SWT 159 to Swanage

Swanage Railway News Gallery - Page 862

A sign of things to come?

 

Sadly no - they just want to run 'heritage' dmus up and down on a Saturday afternoon in summer.

 

While i wouldn't be surprised if SWT run the occasional service down to Swanage (like FGW do on the West Somerset), the railways own Heritage units will be used for Wareham trains. Let be honest, there are better uses for 90mph Express Sprinters than trundling back and forth along a 25mph heritage line...

Chris

 

I was on as TTI on the steam train that day. I hadn't known so that was a surprise. First day on duty this year too...

 

I would hardly say that 50 days in the first year and 90 days in the second year is just a summer Saturday service.

 

...from little acorns....

 

I wonder how much the track access charges payable to Network Rail for going over the Worgret Junction to Wareham section will be?

 

At some time heritage railways are going to have to break out of the 25mph limit. The West Somerset has a 40mph limit for DMUs but, I think, doesn't exercise it. The Severn Valley has run test trains at 50mph and most heritage lines are in at least as good a condition as when BR ran trains at 40-50mph on them. With its short length, Swanage to Wareham at 40mph would be a realistic public service rather than an excursion.

 

Nick Jones, who as Operating Superintendent for WSR in the 1970s, has written elsewhere that "...the 1975 Light Railway (Transfer) Order (transferring the right to operate the railway from British Railways to Somerset County Council andthe WSR (Co Ltd as it then was, now plc) stated a maximum of 25 mph for ALL TRAINS EXCEPT for DMUs as specially approved by the Secretary of State to run at a maximum of 40 mph. To obtain the Secretary of State for Transport's approval, even back in 1976, would have required maintenance facilities that were, looking back, hopelessly beyond our reach, and inspection by BR..." [from WSR Unofficial Forum on Yahoo]

Nick has also pointed out many times that the signalling arrangements have been changed over time and now are only suitable for a max of 25mph.

However, the LRO conditional permission for up to 40mph for "DMUs" remains in place...

Steve

 

Why? What advantages would this have?

 

Oh, you know, the obvious ones - increased maintenance costs, increased running costs, decreased attractiveness to visitors paying for a time-based, rather than a distance-based, attraction...

Tom

 

Yes for heritage use increasing the limit to 40mph might not make much sense.

However if the line is to be used for other uses then it does make sense. The swanage railway is hoping to run a year round public service. If trains could run at 40 rather than 25 then it would help make it a more attractive option than using the bus or car.

i know SWT has expressed an interest in running the swanage to Wareham services in the past, but had concerns there were no plans to increase the line speed to 40mph.

 

You would be surprised how little time would be saved by operating at 40mph rather than 25mph. If such an increase was just applied on the Motala to Worgret Junction section of the line (ie: the section that SR does not currently have access to, or operate heritage trains and works trains on) then it would only cut 2 minutes off the journey time.

Equivalent to this time will be saved in any event when the improved signalling scheme comes into effect.

 

So who is going to pay for the necessary upgrades?

I can't help thinking that a heritage operation and a commercial one (for want of a better term) are poor bedfellows. If the "commercial" service is really viable, then it can stand on its own two legs. If it isn't viable all year round but runs during the summer, I think that it will end up cannibalising the "heritage" service - if all you want to do is go to the beach, why pay the heritage fare to travel behind steam when the SWT DMU will be cheaper?

I also wonder what the impact will be on volunteers, doing hard work to restore stations, carry out p/way work, operate signalboxes etc. It's one thing to do that for the greater good of a heritage society aiming to recreate a country branch line in all its 1950s glory. But who wants to do hard dirty jobs for free just to enrich some commercial company such as SWT? I'm sure the attractiveness would start to pale for many. But I am sure all that has been debated elsewhere...

Indeed - the time taken on a short journey is mostly a function of acceleration and deceleration, rather than peak speeds; and, crucially, the time taken to cross trains. With fairly traditional single line + crossing station operation on most heritage lines, it typically takes at least four minutes between arrival and departure of a train in one direction (and, say, two minutes for the other train) to pass through a crossing station - and that involves some fairly slick signalbox work. Given that, chopping a minute or so out of a section time of, say, eight or ten minutes is neither here nor there.

Tom

 

i'm inclined to agree, I can see why SR want to get back to Wareham, they always have wanted to, but I do wonder if this is the way to do it.

How many people travel to Swanage now from the P+R simply as tourists going to the Beach etc? Not too many I'd wager and I can't see a huge number changing off the main line to get there when they could get off the train in Bournemouth to visit the beach at less cost.

Maybe it's a spratt to catch a Mackeral, and a conection at Wareham direct onto a steam service will one day be possible...that's where the money is I feel.