Project Wareham

From memory the first down train from Wareham arrived Swanage 12:02. The last up train departed Swanage 16:22 Arrived Wareham 17:09.

One of the challenges is the time taken by the DMU to do the complete round trip including turnarounds. I know it has been suggested that the DMU actually operate Corfe Castle <> Wareham shuttles only to allow for a greater number of departures or at least do two down services in the morning rather than just the one. Having the DMU stabled overnight at Corfe Castle "encourages this idea".

As regards through or add on ticketing suggested by @Hirn this is quite challenging to implement as it involves resolving numerous "mismatches" between SRC and SWR. However the biggest problem as I have commented upon before is if this directly or indirectly erodes the fare differential between the Wareham <> Swanage fare and the Norden <> Swanage fare then it further impacts the potential viability of the Wareham service.

 

You also have to remember that the two large car parks at Swanage are run by the Town Council, the street parking by Dorset Council, so although Dorset Council may have contributed to the rail link not sure Swanage Council would want to loose £8 a day per car in High Season. I also understand that Swanage Council may have to pay a fee to Dorset Council all the time Shore Drive is a pedestrian area to cover the lost on street parking revenue. Thus car parking is a strange issue in cash strapped council times.

 

Or lease the land to a company with the proviso that they turn it into a 364 day a year attraction. Council still has income, people visit the town all year round bringing obvious benefits, with less parking visitors use the railway. Sounds simple doesn't it

 

The reason that access to the down sidings from either platform is that the shunt signals into/out of the sidings have not been commissioned as they are not interlocked with the miniature stop lights on the footpath crossing. They were not interlocked as it was anticipated that the crossing would be closing.

 

In the latest issue of Steam Railway magazine, the SR chairman is quoted as saying " we are still planning to start the Wareham services on April 6th". I don't recall a specific date being mentioned before and I could not find anything on the railway's website about it (or indeed anything about any 2023 operating dates after the end of March). Given the oft-quoted mass of rules and regulation involved with running to Wareham, and with that date not too many weeks away, presumably preparations must be at an extremely advanced stage? The extension to Wareham will be a massive publicity boost for the SR and one would expect some kind of publicity build-up even by now?

Apart from anything else, given that this is reported as a 90 day trial, it seems a bit odd to do a lot of this this during the May/June low season and it would be really interesting to know the thinking behind this. Can anyone comment? Thanks.

 

Is the trial supposed to be 90 elapsed days, or 90 days of operation? (Just thinking - if it were the latter, you could do two weeks - 16 days - at Easter; a week - 9 days - at Whitsun half term, then ramp up at the beginning of July through to September to basically get to 90 days spread over about 5 months).

Tom

 

It will be 90 days of operation. The trial in 2017 ran from May or June to September I believe, but only on certain days of the week equating to 60 days of operation in total.

 

Take anything mentioned in Steam Railway with an extremely large pinch of Salt maybe?

 

IIRC it was 12 weeks of 5 days per week. Monday and Friday were the two non op days as they are/were the days with the lowest patronage.

The LCW department have previously stated that they would not want to operate the Wareham service more than 5 days per week to allow for maintenance of the Units etc etc.

As regards starting in April. Not withstanding that afaik no licence has been issued yet, I wonder if this is to try and assuage any concerns that Dorset Council have as to SRC's running of such a service in 2023.

One of the downsides with only operating during the school holidays is that it may skew the data set as it does not test the demand on non school holiday days. However judging by the number of people who have voiced their concerns as to viability then there is an argument to say that avoiding days when the patronage is predicted to be low is sensible at this stage. If of course patronage is good then there would be nothing to stop SRC extending the season further into September and indeed even into October if there was a desire to carry out a limited test if non school holiday demand.

 

Did they give a year?

 

Then you probably have to work those 60 days around a myriad of strike days as I fully expect them to still be going on by April (if that is indeed the start date).

 

In the December Swanning Around
"We are planning services to connect with
Wareham. So there is much to look forward to. Although the next year will be challenging".
If it does start with the DMMU in Easter in April will be part of the later May Diesel gala. Possible some large top and tail diesel loco runs to Worgret (but not Wareham) could also fit in the timetable.

 

I seem to remember the SR saying (many years ago) that the 90 day trial would cover the same pattern as the 2017 60 day trial. i.e operating every day of the week except Monday and Friday. The difference being it would start earlier and/or finish later in the year to accommodate the extra 30 days.

The comments about starting in April seem to fit in with this.

 

Really looking forward to 2023, hopefully its great for the railway and project Wareham. We really need that level crossing to close to enable accesses to those sidings which really could improve change over times. For example hiding into the sidings when the two 28 past services come through and coming straight back after. This really could boost numbers on the service, meaning those on the semi fast service from London could change onto the SR service, and those getting off onto the fast London service with around 5-10 minuets change times.

 

Is there any update with the crossing closing? Can the up side crossover work either or does the crossing need to be shut for that aswell? The ability to run around in wareham would greatly reduce running costs for locos


From council website the current crossing "This system costs £120,000 per year and is not a suitable long-term solution in terms of safety or finance." If only they could shut it and give that money to the railway every year

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=project+wareham+train&biw=1485&bih=854&tbm=nws&sxsrf=AJOqlzVFPYAljXtSlAXvWjhHMvicUaNPLg:1673797833318&ei=ySDEY5WPE5CU8gLt977IDw&ved=0ahUKEwjVl5_q9sn8AhUQilwKHe27D_kQ4dUDCA0&uact=5&oq=project+wareham+train&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LW5ld3MQAzIFCCEQoAEyBQghEKABMgUIIRCgATIFCCEQoAE6BggAEBYQHjoFCAAQhgM6BwghEKABEApQ5ARYqwlg5ApoAHAAeACAAYQBiAGRBZIBAzUuMpgBAKABAcABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz-news

After 13 months since it was announced that the railway is updating their Wareham feasible study , any updates with when details emerge from this?

 

I thought the council do not want it closed which is the issue. They have turned down every proposal NR have made for a footbridge. I understood they want some sort of flat crossing to remain. so in my eyes it is at an impasse.

 

The crossing wont be closing in the foreseeable future.
Long story short the crossing is leased to the Council and has circa 15-16 remaining left to run

 

Tom, the crossovers cannot be used in either direction as the signals used to carryout any movement across them are not interlocked with the MSL's on the crossing

 

Well that’s a mess.