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Project Wareham

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by David R, Jul 31, 2015.

  1. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

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    Has now gone paywall for me.
     
  2. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

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    The author of the article, James Abbott, has been with Modern Railways magazine for over 30 years, so he has some good insights to the management discussions about the future of the Wareham DMU service, and the possible Dorset Metro service. Hopefully there will be more updates and a way to keep the 117 DMU Wareham service going in 2024 will be found which does not compromise the steam operation.

    It was Tom02 who mentioned the Swanage 3TC where good progress is being made, but doubt it will get mainline equipped to run to and from Wareham, but there are several multiple units which eventually raised enough funds to get mainline approved for railtours like: the LU 4TC, Hastings Diesel "thumper" and hopefully soon the Brighton Belle 5BEL (might return to Swanage, for a luxury railtour, where car 88 was in 1988).
     
  3. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Looking for something else I stumbled on the fact I had saved a link to this Visit Britain Study, back in the days when it was mainly about the impact of Covid.
    Slide 26's headline is probably not good news for the railway

    "Spring/Summer Traditional Coastal/Seaside Town Intenders are more likely than average to be families, financially cautious, and to be staying for 4+ nights in a static caravan – not owned by me."

    Link to the whole report here

    https://www.visitbritain.org/sites/...3-01-23_dst_profiling_report_jan-mar_2023.pdf
     
  4. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

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    As the trial nears it's end.
    https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2023/08/rail-minister-travels-on-swanage-railways-wareham-service.html
    Wonder if linked to talks mentioned in Modern Railway magazine to continue the service in 2024?
     
  5. 80104

    80104 Member

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  6. Rumpole

    Rumpole Part of the furniture

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    It may be wrong, but I hear quite a lot of his 'summer rail tour' has been a car journey punctuated by photo opportunities.
     
  7. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Plus in this neck of the country anything that steers the news media away from the Bibby Stockholm for a few minutes I guess is seen as a bonus.:Bored:
     
  8. 80104

    80104 Member

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    I am waiting for Bibby to announce a rebrand.......

    or for the City of Stockholm to say they dont want their name used on such ships.

    Perhaps though Bibbys marketing people want some good PR. I wonder if they would sponsor next years Wareham service?
     
  9. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    His constituency is Bexhill, so If he wanted to, he could have, might have taken most of the day though, Bexhill to Brighton, Brighton to Southampton, thence on to Wareham, but he does have the perks of government, his ministers car, provided by you and i, and paid by, from our taxation.
     
  10. 80104

    80104 Member

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    I looked that up but rather thought he probably doesn't spend much time in his constituency ........

    I have always thought that the Minister for Transport should be compelled to spend an equal amount of time travelling by foot, bike, moped, motorbike, bus, coach, aircraft, boat, hovercraft so that they get a full appreciation of the trials and tribulations of those of us who use any of those means of transport.
     
  11. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

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    The current Government thought rather than having a Minister for Transport, there is a now:
    1. Secretary of State for Transport of the United Kingdom who is Mark Harper
    2. Minister of state for Rail and HS2 who is Huw Merriman
    3. Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Roads and Local Transport) who is Richard Holden
    4.Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Aviation, Maritime and Security) who is Baroness Vere of Norbiton

    From the Rail Advent article (photo by Andrew PM Wright) while in Swanage Huw Merriman also tested a potential train to use on HS2.
    [​IMG]
    I expect when he starts to sort out GBR and HS2 he will forget about Swanage and Wareham? The visit only seems so far only covered in Rail Advent.
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2023
  12. Brockenman

    Brockenman New Member

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    Back in 1987 I was on late turn in a certain ticket office between Poole and Weymouth when the Area Manager dropped off the then Minister of Transport Mr David Mitchell who was visiting certain places in the area and had to catch his train back to London.Can I use the phone he asked as I have to ring the house,your house or the big house I said,oh the big house he said.When he hung up he asked how much do I owe to pay for the call,nothing I said I will just add it to your budget.
    He laughed and then we had a nice chat before he left,a true gentleman.
     
  13. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    Well it could run at 100 mph of course but there is no record of this particular loco having done so
     
  14. 80104

    80104 Member

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    Thanks. Bit disappointed we only get "No 2" but I suppose that is very much how the Govt treats the Isle of Purbeck. We are only worthy of the second best..
     
  15. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    Or, alternatively, you’re getting the minister whose actually got a day to day role that could involve the SR?


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  16. 80104

    80104 Member

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    Well lets hope then that he is willing and able to move things along in a way which suits SRT.
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2023
  17. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    Until the next reshuffle is always a caveat. As for the SRT, I'm reminded of Hippocrates - "first do no harm".
     
  18. 80104

    80104 Member

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    Exactly. I fear that the upside of operating Wareham services is very limited but the downside is very considerable. It was mooted to ring fence "Wareham" so as not to imperil the core heritage operation but that approach seems to have been rejected.
     
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  19. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Resident of Nat Pres

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    I mention this purely to show the problems councils face in realtion to funding projects, although it is BCP, not Dorset Council.
    It is the Bournemouth Airshow this weekend and it may be the last. There was a piece on the local news at lunchtime and in an interview with the Liberal Democrat Councillor, she stated BCP cannot afford the £400k to stage it any longer. BBC claimed the event is worth £30m to the town which if true seems amazingly shortsighted.
    If those numbers are in fact true then it shows where councils are focusing budgets.
    Of course this year with an ASLEF strike on Day 2 and an RMT strike on Day 3 the town may lose a lot of the expected revenue.
     
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  20. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    Leaving aside whether I believe the figure or not, it also highlights the gap between who pays and who benefits. That’s £400k from council funds to acquire £30m of economic activity which will go to businesses serving the town. None of their profits (which will be much less than £30m) then return to the council.

    That’s not to say using council money for a project like this is a bad idea, just that they may not get the upside when their budgets are so tight for things that they must do.


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