Swanage Railway developments

From the WNXX website. <BJ>

Swanage Class 158 Trial 12/12/12

SWT are running a Class 158 over the Swanage Railway on the 12th as a route clearance exercise.

5Z61 Salisbury Depot to Swanage Railway

Salisbury Depot 0805
Dean 0816
Romsey 0822
Redbridge 0828
Southampton Central 0832-0843
Redbridge 0856
Brockenhurst 0910
Bournemouth 0927
Poole 0939
Wareham 0955
Swanage Railway 1013
Swanage 1041

5Z62 Swanage Railway to Salisbury Depot

Swanage 1350
Swanage Railway 1419
Wareham 1439-1440
Poole 1454
Bournemouth 1509
Brockenhurst 1538
Redbridge 1551
Southampton Central 1559
Redbridge 1602
Romsey 1610
Dean 1616
Salisbury 1627-1642
Salisbury Depot 1644

 

Does this suggest SWT will be running the regular services on the line when it fully reopens to Wareham?

 

What will be the maximum permitted speed for the 158 over the branch? If more than 25 mph is allowed, this removes a major obstacle to regular commuter trains.

 

Its just a route clearing run....and thats all it is.

Just another tick in the box....that could lead to further opportunities for Swanage.

 

25mph

 

Hmm, the last approved Purbeck Community Rail Partnership minutes I saw on-line suggested that the Swanage Railway would be running the initial services. You might find this FAQ from July 2012 interesting... http://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/projectwareham/FAQ-ProjectWarehamv4.pdf

 

However, less encouraging is that the last approved minutes uploaded to the Purbeck Community Rail Partnership are from May, so either they are not being posted, or the number of meetings has slowed down.

 

I believe the meetings carry on regularly but there is a significant delay before the minutes are published because they have to be approved first and I have seen this take several months for whatever reason. You can often find more recent minutes as appendixes to other council meetings but they are difficult to locate and I don't have the time to go looking.

 

Nothing has been decided who will do what etc.....All options are being left open...watch this space...

 

[wnxx] Pictures - 158880 Swanage Railway 121212

 

I've got a similar one to the Corfe pic, but with a sign saying Swanage instead...!

Did you like the old and the new at Swanage station, with 80104 in the adjacent platform?

 

Thank you Steve, a sight many of us have waited a very long time to see.
Prediction: once a commuter style service starts in earnest watch the Swanage real estate market rise.
Have any costings been theorized on updating the Motala-Worgret to 50mph..ie competitive to the local bus.

Now to get some under cover shelter for our rolling stock!!

 

Swanage is already one of the highest in the country so no real change expected.

Suspect not. A saving of a few minutes (at best) over these 4 miles but at a vast cost in upgraded track work, occupation level crossing arrangements, application for TWAO, etc.

 

A commuter train could go at 10 mph and it would still beat the car into Poole, Bournemouth and beyond by half an hour. If one has ever tried the trip through Sandford, Northport and Bakers Arms roundabout, etc. etc, at 0800, one would not doubt that a train every 15 minutes in the mornings could be run and it would be rammed.

It's not Wareham that the pax want to go to.

I get the impression that some of us don't actually want the railway to fulfill its real function, but I think the heritage aspect could dovetail very nicely with a real railway service which would fill the quiet hours and weekends.

If the Swanage branch had not been closed, it certainly would not be, now, would it?

 

Swanage was not even listed for closure in the Beeching Report. I suspect that around that time, regions were being given quotas to close, as this was seen as part of the streamlining process. Several lines not on Beeching's hit list were closed around then, such as Yeoford to Okehampton in Devon, also in 1972.

Alton to Winchester in 1973 was another daft closure although this was in the Beeching list - I could go on and on!

 

That's all new to me - very interesting. Is there a list of 'the ones not on the list', if you get my drift. On the Okehampton line, I could understand that one if the malevolent WR management had any say. But who had it in for the Alpine line? I read recently that the Alton to Waterloo service is 'rammed'. It's one of the highest overcrowding examples in the country. I wonder how many pax are driving in from along the old line?

 

The Alton to Winchester line was in the Beeching Report for closure, but carried on quite a long time. It was busy as a diversionary route during electrification work on the main line to Southampton and Bournemouth.

However, it was still a silly closure as there has been so much population growth in the area and it is useful to have alternative routes, especially when not much trackage is involved.

 

Think that this could be a showcase for branch line regeneration and it would be nice to see NR feature into the financial equation. Private/Public partnerships and all that. Like many of the original 70's supporters
I remain very hopeful. Sooner or later though some money has to be found to get some of the SR rolling stock under cover, frustrating to read that,as SRT only lease most of the trackbed and lands, Heritage Lottery
Grants are difficult to obtain. Does the MHR run any services that connect to commuter traffic at Alton.

 

A couple of years ago there were plans to run a commuter service between Medstead & Four Marks and Alton using a forerunner of the 139s used on the Stourbridge branch but it failed between delivery and commencement of service. For a number of reasons the scheme was never resurrected.

 

I've been looking through my library for a list of closures not in the Beeching Report, but couldn't find one as such. However, the 'bookazine' (available in WH Smith) - "Beeching - 50 Years of the Axeman is probably the most informative on this. If you look at pages 48 to 52 you will find (1) lists per Region of lines proposed by him for closure, (2) lists of lines staying open but losing their stopping trains (3) lists of lines already put up for closure before the Report and (4) lists of additional lines subsequently but only up to 1968 put up for closure. These lists say when the lines were actually and some were not actually closed at all - e.g. Whitland to Pembroke Dock not listed in the Beeching Report, but later put for closure and presumably the government refused to allow closure as it is still very much with us. Some lines, e.g. Swanage, were put up for closure after 1968 and don't appear in (4).

I am an unashamed anorak about the branch line scene - I find this era fascinating and one interesting detail is that the Fawley branch which had a service of two daily passenger trains a day (but a lot of freight) was shown as to stay open for passengers in the Beeching Report, but did lose its service on 14 February 1966.

Apologies for going OT, but it has some relevance to the revival of the Swanage branch.