Monthly Newsletter - March 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