Swanage Railway General Discussion

In case anyone goes looking for it, the train is not actually coming into Norden station, rather it's berthing London side of Norden Gates level crossing. Booked to depart at 0430 tomorrow.

 

When I came back from taking the attached image on the climb to Furzebrook Bridge. 47805 was at signal NX32 and 47593 was just beyond Eldon Sidings.
After nearly 12 years here difficult to find a new location but with the HX village fete yesterday one of 257 (even if the sun was wrong) from the field that you cannot normally access other than once a year for the fete, or in the past for the Classic Car event.

 

I think the light parched field reflected the sunlight onto the unlit side. Great pic

 

surprised the railway has never thought of that before........

 

They did, when I sorted out the WTT in 1998

 

Anyone know whats resting in the undercover carriage shed ? Last time I went past late July the operational freight set was under there which I would have thought would be the last thing you placed under cover compared to the mark 1s and the 1930s Maunsell cars

 

I think a couple of the Mk1s are in there, possibly 35059 and a TSO? I’m normally looking out the other side at Herston so not really sure.

 

On Monday the last time I was on a service train there was a coach from the 4TC and I think a Mk1. Freight set consisting of 3 Super Turbo's 5 Dogfish and two brake vans in the Herston Loop.

 

Guess they could not sleep as it as at Bournemouth by 04:40

 

Financially loss-making would be the main reason not to run one I would have thought - plus DMU Driver, Guard and Norden ticket office staff [plus cost of fuel, etc.] would all be required in addition to quite a lot of volunteers needed for the basic 11 day Santa operation of course.
When paying £24.95 per person why would families also pay £4.00 to park at Norden [Purbeck Park car park] plus your feeder DMU fares?
From 1st November to 31st March, Swanage Council's Main Car Park [Victoria Avenue] is only £2.00 - and it's only a few minutes walk to/from Swanage Station.

I seem to recall the railway used to run a DMU feeder service for Santa's when Norden had free parking, Victoria Avenue car park had normal winter rates and the railway had a lot more active volunteers.

 

My wife need a birthday card posted but as we had no First Class stamps and as Corfe Post Office is nearer to Corfe station, than Swanage Post Office is to Swanage Station, I decided to have a ride behind "The Russian Attack Helicopter" as I call the Class 20. Also cost me a second hand book and mag from Corfe Station. The 20 makes a fair noise when under power but my to recent trips behind 257 have been quicker on the climbs than the 20, which today only had 1 Munsell, Car 14 and 2 x Mk1's as a load.

For those planning a gala visit I noticed field near Afflington the farmer has put one of those single strand electric fence wires to demark a very narrow path next to the line. Guess you could step over but if the shock good enough to put a cow off, may be a bit fierce, I have never tried touching one. Currently also cows in the field the other side of Afflington and hence the gate is shut.

 

I used the Santa special DMU feeder service once which is a brilliant idea in theory however as we stated above - does it make money, and also due to the Santa special being a non standard timetable - eg. Staying at Swanage for an hour I remember having to wait a long time after to get back and the 117/108 was only half full

With the Halloween trips, it seems like the railway are running two separate steam trians? The normal blue timetable plus the Halloween one? Think its a missed opportunity to make it Nordon-Nordon rather than a service you can get off and enjoy Swanage aswell.

If it is two steam that surprising considering they don't even do that during the peak summer holidays

 

I always felt that the Santa connection service would sort of spoil the enjoyment for the kids of the actual Santa train, if you have already used the railway to get to Swanage.
I did notice when I got off the train yesterday the Ghost Train has a "story telling witch". I guess someone has finally found a role for a former neighbour
No idea if it is steam or diesel, but if diesel maybe not the best idea to use a T3 hauled train on the website. Anyway if it is steam far better to have a second steam service when you know if the load is worthwhile rather than as (some suggest) just chucking steam at everything.
Diesel services I was on yesterday seemed very well patronised and I heard no one complaining about it.

I did have to crack a smile when the family in the bay diagonally yesterday opposite the young boy (maybe about 7 or 8) said as we were waiting to leave Swanage "they are all old people". Mind you his sister who I could not see as the coach still had covid screens ,said "they run after ten o clock" (assume she has seen a shuttle leaflet or poster) "that is later than the London stations". I did wonder what made her think that.

 

Good news from the railway. <BJ>

''This morning, we spent our possession time lifting and tamping a couple of pannels just outside Swanage station. This was done with our newly acquired tamper.
During the 2 hours of possession we had inside Swanage station limits, 2 and half pannels were jacked and then tamped. As well as tamping 15 assorted sleepers that were known to be badly voided.
An extremely productive morning with far more achieved than we ever could of done using kango hammers to pack sleepers''.

 

Eddystone drifting though Herston Halt whilst out on test this afternoon. A day more April than August.

 

We spent four days at Corfe Castle from last Saturday as a summer break and had a few runs behind 34072 which had 5 coaches which were mostly well loaded. One driver in particular worked the engine very hard away from the stops which was a joy to hear. What a pity the consist for the Gala will mainly be 4 coaches. The lack of rain is no excuse now and there is much more to come. Nice to see the 33s working though these were in a 4 coach train.

 

The new gala timetable with 3 sets will have all 13 of our operational coaches running - the sets are as long as they can be! 4 + engine going up 1 3/4 miles of 1/78 will still be quite some sound.

The B Set has been 4 coaches since the evening of the 20th to allow Maunsell 1381 to go for a repaint.

 

Ok. When we were there for four days this week one set was 5 coaches all MK Ones and the other was 3 plus the Obs car. Will these be the same for the Gala? If not what will be the consist of sets A B and C? Thanks

 

Happy to be corrected on this but I believe it will be:
A: 4 Mk1s
B: 2 Mk1s + 2 Maunsells + Observation Car
C: 4 Mk1s

 

Thanks