 

Ok thanks

 

Got me thinking so I had a quick look through last years images it was turned on June 19 when the tenders were swapped over.
Time flies even with lockdown.