Swanage Railway General Discussion

Whats the Steam loco this week, wanted to pop down before the diesel gala
Tia

 

34028 until Thursday, then planned to be 34072 from Monday; subject to the usual caveats.

 

Thank you very much.

 

Unfortunately, there seem to be two concepts that are widely unappreciated in enthusiast / supporter circles: cost, and opportunity cost.

"They" (it's always the 'They Department' who should do things - most railways have a 'They Department', generally far smaller than people give credit for). "They should do X".

"Well fine, but (1) how much will that cost, and (2) if 'they' do X, what are you prepared to see won't happen because of the time, money and effort devoted to achieving X?"

On our own railway, there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth because of an intention to dispose of three Maunsell carriages. "They should be restored!" Well fine, but (1) who is going to do that and (2) of all the things currently being restored, which do you suggest should be set aside in order to free up the necessary capacity? Surprisingly enough, those tasked with managing railways have to make choices, and generally there are sound reasons for prioritising one choice over another. Generally management / directors can remain popular all the time they put forward new ideas; but the brickbats start to fly when you work through the implications of a certain idea, and in particular crystallise the opportunity cost. Those criticising ought at least to have the courage of their convictions and be explicit about what they would sacrifice to achieve what they see as the priorities.

Tom

 

Today having a blood test at 11:30 I thought photograph the diesels and the 11:20 departure. Standing on Northbrook Road Bridge looking at the 31 under the coal stage I see a guy wearing a face mask walking towards the bridge. Masks are still common in shops but less so in the street here, so I think, he must be concerned about his health.
I take a shot of the 31, turn around to find him walking across the bridge using the parapet on the station side. I was about to shout at him but thought that may make him fall (on to the cab of the U that was below at the time). So maybe he was not too concerned about his health at all. He walked past the house at lunchtime, still wearing his facemask!

 

You have rightly listed the impacting factors which at least one on here totally choose to ignore.
I was reminded yesterday of how difficult planning and strategy is even for large organisations with thousands of staff on reading on how the delays to the Boeing 777X will impact my former employer BA. Due to be delivered in 2022, leading to stand down of B747's as they were delivered, the latest date is now a 2025 delivery. However Covid led to the 747's being retired early so now a hole in the operation plan that will have to be filled by something sub optimal. You cannot plan for what you do not know, you can only make assumptions that may be right or not. Who planned for a 2 years pandemic and a European war?
I am also reminded by what one of our newly appointed Director of Strategy said during his first week, having been moved from elsewhere in the company. Strategy I cannot even spell the f.....g word!

 

Sent an email to the railway, but thought i'd ask here aswell. but what was the thought behind having little to no toilet facilities on the trains at a beer festival.
Had to leave early felt unwell and two sets I'd looked on had no toilets.

 

For those of you that have SRN in your libraries i suggest reading exercises from about 1997 on . Yes.like millions of other i have followed the protocols but lets face it,huge Corporations have done very well out of the pandemic.just as Oil companies are doing very well out of the Euro War.. all the World's a Stage and when you perform you had better be at your best! And stop shooting the messengers, because if they were not airing their voices in public what would be done.?A contributor sites lack of toilets on (nice to have) packed(great to have) trains; is he to be chastised for that honest opinion?

 

I am sure that having risen to be a Director of Strategy he will always be conscious of Capitals founding principle Make money for the Shareholders. Covid. andWars notwithstanding.

 

I think you will find that the general consensus is that there were toilet facilities on ALL the trains as well at Swanage, Corfe station( as well as the beer festival ) and Norden.

 

I was stewarding at Corfe on Sunday and checked after having read your email.
Every set had working toilets, evidence clearly visible on the downside in the four foot.
Apart from the existing recently refurbished gents toilets at the station, additional Portaloo's were provided for the beer festival.

 

I was not at Swanage this weekend, so do not know what the position was. But I notice other posters have confirmed that all trains had toilets available.

That suggests to me rather a difference between opinion and fact in the posts, where facts demonstrate that the opinions expressed were objectively wrong.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I was there and from my observation there was toilets on each train.

However the set which had the Maunsell coach on, the only loo was on that coach which had been marshalled at the Wareham end with the toilet right at the far end. Which often was where a large number of rail fans gathered.

Our freind here might been on that set and that end may have been crowded at the time. Giving the allusion there wasn't any toilets.

 

Does anyone know if the gala managed to make some good cash? It seemed busy to me...

 

I do hope so, from the little time I was able to spend out during the weekend even yesterday afternoon seemed to have very full trains.
Unfortunately what I hoped would be my favourite image of two guys on the 22:30 service sitting in the first coach wearing traffic cones on their head, taken as I walked up Gilbert Road was too blurred to use.

 

I did see Kermit the frog riding around too...

 

Are those hats approved hi-vis garments?

 

They could serve in that capacity, but might be prone to falling off. Apparently made as hats, not real traffic cones.

 

Some badly needed rain in Purbeck only lasted for a few hours and the sun is already out drying everything up again.
Still gave me an excuse to get out and photograph that rarity lately, steam in the rain. 257 Squadron heads the 15:00 from Swanage towards Harmans Cross.