Swanage Railway General Discussion

Well you guys n gals would be made more than welcome....especiaaly if you could bring the 25

 

Mk1 ban....? That hasn't been an issue for several years now. What about the London Underground 4TC that we got certified to carry passengers on the mainline from London to our diesel gala this year....

 

It is not MK1 that are banned but unlocked slam doors. I believe WCRC stewards lock the doors before departure, a bit difficult with multiple doors on a VEP.

 

TCs have the same number of doors as loco hauled equivalent coaches.

 

and post steam, some services were ran by 4tc/33 just out of interest, were these locals from Bournemouth , or originate from Waterloo as i would guess that some services may have not ran to Weymouth

 

It is actually an offence to use Mark 1 coaches on the National Network - unless you have an exemption! Slam door stock is similarly banned. However, as railtour stock and a couple of dozen or so NYMR coaches show, achieving the exemptions is perfectly possible.

What it is very difficult to obtain an exemption from (a few exist for shunters and on track equipment, I believe) is the requirement that traction units have TPWS. Again, fitting is far from insurmountable but it does have an associated cost which may not be seen as viable for occasional use.

OTMR ("black box") is a Group Standard rather than a legal requirement and hence exemption can be obtained - the NYMR has such an exemption between Whitby and Battersby. A case has to be made for such and exemption and whether such a case could be made for operations to Wareham, I wouldn't like to try and judge.

I suspect the biggest practical issue is line capacity. Steam services would ideally run round at Wareham. Not sure that would be possible in the Station and whilst there are sidings east of the Station, none appear to offer runround facilities.

Of course, working top and tail with the Class 33 could get round this but adds extra requirements for staffing.

The real question must be whether it is felt there is a market that would use a steam train from Wareham but not a diesel railcar, and how much that market is worth. Perhaps also the ability to maintain an all steam service to Swanage rather than needing to make paths for the DMUs from Wareham could also be a factor at peak times. Most things are "do-able" but need time, money and often patience!

Steven

 

Would the Swanage core market support a longer run, though? The main car park is (and presumably will remain) at Norden. So I wonder whether the "bucket and spade" brigade would want to get on at Norden and then travel a mile or two in the wrong direction before heading off for the beach? Enthusiasts with day rovers might, but I suspect most passengers want to get on where there is a good car park, and get off on the beach.

(And for full disclosure: I travel on the SR probably two or three times per year, but very much as a means to get to the beach without queues of traffic, sometimes breaking the journey at Corfe Castle on the way back. If there was an extension to the steam service to e.g. Furzebrook but the main car park remained at Norden, I'd probably do it once or twice to see what it was like, but I think in the main I would still basically be in the bucket and spade camp, using the railway as a nice means of transport rather than an end in itself).

Tom

 

If the steam services were extended to a station in the middle of nowhere just for the sake of having a longer run, then I agree probably not worth it.

However if a depot is one day built at furzebrook, maybe a station could be built there to allow people to look around.

Also there is Blue Pool further up the line, which is a bit of a tourist attraction. I'm sure the swanage railway have mentioned the possibility of building a station here before.

So there are definitely options to extend steam trains and provide further interest for visitors.

 

Steam to Wareham must be the ultimate objective surely.

Failing that then there's no point the steam service being longer than it already is.

 

Well the point would be hopefully attracting more passengers, with a longer run and more places of interest they can stop off and see on the way, whilst avoiding the huge costs of regular main line running.

Yes it would be nice if steam could run to wareham on a daily basis, but realitically it seems unlikely.

 

I agree, so a Station at Furzebrook , with a footpath to Blue Pool Lane seems the best option. See https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...33,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x4a7e0d020d3590d5

 

The whole of the land around Furzebrook is a SSSI, otherwise a park and ride to supplement Norden, a station, along with the attraction of Blue Pool and the works on the old BP site, It should be a no brainer, with steam services starting and terminating there.

Unfortunately just getting access to the BP site is proving problematic due to the areas natural sensitivity. So as has been said earlier, steam from Norden it would appear, is the sensible option as the core business.

 

IF the SSSI and BP hand back restrictions can be negotiated in such a way to allow the Swanage to get access and possibly develop a restoration shed, a station or at least a halt would be a fantastic addition to allow access to both the works for the enthusiast and Blue Pool for other tourists. Space for a one platform station wouldn't be a problem as there is a siding next to the mainline that could surely be turned into a loop for run round pueposes.

Track works at Wareham took place a few years ago with the intention of running Swanage services into the station. I can't remember if the yard had runround facilities installed but point work and track upgrades were certainly done to allow trains to run into the yard and back out into platform 2 for the return to the coast.

 

Browsing through Railways illustrated yesterday, it mentioned the move of the 117 and bubble car to Eastleigh.

However it also said that there is another 117, already at Eastleigh, which is also to be given a mainline overhaul for the Wareham service.

Can anyone confirm or deny the existence of this additional 117? Its the first I have heard of it.

 

The down yard can now be accessed from either the up or down platforms. There is no run round facility in the yard.

 

Railways illustrated is wrong.

There was already a class 108 at Eastleigh works that is being overhauled but is not going on the mainline

 

Are there plans to ticket 31874 for the mainline? There is nothing quite so satisfying as a loco coming home to a place it actually worked in steam days. 30053, 41312 and 31806 are 3 examples of that. However, home for 31874 is amongst other places, Okehampton, as it was at Exmouth Junction from Jan 61 to Mar 64, when it was withdrawn. So, an excursion or two from Swanage to Okehampton and, perhaps Barnstaple, via Eastleigh, Salisbury and Exeter. If the T9 was to be present as well, perfection will have been attained. Bodmin is close to a homecoming but, Okehampton is the real deal.

Even if there are no plans to ticket the N, it could still visit Okehampton by road, as the T9 would have to. Does anyone know if the private line from Coleford Junction to Oke, requires main line ticketed locos? If not, 31874 could pilot a special from Waterloo behind 34046, from Coleford Junction, to return triumphantly to its former stamping ground.

Talking of homecomings, are there any plans to bring the Bluebell's Q 30541 back home to Swanage? It was a Bournemouth engine for many years, until Mar 63 and worked the Swanage goods many times. How great if it could do just that again.

 

the problem is that you would need several locos to be main line certificated, i would imagine that would be beyond the Swanage railway to finance, plus your stock would have to be plated to run over NR, So you would need a core rake plus spares, then there are no run round facilities at Wareham, so you would need to use the 33 to top and tail,or use 2 steam engines so you either have to run a dmu to wareham, or you have to look at how you run steam ,if thats the plan, and how you do it, for instance, if the stock and engines have to be fully ML passed then do you operate the steam to wareham as a longer run to say eastleigh, as a way to make it pay, i should imagine a 5 coach rake hauled by either 31625 or any of the mogols, or what ever else happens to be ML passed laying over between tours at Swanage on a sunday might be popular

 

There is no run round at Barnstaple agree it would be great to see the T9 at Okehampton one day the whole place ooses southern atmosphere

 

Shame it has an American tenant operator, who thinks that the Polar Express is the be all and end all. 31874 and T9 running down to Coleford Junction would be lovely, we can live in hope one day, perhaps after 2017 when BARS lease on the line is up.