Swanage Railway General Discussion

In the 19th Century, according to the late Richard Holmes (military historian) Alton was a town where policemen went about in pairs or not at all!
Having sweated blood to get the line open to Alton all those years ago, it is disappointing to see how difficult it is to attract passengers through Alton. East Grinstead seems to me to do better.
Pat

 

Was there a signal or points failure at Harmans Cross this afternoon as I see both the up and down 14:00 services lost 49 minutes there.
My dad who always seems to be on or waiting for a train with issues was planning a trip on the 14:45 from Swanage. When he enquired as to the delay he was told they did not know the cause as they had "lost the train". Gave us both a laugh. He did not bother as by then the station was rammed apparently.
They did well to recover a fair amount of delay by the end of the day.

 

Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée?

 

For lines that have a direct mainline to heritage line connection (Alton, East Grinstead, Keighley, Kidderminster etc) there is a world of difference between using that connection as a means to allow passengers to reach the heritage railway during the season; and using the heritage railway as a means to reach the junction (and thereby the outside world). One is at least a source of some passenger flows (though frequently disappointing in volume); the other is a non-starter as a viable public service offering. Yes, I could identify a passenger living at Horsted Keynes who catches a steam train to get to East Grinstead Sainsbury’s every Saturday morning - but that’s not a viable business model!

For every heritage line I can think of, the value to the local community is in the footfall and tourism spend they bring in; not the solution they provide to local transport provision. It’s also worth noting that all the current heritage lines that started with grandiose ideas to reinstate a public transport link (with the “heritage” helping support the public transport) rapidly disabused themselves of that notion in the cold light of the following morning.

Tom

 

I understand that there was a lady living in the woods at the far end of the Llanberis Lake Railway who used the line to get to Llanberis to do her shopping and whose appearance caused no end of excitement to the train crewa

 

It's an interesting situation, normally planners are trying to put trains where the people are but in the case of the Wareham service they're trying to put people where the trains are.

 

Is it just me who had this image flash across their mind (just a short 'gif')?
https://gifimage.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/simpsons-crazy-cat-lady-gif-12.gif

 

Perhaps GBR should consider reintroduction of "runabout" tickets!!. But i think a goodly amount of people would like to live in Swanage knowing that they were 25 minutes away from a connection to the bright lights or the bastions of business!!

 

Perehaps the inhabitants of Swanage prefer being more remote from the bright lights or business?

 

That obviously was NOT the feeling of those who founded the Swanage Railway Society. As mentioned above a reconnection to the wider world was a principal sentiment. I am reasonably certain that a lot of contributors to NP would entertain the idea of living in Swanage and still being only 25 minutes away from the national network. Let us see what the survey tells us.

 

From a report, https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2...s-to-services-post-covid-putting-jobs-at-risk although SWR are cutting services, it sees a "5% rise in leisure travel post-pandemic".
So this will tie in with support for the Wareham to Corfe/Swanage service for tourists/ daytrippers /ramblers/ cyclists if it starts in 2022 and the half hourly Weymouth mainline service at Wareham is restored?

 

Unfortunately, as others have mentioned, the wishes of the founders of restored railways have often foundered upon the rocks of economic practicality.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

It needs to be a lot better than SWR have ever offered since they took over the franchise, regardless of if it is from Swanage or Wareham. Some issues may be down to NR rather than SWR but the bottom line is the rail service is unreliable and very poor west of Poole.

 

I am not prepared to open the ITV meridian link as the first thing I see is a very aggressive "LISTEN UP PEOPLE,WE USE COOKIES" Well not mine they don't !
I prefer to Reject All or monitor which cookies I let these companies use. TBH I am very surprised that ITV have not been taken to task!
So I do not know what jobs are being put at risk.
Prior to the 2012 Olympics, which included Weymouth, There was only ever an hourly service from/to London.

 

Not sure that a survey will provide results which would reflect real life usage.
Question to Swanage Resident: Would you use a train to Wareham?
Answer from Swanage Resident: Yes I support public transport.
Reality: Not at £20 return I wont. I will use my free bus pass and it drops me off in the town centre not a mile away.

The trial service in 2017 had timings which just about allowed a Swanage resident half a day in Poole or Bournemouth. less if travelling further away.

 

Sorry, But have I missed something? What Survey? Who is conducting it?
I have always been under the impression that the object of the Diesel service from/to Wareham is to bring passengers from the national network to Norden or Corfe Castle to connect with the internal steam service.

 

I would agree that the cost of train travel on the network is high(although not for myself because I usually buy a BritRail Pass). All the "might be" scenarios have to be addressed,however it is passing strange to some visitors to the UK to find these whimsical railways some running within yards of the mainline,yet no connection!!. Do you honestly see heritage railways continuing in their present form for the next say,20yrs?Swanage needs to be in the forefront of changes. If,in the scenario of build back better and climate change nobody will be able to say that an attempt was not made

 

Where is your MP on this question??

 

Our MP thinks that Weymouth should have a service to London via Yeovil Junction, so presumably expects that someone will fund a new link from the Maiden Newton line.
He also did not like it when I wrote to him and pointed out to him that during the SWR consultation phase he believed their lies when they had said more services to Weymouth with longer trains. Although he did grudingly accept my points that the single line stretch and power supply issues did not allow it to happen with current infrstraucture.
No chance of realsitic support on that front in my view.