An Easter with indifferent weather has come & gone with not very exciting passenger numbers but April has seen an improvement on train loadings in the first few days of the month. The staggered school holidays between various counties has resulted is considerably different traffic loadings to previous years so as is normal when Easter fluctuates between March & April we will have to wait to the end of May before we can get a fair comparison with past years. Local schools have returned to studies but others are not doing so until the 21^st April.

Locomotive, Carriage & Wagon

The railway has continued to struggle with motive power going from one crisis to another. Whilst the M7 has continued to give sterling service we have had to rely on our hired in pannier tank 5786 from the South Devon Railway to run a two engine steam service. Whilst 34028 Eddystone has worked some trains it was stopped for investigation of valve gear problems which stopped the engine halfway through Easter Sunday. Originally it was not planned to use the engine at all over Easter & rely on 5786 & 30053 but on a very windy & later dry Easter Saturday a number of lineside fires at various locations. Cautious Operations Department staff withdrew 5786 that evening despite the Bulleid being in the early stages of being prepared for a washout. However 34028 was not ready for the start of the day so the first booked steam service was covered by D6515. Of course the Crompton had to kick in again later in the day to cover the unfortunate Pacific which blotted her copy book & failed. There of course were ongoing discussions as to whether 5786 or heavy handed driving was the cause of the fires but independent witnesses seem to indicate the crew were responsible. I will leave the Operations Department to monitor staff in future to ensure that crews do not drive aggressively at times of fire risk. However 5786 was returned to service the following day & no more lineside fires to date have been noted.

5786 has now left us but I can report that the re-assembly of 80104 is now complete following repairs & returned to service for the Railway at Work weekend. 34028 is now re-assembled & tested so is with us for the Branch Line Weekend.

Regretfully one of our class 117 DMU has also failed with suspected blown head gaskets on one engine. Again, additional workload on the Locomotive Department.

The bar car in the Goods Shed is seeing progress with side door & window surround work now complete. Both sides are now being painted so not only is progress happening but it is seen to be happening. The Wareham end panelling is still to be completed but at least the end is appearing on the horizon.

Smoking of a different kind

This time it relates to human beings smoking. As you should all know following the change of legislation on smoking in England last July after earlier changes in Scotland & Wales the Swanage Railway Company introduced a total no smoking ban across the whole railway. Unfortunately standards are dropping & certain members of staff & volunteers are appearing to abuse the policy. I am aware there are a number of pipe smokers on the railway & they do put an unlit pipe in their mouth. To avoid the risk of people being wrongly acquiesced of smoking when they are not I would appreciate if it is not done on company premises. I am also aware that some of our signage across the railway needs improving & I have asked departmental & station managers to review their respect areas to ensure they are adequately done.

Communication on & off the railway

A number of you have been speaking to me recently about this subject mainly centring on the use of e-mail & blogging plus advertising our railway.

Firstly e-mail, a very useful means of rapidly forwarding information & opinions. As a receiver of much of these from a wide circulation of sources can I ask people before they press send or reply all buttons that they stop for a few seconds & think if everybody wants to receive what you are sending? Some correspondence which bounces backwards & forwards really is of importance to the sender & receiver & not necessarily everybody at the end of the reply all tab. This does not mean I or my colleagues do not want to receive information about the railway & its operations. However please ensure it goes to the right person who needs to know in the first place & only circulate to others who really need to know. For example on marketing matters go to Dave Green or operations to Steve Dyer. I need to know if something is not happening or is unsafe but only after you have contacted the correct person first. If it is urgent you can include me in the loop initially for information so I can monitor & intervene as required later.

Marketing

Another issue of concern is marketing the railway. Whilst this is an area covered by Dave Green this one of several hats he wears & he cannot do it alone. This is something every member of the railway can be involved in. One key area the member can help with is leaflet distribution. For people living away from Purbeck please make the effort to distribute leaflets in your area, be it libraries, hotels, tourist or visitor information centres or the like. If you are staying in accommodation in & around Purbeck hotels etc usually have tourist information packs of local attractions. Look to see if they have the latest brochure about the Swanage Railway. If they have please given them a leaflet or more if they have packs in each guest room. This is a simple & cheap means of getting the word out about the railway. In the short term I am making sure that Swanage Station booking office will have leaflets readily accessible.

Early information from the tourist board is that people will be more likely to take UK rather than overseas holidays & although people will be tightening of belts with the current economic climate they are at least keeping holidays as a must have. The incoming overseas visitors however are expected to reduce in number.

Finally on marketing we are looking at simple signage on or about the railway. Introducing or moving signs to better locations is another cheap & effective improvement.

Finance

Mentioning doing something on the cheap nicely brings us on to money or the lack of it. An old story I know but with a bit of a down turn in passenger numbers means that with less income there is less available to spend on maintenance & new works. However we obvious do no want to see standards drop or safety put at risk. If you are aware of an item that needs attending to please initially see if we can action a repair in house with our own resources rather than say bring a contractor in to fix it. I am hoping the Railway at Work weekend will bring some new volunteers which in turn will improve the resources to action work within the railway. Whilst there were encouraging responses on the weekend these still have to be trained & converted into active volunteers. Past experience on many heritage railways is that drop out rates can be high.

Hole on the Big Railway

As many of you are already aware there has been a subsidence in the run round loop at Furzebrook which is having an impact on the planned delivery of various incoming visiting diesel locomotives for our Gala over the weekend 10/11 May. Current discussions with Network Rail are that a temporary repair will be actioned to enable incoming diesels to still arrive by rail. It seems the hole was caused by a collapsed culvert drain which was installed when the loop was extended in 1978 in conjunction with building the oil terminal. So whilst the have been ideas of a plan ‘B’ of bringing in some locomotives by road we are at least now back to the original scheme where the majority arrive by rail.

Mick Dean
General Manager
12^th April 2008

The Family Fun Week event has come & gone & it turned out to be fairly successful. With the loss of the Thomas event everybody was a little apprehensive as the first day dawned, however the visitors arrived and almost everybody left happy saying we put on a good show. There were minor problems on the first day. An overnight power failure at Norden caused the car park signs to say FULL & they could not be changed. Dave Green’s car had a puncture & the coffee machine at Harmans Cross (borrowed from the Wessex Belle) died. Dave was thinking we had received all our problems which come in threes but the Swanage Railway in the end had four. The M7 steam reverser which had been an ongoing fault for several weeks but 30053 only managed one round trip on the Saturday morning before it gave problems again. The rescue engine was D6515 but it was hoped to have 34028 Eddystone back in service to give us some steam traction in the afternoon. However despite valiant efforts by the Locomotive Department they were unsuccessful. 34028 had operated all the previous week but was stopped for minor maintenance work & fitting new engine brakeblocks. However a slack adjuster in the brake rigging was seized solid & prevented it re-entering service until the Sunday morning. The lack of steam motive power was the only written complaint we received over the whole nine days.

Whilst total numbers did not match previous Thomas events the actual numbers were as follows:

Thomas spring 2007

• 6972 passengers
• £56000.00 fare income

Family Fun Week 2008

• 4205 passengers
• £30700.00 fare income

We have obviously lost engine hire & movement costs plus the payments to HIT Entertainments Ltd. However catering & certainly the shop incomes were down so whilst not exciting the total income was fair for an event organized at short notice.

The previous week’s operations also had a stead number of visitors with Eddystone hauling all the four coach trains. Now of course we are running every weekend & once Easter is with the daily running commences until the end of October. The Wessex Belle has completed its first day’s operation on Mothering Sunday. The bar car from this formation is in the Goods Shed for body refurbishment its place in the rake being taken temporarily by buffet coach No S1885.

Locomotive, Carriage & Wagon

As work on re-assembling the two Standard tanks in Devon & Dorset continues the good news is that the problems of the M7 tank steam reverser appears to have been fixed! So far the locomotive has done four round trips on the line, on Tuesday 11^th March with no problems. The current plan is to put the locomotive back into operation over Easter through to the Branch Line Weekend of 12/13 April after which the engine will be stopped to be painted in a new livery.

The mid February weekend started with Eddystone covering all the diagrams. However with 30053, 80078 & 80104 not available at that time James Cox started to look for alternative motive power late in February to at least see us through until the end of March. The South Devon Railway came to the rescue with the hire of Great Western Railway pannier tank No 5786. With my GW origins you can imagine the comments I received about having a hired in Western engine. Still it has got use out of a problem & with the M7 now hopefully available again we have 3 operational engines to cover the service on our intensively run railway. We are committed to operate the pannier on a minimum of 12 days during its time with us.

34070 has now been test steamed for the first time at Herston Works. Whilst most of the boiler was satisfactory there were minor problems with leaking rivets around the saddle. A movement date for the locomotive coming onto the railway for testing have yet to be agreed. 80104 has had both right hand valve liners replaced. 6695 is not likely to be back on the railway until May.

In the Goods Shed work continues on refurbishing the Bar Car with one end having much steel cladding & structural channels removed for replacement. BSK 35059 has been on the jacks & had its brake rigging repaired & ride height adjusted.

Infrastructure Matters

The work involving installing the crossover opposite the Engine Shed at Swanage plus making the bay platform an operational line continues. Recent work has included digging out various tracks opposite the signal to remove pumping clay deposits which has contaminated the ballast & install a geoblanket sheet below the ballast to improve track drainage & prevent the clay rising. The bay platform approach has been lifted, part re-sleepered & new ballast put down. On the weekend 8/9 March leveling had not been completed & with the Wessex Belle parked in the bay the uneven levels caused a trip hazard either end of the Pullman car where it sat lower that its adjacent coaches. However more ballast was dropped the following week so all levels are now correct.

The new ‘Tuesday’ gang lead by David Foden has following formal bridge inspections have started the necessary corrective work on repairs. The first task tackled at Swanage has been the removal of the ivy growth from the Northbrook Road Bridge. This & similar work will continue onto all the bridges as time & train operations permit throughout the year. There is maintenance work to do on Corfe viaduct which will involve closure of the road underneath so holidaymakers in Purbeck will obviously appreciate if that work is done next winter.

The Signal & Telegraph team is also continuing with the necessary work to make the bay platform legal in respect of train operations. As ever with this work much new point rodding needs to be installed & that in term involves digging lots of holes for concrete stools that all the mechanical rodding sits on. It is going to be at least June before this part of the job is completed. Then of course Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate has to come in & examine the completed works before formal use.

Tidy Trains

Before we commence daily public train operations it is planned to run two tidy trains to clean any surplus redundant materials & rubbish from various trackside locations. The dates chosen by Dave Cobb for these are Tuesday 18^th & Wednesday 19^th March. If you have anything that you are aware of, than needs to be moved or removed, please contact Dave on 07918 714927 or by e-mail on davecobb@corfestation.f2s.com . Obviously if are able to join the ‘Tuesday’, ‘Wednesday’ or P. Way gangs to assist in doing the moving it would be much appreciated. In the station area at Swanage a scrap skip has been organized to clear loco & goods shed areas plus items like worn brakeblocks from the run round loop.

Buffets & Wessex Belle

The Birds Nest Buffet has continued to remain open daily throughout the winter providing refreshments for staff, volunteers & visitors. The Norden Nest has operated on all train running days so far. The Wessex Belle has now had two outings this year to date but Easter bookings are so light that the Easter Saturday operation is likely to be cancelled. Adam Trott has taken on the role of Belle steward whilst Karen Feline has joined us as the housekeeper.

On the managerial front the temporary role covered by Penny Jones has now changed and the Wessex Belle returns to being responsible direct to the General Manager via Linda Moore the Senior Train Manager. Penny continues in her role as Buffets Manager running the Birds & Norden Nest establishments plus the buffet & micro-buffet vehicles in the passenger train sets. Minor modifications to the buffet counter area are being undertaken whilst the vehicle is marshalled in the Belle set.

Vacancies on the Railway

A reminder that we are still looking for people to take up the role of Company Health & Safety Officer plus Environment Officer as detailed in the recently issued Swanage Railway Magazine. Either contact Mike Whitwam or myself if you are interested. As regards anybody interested in becoming a volunteer in gereral on the railway if your know of anybody who would be prepared to come & join us please encourage them to come along over the Railway at Work weekend (5^th – 6^th April) as we are using this as an opportunity to recruit new volunteers on the line.

On more general matters I am hoping to produce a General Manager’s report monthly although this may have to be every two months depending on my workload on the railway. I did produce one in January but computer problems did give problems to its distribution. If there is any information about the railway for your department or group that you would like a wider circulation please let me know so I can see if can be included.

Mick Dean
General Manager
14^th March 2008

For those of you waiting for this newsletter & not aware of the problems in the Rutland Room my computer died in a big way a couple of days after the January board meeting & it was over a week before its return. However it now back after a heavy intermediate overhaul & the new General Manager is hitting the keyboard to bring you up to date with what is happening on the railway & elsewhere.

Before I go into railway matters a few personal items from me. As Finella & I still officially live up country in Oxfordshire until our house sale goes through, I am working down here in 5 day blocks, normally either Monday to Friday or Tuesday to Saturday depending on the need to attend weekend meetings & similar. If anybody wants me to attend a weekend meeting can you please until we move down to Dorset contact me a month beforehand so I can plan my personal life. I am trying to arrange as much as possible midweek meetings at Norden & Corfe at either end of the week on the way in or out of Purbeck to minimize the need for unnecessary addition trips up & down the line whilst trains are not running.

I have a number of areas that I am looking at as the new boy on the scene. As a new pairs eyes I can in my early days look at the railway as visitor would see it. Also I am reviewing the Safety Management System to make sure it is robust & working. The Railway Inspectorate has also asked me to give them my unbiased view of general safety on or about the line. So far most is good, but I am sure that there will be some things I will come across that will need attention.

The weekend winter DMU service is working well & on days when the weather is favorable it has been attended. We have already started looking the possibility of running similar trains in January 2009.

Tidiness on the Railway

I am also trying to go through the various papers, actual & electronic to tidy up the Rutland Room setting an example to other to improve general house keeping on the railway. Other departmental managers have also had gentle reminders about tidiness on the railway in both public & non public areas. As winter maintenance comes to an end but before regular train operations get under way we need a good tidy up of all areas. These bits of fittings, tooling & equipment that are being kept for a rainy day need to be got rid of. It has rained, & they are still on the railway. Dispose of it, either to an official tip or sold as scrap especially as steel scrap prices are high at the moment. Once the Permanent Way & signaling work at Swanage have finished James Cox is planning to bring a couple of skips in to clear scrap & rubbish in the station rail approach area. Also several containers beyond the Engine Shed need to be relocated to improve sighting for the newly installed bracket signal. They were also I believe on an earlier Railway Inspectorate list of improvements required from some time ago.

Thefts off the Railway

We have suffering a numbers of thefts & attempted thefts off our railways in recent weeks. They are obviously after non ferrous metals & tooling for re-sale. Scrap prices are currently very so out of the way places on the railway have become an easy target. However twice now thieves have been disturbed, so life for them is not as easy as they originally thought. If anybody lives near the railway please keep your eyes for anything unusual & immediately contact the police. On both occasions police attended swiftly including the helicopter so third time we may get lucky & catch them. However do not tackle them yourselves. We do not want any dead heroes.

Health & Safety

As many people will know Malcolm Munro stood down as Company Health, Safety & Environmental Officer on the railway prior to my arrival. Firstly thank you Malcolm for all your input in the job in the past. It has certainly helped me in my review of the safety system & he is continuing in various other roles he does at Swanage. However it does leave use with a vacancy in our safety control of our railway. If anybody feels they could assist with either H & S or environmental matters, & the existing job could easily be split, please contact Mike Whitwam as volunteer liaison or myself.

Events

Dave Green has marketing of the Family Fun Week for 16^th to 24^th February well under way as well as starting his move to a new working base at Norden. Whilst we are not now running Thomas apart from not having the visiting locomotive much of the other activities & train operations will be similar with past events. Provided the weather stays kind to us we can but hope the visitors will still flock in. We are doing increased television advertising to encourage them to come. Dave has also attended to recent Excursions exhibition at Alexandra Palace in London to promote the railway to the wider world. News of the disappearance of Thomas is now spreading far & wide with Dave now appearing on regional TV not only talking about the lack of the blue engine but also promoting our new replacement event. Any publicity is good publicity.

Meetings are also in had to fine tune the Railway at Work Weekend where we are amongst other things looking at recruiting more volunteers to help run & maintain our friendly railway. I use that term deliberately as I have been made most welcome here in Purbeck so I would like to think that we can all work together in pulling in new members to the Swanage Railway Trust to help run the show. To most people this railway is their hobby we want to make it enjoyable to all concerned. More people suitably trained will help spread the workload will continue to make the railway a pleasant place to be. Two areas in advance of the event where people have expressed concerns to me are that Ralph Smith is looking for an assistant in the Swanage shop plus additional counter staff. Operations are after new cleaners to eventually progress through the ranks to become firemen. We also could do with assistance across many sections within the Infrastructure team require additional help.

Locomotive, Carriage & Wagon

The M7’s bogie wheels arrived & after extra effort by the Locomotive Department the engine was re-wheeled & tested in time to haul a train on the 22^nd December following problems with 80104. The various movements of 7714, 80078 & 34028 off & on the railway took place on the 3^rd & 4^th January as planned. There were minor repairs required with Eddystone but at the time of writing work is nearly completed, ready for a test steam to take place. 80104 failed with a defective flue tube & a subsequent examination has discovered a cracked rear right hand valve liner. A class 108 DMU car has received body repairs & a re-paint so is looking smart again. The Wessex Belle bar car has now taken its place in Swanage Goods Shed.

Infrastructure

The new crossover & associated signaling work at Swanage is going well with the new trackwork now complete plus the bracket signal in place. Work is slightly behind schedule but it is hoped that the first trains from Swanage will still operate as planned as from the 9^th February. However whilst the big jobs will be completed, it is likely to be June before this is finally signed off as formally inspected & the bay platform can be used for public trains.

Catering

The Bird’s Nest Buffet plus Norden Nest continue to open daily & at weekends respectively. The Wessex Belle is preparing its 2008 menus ready for the new season. We have vacancies for two staff on the Belle, firstly a steward working 40 hours a week, & secondly a housekeeper at 15 hours a week. If you are interested or know somebody else who may be contact, Penny Jones, Andrew Moore or myself for more information.

Staff

The paid staff on the railway received a general 3 ½ % pay rise, in line with inflation as of the 1^st January 2008.

Mick Dean
General Manager
Swanage Railway Company Ltd