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Swanage Railway General Discussion

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

  1. cymroglan

    cymroglan Member

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    Thanks! I did pop by anyway and had a great time - two round trips before I was summoned back to my family. I don't know whether you have any influence in such matters, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who misses the loco roster feature on the Swanage Railway's website...........
     
  2. Rumpole

    Rumpole Part of the furniture

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    There is a website revamp currently being prepared 'behind the scenes', and as part of that a return of the loco roster is planned.
     
  3. 45076

    45076 Member

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    Excellent news! As all major railways now have a loco roster on their websites it saves a phone call before travelling.
    Its a pity about Bodmin though they have this year deleted it from their site.
     
  4. cymroglan

    cymroglan Member

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    Delighted to hear about the Swanage plans to bring the loco roster back.
    I do agree with you about the value of a loco roster. The Isle of Wight Railway would get a lot of my business if they bothered with a listing - I'm not going to the expense of crossing the Solent for less than a Terrier or Calbourne!
     
  5. London Bridge

    London Bridge New Member

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  6. Southernman99

    Southernman99 Member Friend

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    Having visited for the first time last week. Thoroughly impressed with the railway.
    Went for a ride on the thursday and was pleasantly surprised to see the trains very well filled. Whereas riding on Saturday (when the weather was perfect) the trains were definetly quieter.

    Very refreshing to see the Footplate experience with 80104 on Saturday on the freight. It certainly adds something to the general ambience.
    With the imminent movement of the buffet from the bay platform over to the new dock, it will release a fair amount of space.
    A bonus was seeing 34070 being wheeled out (she does look rather lovely).
     
  7. cymroglan

    cymroglan Member

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    Any idea what's running on Saturday? Find myself with an unexpected day to myself! Would be grateful for any info.
     
  8. Rumpole

    Rumpole Part of the furniture

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    I believe at this stage it will be 30053, but I'm back in work tomorrow so will confirm then.
     
  9. cymroglan

    cymroglan Member

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    Many thanks. Certainly worth turning up for 53!
     
  10. buzby2

    buzby2 Well-Known Member

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    A very shiny 30053 was working on Friday and doing sterling service.
     
  11. gz3xzf

    gz3xzf Member

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    Two photos from the weekend, the M7 looking shinny (having just been cleaned) on Saturday morning & 80104 shunting the dinning train on Sunday afternoon.
     

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  12. Rumpole

    Rumpole Part of the furniture

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    Its only when I come round to updating this thread that I realise how much seems to be going on around the railway at the moment...!

    Looking first at the 'glamour' of our locomotive fleet, with the return of 6695 from Herston Works last Friday we now have all 5 of our operational steam locomotives on the main railway again for the first time since last October. The winter work on 6695 is currently being finished off by railway staff, and it should be available for traffic again very soon. 30053 is currently in traffic, with 34070 as spare, and 34028 is currently stopped for investigation into a recurrent injector issue. Earlier this month 34028 passed its annual steam test, the last one possible since the boiler was last out, and this is therefore looking like its last 14 months in traffic. 80104 has been stopped for the replacement of side rod bearings, however dismantling work has not started yet until either 34028 or 6695 are available for traffic.

    Rolling stock wise, much of the work is concentrating on the railway's Ransomes and Rapier 45 ton steam crane. This also passed its steam test recently, although there is much work to do before it is 'finished'. More volunteers are definitely welcome on this project, as the painting of this in itself is going to be a Forth Bridge type affair! Car 14 has recently been brought down from winter storage to Swanage, and is currently sat on the Goods Shed road for uncovering and de-winterising, following which it will re-enter traffic. The second Queen Mary brake van (rather than the one currently in our freight set) was moved to Herston Works last Friday as a return load for 6695, and this should be overhauled and returned to the railway relatively shortly. Would this make the Swanage Railway the only railway with two operational Queen Mary brakes? In addition, a privately owned BR standard brake van was recently moved from Eldons Sidings (beyond Norden) to Swanage for restoration work to be completed by a small volunteer team. Work at present on this one though is very much dependent on my general workload, being a 'fill-in' project when I have a spare hour or so.

    There are still a number of infrastructure projects ongoing, mainly centred around the Swanage area. The station canopy is now looking very good, and many people have commented on how light and airy it is under the canopy. Finishing touches are now being carried out, particularly signage, electrical work and those little period pieces that really improve the atmosphere of the place. The Goods Shed roof is also progressing well, and what has also been done while the roof has been replaced is providing more insulation than has ever been on the roof before. While this will improve working conditions in the shed, it also has the effect of 'future-proofing' the work on the shed in case the engineering facilities currently in there move out, such that it could potentially be used as (for example) a buffet or a shop at some time.

    Visible work has also taken place on several other such projects. A new short platform (platform 2 3/4!) has now been constructed in the 'squint' at the end of Swanage loop. At the end of this week, it is planned to move the Birds Nest Buffet from platform 1 to this new site. This should hopefully open up the buffet more to customers from the coach companies dropping off on Gilbert Road, and also free up the full face of platform 1 for train operations, greatly increasing flexibility and reducing the need to check trains into platform 1. Over the last few days the concrete slab has been laid for the new water tower on the town side of Northbrook Road bridge, which will eventually be the new home for the water tower currently at Salisbury. Similarly, the concrete slab has also been laid for the new Court Road workshop opposite Swanage engine shed; useful visible progress on what will be a vital facility. In a more minor, but equally significant, vein, good progress is being made in repainting the signalbox at Swanage, and hopefully this will lead to similar projects ongoing on other similar buildings over the rest of the railway.

    As you can see, plenty going on over the last few months. If anyone would like to be a part of the team down here at Swanage, either in respect of any of the above projects or on anything else, please do let me know.
     
  13. cymroglan

    cymroglan Member

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    I'd love to know what's likely to be working on Saturday 29th.

    I'd also like to ask whether the diesel turns at this time of year are always worked by dmus. Does a 33 ever appear?

    Many thanks! Looking forward to another good day in Dorset!
     
  14. Rumpole

    Rumpole Part of the furniture

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    The 33's will appear from time to time; I want to put them out more (say one weekend a month) for crew traction knowledge purposes, and at least that way we can advertise it in advance to try to attract any interested passengers; watch this space for more details. I was hoping to have them out and about like that by now, but unfortunately it slipped my mind when this month's roster was being prepared; my fault!

    The other regular passenger turn for the 33's is the Friday night Bistro (see the dining pages on the website for more details) and the Cream Tea specials on the first Tuesday of each month.

    As for this Saturday, I am on the DMU tomorrow the morning so I'll know for certain then; I suspect it may still be 30053 with the DMU in the other path. There is also a charter from Waterloo to Swanage that will making one round trip on the railway, formed of two SWT 159's.
     
  15. cymroglan

    cymroglan Member

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    Many thanks for this detailed reply. I must say that the chance of a regular run behind a 33 would be most attractive to me!
     
  16. Rumpole

    Rumpole Part of the furniture

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    Just to confirm my previous suspicion, it will be 30053 on the service trains this Saturday.
     
  17. nanstallon

    nanstallon Part of the furniture

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    In respect of an earlier comment about loco rosters, I can say that Bodmin and Wenford now has a roster on its website again.

    Back to Swanage, I'm keen to see the U class when it visits in September. I read in a magazine that she is going to be at Swanage for ten days. The gala days clash with my anniversary, but if the mogul works on other days after the gala it will be much easier to make the journey from Cornwall!
     
  18. Rumpole

    Rumpole Part of the furniture

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    I hear Dorset is nice for a weekend away at that time of year...!
     
  19. Steve1015

    Steve1015 Member

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    Am sure your good lady wife would love to have a romantic weekend in the Purbecks.....loads of wonderful places to take her...;)
     
  20. Fred Kerr

    Fred Kerr Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    .. and a wonderful park-and-ride service to avoid the hassle of driving through Swanage.
     

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