Swanage Railway Victorian Weekend 22-24 March

C stock replaced by DMU for the remainder of the weekend. It'll be dragged by 65/34028 as per the timetabled allocations

 

Could not one coach be taken out of the set? We may not bother going now

 

It was the brake vehicle that failed. No spare brake coach available, sadly.

The DMU will not be running; simply used as replacement hauled stock.

 

Ok thanks

 

We are travelling tomorrow. Can anyone inform us which Swanage departures will be the dmu stock please. [BJ]

 

10:30 and 16:30 by 34028
12:00, 13:30, 15:00 by 65

 

I believe it to be the 10.30, 12.00, 13.30, 15.00 and 16.30 departures ex Swanage and corresponding 11.05, 12.35, 14.05, 15.35 and 17.05 ex Norden.

 

Timetable seemed to be 40 mins down by the end of the day, saw a double header when I arrived at Corfe Castle this afternoon.

 

Thank you for your replies. [BJ]

 

Another question, sorry. Is the C set the three coach train? TIA. [BJ]

 

Yes. I would have thought it possible to keep it as 3 by reforming from the 4 or 5 set. In view of how long this has been planned and advertised it’s a pretty poor show IMHO. I had planned a balanced day of travel and photing but I don’t want to see the DMU being dragged around by the star loco.

 

Last year on the Mid Hants they used a Queen Mary on the S&DRT train because they didnt have a working brake

 

What Bulleid brake, 4365 is at Margate

 

I'm not quite sure what you're asking for here - is it to put the DMU coaches into a different set so that there's still a 3-coach Mk1/Bulleid set that the 01 can haul? That seems a lot of additional work for the volunteers when the DMU offers an instant alternative 3-coach set that could be deployed to fill the gap. To me that's a great and pragmatic solution to keep the gala working smoothly. With only two operational brake coaches it's not like they could've popped an easy replacement into set C surely.

I know the DMU isn't appropriate visually (my 1960s railway history knowledge isn't good enough to know if Bulleid Pacifics rescuing failed Class 117s might've ever happened!) but it's not like an SECR liveried loco on appropriate SECR liveried vintage stock has been swapped for an SECR liveried loco on a DMU drag. Three green Mk1s weren't historically right for 65 in this livery (or any livery...? Again, excuse my poor history knowledge) anyway.

Ours is a quirky and idiosyncratic hobby so I don't want to come across like I'm criticising gricerdon's personal priorities too strongly here and I do get it to a degree, but the "pretty poor show" wording felt needlessly critical and not something I'd have enjoyed reading had I been one of those who worked hard to make this event happen. The Cl.117's windows are restricted if I remember rightly so I'd be a bit gutted if I was there today that I couldn't pop my head out behind the 01 on those trips - but conversely I'm still picking soot out of my eyes from doing that in the third coach of the 01's set on yesterday's lunchtime run out of Swanage! And I love novelties and rarities so would make very sure to get some pictures of the DMU drag. Again, that's not to criticise anyone whose nostalgia era is different to mine - a faded 33111 on ballast trucks during the driver experience the other week was peak accurate railway nostalgia for me personally so I do understand the preferences of those who want things to be 'right' for steam era too and might baulk at 65+DMU whereas I wish I was there getting shots of it.

I really, really enjoyed my visit yesterday. I wasn't planning to go at all as time was a bit limited for me yesterday (2.5 hours at Swanage but it's a 4-hour round trip for me to get there/back) but when I saw the one-day-only £20 offer I thought that made a short visit better value even if I just linesided for those hours (when I'm on a tight schedule and need to be home for family priorities I'm wary of travelling at galas given the constant possibility of timetable slippage). Then the memory card in my camera failed as soon as I went to take my first shot of the morning so I quickly figured out a travelling plan instead that would let me get uphill runs behind 563 and 65 - both of which I'd never seen running before - and still leave a bit of margin.

It was so worth it. Both beautiful engines and the T3 gets even more elegant somehow when it's running. I hadn't properly registered how small 65 would seem alongside 34028, and loved the punchy sound it made on the gradients. I got there just in time for the morning double-header return run departing Harmans Cross - beautiful noise from the pair of them. I left 31806 for another day but it sounded superb out of Swanage as I headed home.

I've read above that the timetable slipped by the end but wanted to praise everyone involved for how quickly an initial delay at Harmans Cross on the T3's first solo working of the day was recovered. I'm a big, big fan of the section 'over the road' because of both the variety of different photo possibilities and even more so the excellent noise possibilities for steam and diesel of the climbs to Furzebrook with a dead loco on the back to yank along. But it did seem like delays were more easily recovered just using the Swanage-Norden section and having three sets all focused on that section meant there was something constantly happening, it gave every station a really busy feel. Passenger loadings looked very encouraging too, on anything hauled by 563 or 65 anyway. The 'non-star' engines' trains that I saw seemed quieter.

I do feel like Swanage gets a lot of criticism on here, but I have to say I've never had a bad visit there in 30+ years and any volunteers or staffers I speak to always come across passionate and pragmatic in the right ways. So I really hope the event is a success overall. It felt like a really good model for a slightly lower-key single-visiting-engine event that still offered plenty of entertainment and variety. Will be back for diesel gala Saturday, Bulleid Friday and some of those running days that look like one set will have Cl.33 haulage.

 

March 22 2024.

 

I have supported the railway through visits (5 last year) and donations so I think I am entitled to criticise when its appropriate. I cannot now drive long distances without another driver in the car and travel here mostly by train and bus though my mobility isn’t good . But I persist

 

No late running in the afternoon, just a rewrite of loco workings in light of only 2 sets.

 

Trains weren't as busy as I expected today (Saturday) - read into that what you will. However, credit where credit is due and it seemed like a really slick operation today. The longest delay of any train I travelled on was just 3 minutes and my final train finished on time. So well done Swanage in that respect.