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Swanage Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Rumpole, Oct 10, 2012.

  1. Standard by 4

    Standard by 4 New Member

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    Does this now leave the railway with only one option for a potential rail connected maintenance base, Herston?
     
  2. Bean-counter

    Bean-counter Part of the furniture

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    I am surprised by some of what has been said about why the DMUs were chosen.

    They are not identical to the 'First Generation' units that were in network use in that these were single car units. Have the DMUs had their screw couplings within the unit replaced? Mark 1s at least are buckeye coupled.

    Exemptions from it being an offence to use a Mark 1 on the Network have been granted to charter operators and Mark 1s are still used amongst traffic at the highest speeds run in the country (excluding HS1!) The door-lock exemption may be a greater issue, which would have required each vehicle to have a steward or for a new design for a Mark 1 electronic door lock - was such a device fitted to the Lymington Pier units?

    On Track Access, the current rate (CP5) for a Mark 1 vehicle is 4.53p/mile, whereas for a Class 121 (Bubblecar) it is 5.27p/mile (reflecting the greater weight of engines etc.) A Class 33/2 is 35.13p/mile, making a 4 car set + loco 53.25p/mile and a 3 car DMU 15.81p/mile. OK, so a lot higher per mile - but what sort of mileage is planned annually? It is no huge distance on the mainline per trip, so is it about 10/12 miles per day, 200 days/year? That would be 2,400 miles per year a difference in cost of maybe £900 per annum. Not nothing but also not enormous.

    Steven
     
  3. desperado

    desperado Member

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    Indeed 117s are constructed quite differently from Mark 1s and are not subject to the same regulation.
     
  4. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    I thought that these units had been fitted with door locks. I've certainly seen some photos of a DMU at Eastleigh fitted with them in the last few days.
     
  5. Bean-counter

    Bean-counter Part of the furniture

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    Yes, the units are as far as I am aware, and basically of the electromagnetic design developed for the Bubblecars as far as I know. I mentioned the door locks because a Mark 1 option wouldn't have had them, although I have a feeling the Lymington branch units, which were Mark 1 based, did have them and a Class 33/1 would I believe be able to supply power for the locks if you fitted them to a 4TC or similar.

    Steven
     
  6. Daddsie71b

    Daddsie71b Member Friend

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    I have worked 12 car slam door stock on curved platforms without dragging people under the train because if a door was open the passengers within the train shut the door because it was common sense.
    It frustrates me that we have succumbed to the lowest common denominator and not let Darwin do his work.
    Central door locking etc, tell those people on Indian railways to get off the roof!!
     
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  7. Mogul

    Mogul Member

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    OK, Ill take the bait..
    I’m sure you are tongue in cheek here and I have some sympathy for the general sentiment about overbearing H&S. The likes on your post say that many feel the same........... However
    :Bookworm: A quick google tells me that Indian railways have 33700 deaths for about 1.1 billion passenger Km. That’s 1 death per 33 thousand Km. The equivalent death toll in the uk would be over 2300 per year (all 2015-16) figures. I don’t think the public would find that acceptable so Indian standards can’t be used as part of a case for reducing our standards.:Pompus:

    The LU TC has the magnetic locks fitted so the the president is established. I dont know about the Lim units hopefully @twr12 or @Dan Bennett will come along and help as they are more knowledgeable on these matters.
    There were other reasons. The units were thought to have a high level of redundancy with multiple engines and other systems duplicated. This makes clearing the main line in event of a failure of some sort easier thereby avoiding the dreaded delay minutes. Also the decision is routed way back in time when the Mk1 ban was coming in to effect and it was thought they would be permanently removed from the network. Not being a Mk1 the DMUs escaped the legislation. Conversely now they don’t benefit from the established Mk1 exemptions so this is another piece of work that needed to be done.

    With everything taken in to account and the benefit of everything we have learned (so far) it would be interesting to see a rerun of the decision of what stock to select. My guess is that the TC would be a front runner. I would also be interested in how a Hampshire unit would fare in the decisions.
    We haven't given up on getting a decent road access to Furzebrook but it is yet another barrier. The Corfe facility is viewed as a Short - Medium term solution until we can bottom out the other sites. The same local Government reorganization has slowed our work at herston as Purbeck District Council (now absorbed in Dorset council) owned the land there.

    Perenco are currently expected to be operational until 2038. After this the planning permissions require the offices & carparks be returned to heathland and a replacement access road to the sidings constructed. The issue is that the end date has already been moved out several times as new oil and gas reserves are explored and new extraction technology makes the existing ones more viable. They have recently completed exploratory drilling for new 'prospects' in the bay off Bournemouth so there is no immediate signs that we can pin our hopes on 2038 being the real end date when we get our road. An independent road access to the site to decouple us from the end date would be preferable. Readers might be interested that the Wytch Farm Oil field owned by Perenco is the biggest onshore oil and gas field in europe and not many are even aware it is there. Horizontal drilling enables it to tap reserves several km away under the Purbecks, Poole Harbour and the bay of Bournemouth.

    I do envy Railways that inherited large empty goods yards to develop their own car parks and facilities. Swanage did not benefit from this.
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2019
  8. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

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    A couple of images from the Purbeckman lunch train which today which was hauled by 46521. Or as I refer to it "The Ladies What Lunch Train", and no I have no idea of the gender make up of the passengers.
    Having attached to the stock in Platform 1, the second trip at Quarr Farm Crossing, and the return leg of the second trip working hard across Corfe Common towards Afflington Bridge.

    For those interested in diesel things the 25 and 26 for the Diesel Gala appear to be in the Kings Road sidings, having I think arrived yesterday.
    IMG_2617.JPG IMG_1585.JPG IMG_1594.JPG
     
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  9. AnthonyTrains2017

    AnthonyTrains2017 Well-Known Member

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    Wish 46521 was being used on Thursday type 2 of diesel gala
     
  10. johnofwessex

    johnofwessex Resident of Nat Pres

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    Of course 40 years ago the Safety Regulators were concerned about trains colliding or derailing & killing passengers.

    No passenger has died as a result of an accident aboad a train in the UK since Grayrigg in 2007, 12 years ago. With the 'low hanging fruit' gone regulators are now able to look much harder at issue like passengers falling, either on stations or out of trains, track workers, level crossings & a whole host of other issues they were not able to concentrate on in the past.

    Ditto most other safety regulators
     
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  11. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

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    According to the GCR Goods Galore website it will be at Quorn for their event that weekend.
     
  12. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    At which point, and deviating off topic, I’d like safety regulators to look more broadly at the costs and benefits of their recommendations.

    Fixing a risk on the railway at the expense of making people more likely to use other, less safe, modes seems perverse.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  13. OldChap

    OldChap Member

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    Ahh, the joy of the universal law of unintended consequences.

    In the US as of the introduction of 2019 MY all autos sold are required to have a backup cameras as standard, these add 500-1500USD per car. Figures do vary but at worst a budget car with no sat nav must now have a dash mounted screen added. Vehicle cost are up, insurance costs have risen, sales are down and many manufactures (Ford, GM etc) have abandoned the car market focusing on the more profitable SUV and truck market. Indeed GM has announced closure of 4 manufacturing sites in North America recently.

    This camera issue may not be 100% responsible for the auto industry decline in the NA auto sector but many in the industry have stated it is a massive concern that these types of diktats have large downsides and unintended consequences.

    Anyway back to the Swanage Railway topic.
     
  14. Daddsie71b

    Daddsie71b Member Friend

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  15. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

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    A couple of images from May 4th. I believe this may be the Ivatt's final weekend at Swanage. Plus D7535 approaching Arne Road on driver experience and the ever growing "Tender City" at Norden.
    257 Squadron hit a problem in the afternoon and was replaced by 33111. I notice from the railways twitter feed it may have hit an issue today as well, and I have just seen 33111 go past the window.
     

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  16. nine elms fan

    nine elms fan Part of the furniture

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    A nice selection of Bulleid tenders there.
     
  17. 61624

    61624 Part of the furniture

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    The Ivatt looks to be an ideal engine for Swanage - perhaps they could arrange a long term swap with the GCR for a Bulleid?
     
  18. buzby2

    buzby2 Well-Known Member

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    46521 scheduled to be hauled to the road/rail interchange at Norden on Wednesday morning.
    Heard that it's boiler certificate is due to expire shortly. Is this true? If so, possibly a reason it's now going home to GCR.
    It's helped out famously during 31806's sojourn at Herston Works for axlebox work. Not sure when the U is due to return to SR metals though.
     
  19. Monkey Magic

    Monkey Magic Part of the furniture

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    Regarding the choice of a 117. Was/is a 205 (3h) ever considered? Or would they be the worst option of the 3 ie mk1 body, plus needing doorlocking etc
     
  20. free2grice

    free2grice Part of the furniture Friend

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