The Swanage Belle Monday 31st May 2010

An excellent run despite the delays caused by an electric unit which couldn't close it's doors at Brentford. Great performances from both loco's and their crews. 44871 is a beast! Well done to the Swanage railway for adapting to the delays also. Plus there was an added bonus for those of us in standard class as we travelled in lovely first class carriages. Thanks to all involved for a great day.

 

That caused a bit of confusion for passengers in the morning! Agree with Green Five though, was a great day. 25 mins late all the way back turned into a 3 min late arrival back at Waterloo. Both loco's performed very well. Thanks to all involved.

 

Yes, a great day yesterday and a thoroughly enjoyable first visit to Swanage and the railway. The 'organised' chaos at the cramped site at Swanage station was most enjoyable and all seemed to have a smile on their face.

 

A good day out although the short stopover of only about 90 minutes at Swanage was disappointing - would have liked to look round the town a bit more. There seemed to be a few problems on the way down - the train was 15 minutes late at Staines (all trains were delayed due to a defective SWT unit somewhere on the Brentford loop) but there appeared to be some problems getting started from Staines as well (brakes not releasing?). What turned a 30 minute delay into nearly an hour was an unscheduled water stop outside Southampton. Water was sourced from a hydrant in an adjacent industrial estate and someone had conveniently parked a van over the hydrant! In contrast the run back with Sir Lamiel was faultless. I shall not comment on the superiority of Southern locos over LMS ones as I am primarily a GWR fan!!!

 

The train was scheduled to stop at signal E707 (Northam Jn) to take water from a road tanker on the outward journey.

 

Glad to read that 30777 Sir Lamiel held up the SR Flag with a good run back to London.
Looking forward to future visits of this 4-6-0 planned by RYTC. It looked in wonderful condition and a credit to the support crew. Also, it sounded in fine fettle hauling the first Belle out of Swanage, up the 1 in 100-ish gradient, and on to London.

 

No videos from anyone?

 

but the tanker wasnt there!

 

Dunno.........that's what the traffic notice said. Perhaps there was a last minute change of plan.

 

The timing sheets handed out on the train (and the times on UK steam) made no reference to this water stop hence the confusion. There was however 16 minutes of "recovery time" built in between Eastleigh and Southampton. Anyway, we got watered eventually and made it to Swanage so no major complaints!

 

Whist chasing this tour i met a Basingstoke driver/ enthusiast friend who showed me his sheet that clearly showed a water stop
at signal E707 Northam. And there it was as we passed it.

Mike M. (70c)

 

My father got confused by the carriages. I had found our seats and wondered where he had got to. I turned round to see him walk into our carriage and then walk off back down the train as he thought he was in the wrong class!