Swanage main line connection under threat?

What about if they are involved in an accident? Do they have the same Issue as MK1s have with coaches overriding each other? Could this stop them from going on the main line. The only way Mk1s can be used on the main line is with a loco acting as a barrier vehicle.

 

It's not as if they are going far. Worgret to Wareham is 1 mile roughly ?

I'm sure the 117s wouldn't have been bought if they were of no use, what's the point on wasting money on something you can't use ?

 

Since when did the distance they will be on the main line for matter? Presumably, even in this distance there is the potential for them to get hit by an EMU travelling at speed.

I may be a heretic, but I have a suspicion that the Swanage would be better off failing in this instance. I do wonder if there is the commuter potential in Swanage to justify such a service. I think they'd be better off with occasional specials. I don't think Wareham ids going to be a particularly popular destination, and it seems to me that the station is a fair walk from the town which may put people off as well. However, its just my opinion, and whilst others may think I'm wrong I'm still entitled to it!

 

Class 117s are not officially classed as MK1 stock, so do not come under the Mk1 legislation requiring a barrier vehicle to be used. A bit of a technicality really, but this is the reason the 117s will be allowed to be used.

 

On the available information, I would tend to agree with you. £3m seem a very large sum of money and I'm not sure what the railway gets in return which would come anywhere near covering this sum.

 

ECS to Bishops Lydeard (Mon-Thu nights); freight to Norton Triangle. All bring income to the Railway. None possible without the WSR's investment in the connection.

The Swanage Railway is a fantastic line - exactly what heritage railways are all about - and the opportunity to carry passengers on a regular basis from Wareham Station must be grasped. Travelling by train from Bournemouth and Poole to Swanage (change at Wareham) is a real attraction. I am sure the true commercial value of having an upgraded junction will show positively in years to come.

Steve
(WSW)

 

I suspect the Swange Railway is aiming to run services to take people from Wareham (and national rail services) to Swanage rather than it being a service for people in Swanage to go to to Wareham (although it could be used for that purpose)

 

Am I correct that the local authority owns the freehold of the line and the Swange Railway already forms the "Park and Ride" for Swanage, so extending the public transport aspect to include mainline connections is an obvious extension of what the line already does.

If through services were to become a reality, then the heritage aspects could be affected rather more than if it remains a shuttle. The Class 117s are, I believe, structurally very similar to the "Bubble Cars" used by Chiltern and Arriva Trains Wales and I am sure the door lock solution on the Class 117s will be similar to that already used on the "Bubble cars".

It is interesting that 4 of the top 5 heritage lines in terms of numbers of passengers include a service that terminates at the seaside!

Steven

 

Quite correct Steve, and this paragraph is the all important answer to many of the comments on this thread.

 

It seems to me that this appeal is to fund signalling to allow Swanage to run a public transport service on behalf of Dorset County Council - therefore, why aren't the council paying?

 

I can’t see the local council prepared to stump up 3m of local tax payers money can you? I’m not sure if Swanage tax payers would also like to pay for this extension out of their council tax.

 

But haven't Dorset CC already forked out and bought some DMU's to run said service?

Why should the enthusiast community be expected to fund it?

 

So no regular passenger trains onto WSR/

 

Sadly not yet, Michael.

Steve
(WSW)

 

Steve - didn't the WSR nearly go broke when it tried to be "real" commuter type railway rather than a heritage line?

 

It's not. As the Swanage Railway website states:

 

The Swanage situation is very different to the dark days of the WSR's history. It wasn't the commuter service itself but the failure to get to Taunton. A through service would have worked but the blacking of the WSR by the NUR effectively prevented not only the WSR' own trains but all trains working over the Branch from BR. There were other factors that created the crisis but this is not the thread for that discussion. Happily the Swanage only needs the money (!) to make it all happen. And I look forward to be able to travel by train from Bournemouth to Swanage (change at Wareham) just like I did back in 1969.

 

The main issue is this. Current access to the branch from the main line is through a ground frame at Worgret Junction. This ground frame is released by a key token held in Wareham signal box. Non-passenger trains therefore collect the key from Wareham 'box and with agreement of the signalman use it to operate the frame and get them onto the branch as far as the SR boundary at Motala. To permit a passenger train to run over the facing points, a person from Network Rail has to be there as well to clip and plug them.

When the line is re-signalled between Poole and Dorchester in 2012, there won't be anywhere local to keep the key. The ground frame and pointwork is therefore likely to be removed as well, thus severing the branch from the national network again. To keep the connection, and get it up to passenger standards, requires somebody in local or national government to agree to fund the additional work required to upgrade the junction - a maximum of £3M over 2 years. Simples??

 

Although I am not an S & T Engineer, I have seen and used a number of inventive S & T solutions and been party to plenty of discussions about solving S & T problems and I would have thought this "nightmare" scenario would be unlikely.

Surely the Ground Frame could be given an electic release as part of the re-signalling (interlocked electronically to associated signals) or even the key be transferred to a cabinet at the ground frame with an electric release. At present, depending on the age of the existing signalling system, the key will not simply be kept in Wareham Box but will either be locked into the frame by being in a lever that needs reversing to release it (thus locking the necessary signals via the interlocking if a manual frame) or more likely be housed in an electronic lock again interlocked with the rest of the signalling system electronically.

In either case, surely the arrangement can merely be moved to the ground frame.

Network Change would also need to be granted to remove a connection still required by a user.

Steven

 

From the Beeb....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/dorset/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8513000/8513078.stm