Swanage Railway General Discussion

I may be completely wrong but going by the pile of small lengths of cut rail in the cess this looks like a demolition job to me and not a rebuild. Could those new looking concrete sleepers be awaiting removal for reuse elsewhere? It may still be the Swanage branch but during track removal in the summer of '72 and not the rebuilding a few years later.

Peter

 

That ballast looks too clean and weed free for it to be track removal, the track cut off might have been where lengths were shortened because of worn ends, and new holees drilled for the fishplates for example supplied as 75ft lengths but reduced to 60 ft, by cutting off the ends, if mu's have ran over it previously, they have a habit of wearing the ends of the rails down.

 

Also note the complete lack of ballast and apparent grass on the section where the walkers are. Unlikely it would have looked like that immediately after track lifting.

 

You say that but look at Shepton Mallet in March '68, a full two years after closure - the fresh clean ballast and track laid shortly before closure still looks like new and was later reclaimed for use elsewhere .

The other pointer to this not being a rebuild operation is the telegraph poles with wires still attached - they did not stay like that for long after the track was removed and were unlikely to have been restored before the track was relaid. I'll wager one of @Steve 's famous Mars Bars that this is a demolition operation.

Peter

 

We clearly see different things in this picture. It is not clear enough for me to see any signs of grass, but it does look like dirty ballast left from the recent removal of track that dates from much earlier than the remnants of the more recently laid track in the foreground.

Peter

 

Hard to see from the quality of the photo. However the demolition theory is making more sense to me now. I know the method used was to remove the rails, then throw the chairs into a waiting wagon hauled by a class 33. Then a bulldozer was used to pull the sleepers out of the ballast.

That could well be what we see on this photo. It might also explain why people are struggling to identify the location. People have been assuming the camera is pointing in the direction of Wareham (with the line being rebuilt), when in fact the camera may be pointing in the direction of Swanage (with the line being demolished).

 

When the Swanage branch was lifted, some of the sleepers (I don't know about rails) was repurposed for building Southampton Maritime Freightliner terminal.

 

Most definitely not on the outskirts of Swanage

 

Ok, wait, concrete sleepers?

Is that the line coming up or going down? Had assumed it was coming up.

 

Sorry guys, most of the track laid to Harmans was as follows. Scarify the existing ballast, lay concrete sleepers, with FBC1 towing a Dolphin, fit rails, drop ballast and tamp. The track from Harmans onwards, was part of our relationship with Gordon Pettit, local NSE manager. This was from the singling of the Dorchester to Moreton section. People may remember it being stored in Poole yard, then on the up sidings at Harmans.

 

I’m inclined to go along with Peter’s assessment that it is track being lifted. The rails have already gone from that panel and the dozer is about to lift the CS1 sleepers for removal from site , possibly for re-use elsewhere. Doing that would churn the ballast quite significantly, as seen in the trackbed beyond. If it was a relay anywhere the bed would be levelled then the sleepers placed, followed by the rails. Only when that is done would any top ballast be dropped. To box in the sleepers before any rail is laid would be a time consuming and manual task. However, even if I was a betting man, I wouldn’t risk betting a Mars Bar either way. The odds aren’t good enough.

 

I also believe this is not a view on the line to Swanage,if you look at a map of Purbeck and the route of the railway there is not a curve like this with a line of hills in the distance.Also looks like a demolition scene.

 

Ok so does that imply that this could be Harmans facing Corfe?

 

This is very much an interesting puzzle that hopefully someone will say I know where this is.It cannot be around Harmans X facing Corfe as the curvature of the line is fairly gentle and doesn't really start to turn North until after Woodyhyde campsite and the view is totally different to the photo.I have tonight looked through the Swanage line in colour book by A Wright of which there are many photos taken in the countryside along the line,there is nothing to resemble the view in this photo.Also what is really evident are the telegraph poles seen in our mystery photo,these types cannot be seen anywhere along the line in B R days.

 

I also spent some time watching two cab rides on YouTube, one from an SWR bubble car and the one the SR did on the first Wareham service in 2017.
I cannot find that track layout, Ponderosa being the nearest, but the photo lacks the cutting and the curvature of the trackbed more extreme. I am also unconvinced this is actually on the Swanage Branch.

 

First service of the day already 6 car - class 33 Norden to Swanage.
While its fantastic to see the railway busy, I would be a little disappointed if I travelled far to find out that on the day


First DMU Wareham service from Wareham looked rammed at Corfe

 

Has been six coaches all week. Town seems busier than it was on Carnival week. Those on Tuesday got to see the emergency services in action when someone sadly died on the seafront. 5 Ambulances, 4 Police vehicles and the Air Ambulance landing, as it does most times, in King George's Field next to the railway.

 

The T3 will undoubtedly be very popular when it commences services in the autumn. To generate maximum income, will the railway consider running 6 coach trains with a diesel attached to the rear? <BJ>

 

There was a 5 min delay according to
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-pt:1539/2023-08-17/detailed

 

It is Swanage Lifeboat week this week which usually has a beneficial effect on visitor numbers. Thankfully Swanage does seem busy - generally speaking weather conducive to attracting day trippers.

It will be interesting to see the actual passenger numbers.