May 2008

Swanage Railway Diesel Gala and Beer Festival, 9-11 May.

There will be a Feast of Diesel Action with visiting locomotives and, of course, Real Ale. Subject to availability, we hope that there will be up to eight visiting locomotives. The Real Ale Tent at Harmans Cross Station will be open from 11.00 am to 11.00 pm on Friday and Saturday and from 11.00 am to 3.00 pm on Sunday and there will be over 50 ales and ciders! Also live music in the Tent on Friday and Saturday evenings. You can travel to the Festival by train from Swanage, Herston, Corfe Castle or Norden Park & Ride, by bus from Poole or Wareham to one of our stations or by car from anywhere to Norden Park &Ride. There will be a train every 20 minutes between Norden and the Festival at Harmans Cross and real ale will be available on most trains.

What a long hectic weekend this is going to be!

Swanage Market Day Specials restart.

Our ‘Market Day Specials’ will run every Tuesday morning from 27 May to 9 September, leaving Swanage at 9:00, Norden 9:25, Corfe Castle 9:27 and Harmans Cross 9:34, offering ‘Early Bird’ return fares of £4.00, £3.00 concessions.

Bank Holiday Weekend 24-26 May.

We shall be running our Peak Service with a steam train every 40 minutes from Norden Park & Ride, Corfe Castle and Harmans Cross, with an evening diesel service. Come to town in style by rail! On Saturday evening 24 May, our Wessex Belle Dining Train will run. For train times and essential Wessex Belle bookings, call at the Station, phone 01929 425800 or visit our website: www.swanagerailway.co.uk.

£1000 Grand Draw

Draw tickets are now on sale at Swanage station.  Proceeds this year go towards station improvements at Norden.

Major Engineering Works at Swanage.

In our January issue we said that these works, to bring two platforms into use again after a break of 40 years, were about to commence. This involves laying in new points and new signals. Well, after superhuman efforts in all weathers, we got all the rails put back and the new Down Inner Home Signal into place ready for trains to run into Swanage from 9 February. It will be some time yet before we can actually run trains into the bay platform as there is a considerable amount of signalling installation work to complete before final works are tested and approved for use. Our photo this month shows the track gang hard at work laying in the new points.

Swanage Railway Track Gang Hard at it. Photo F.M. White.

Purbeck Railway Circle

On Friday 16 May Tony Ward will give a slide show on ‘The Railways of the Colonel Stephens’ Empire’. Read Tony’s article below. We meet in the Catholic Church Hall, Rempstone Road, Swanage, at 7.00 for 7.30 pm. All welcome. Michael Walshaw, Secretary PRC, Station House, Swanage, BH19 1HB, phone 01929 421913.

Colonel Stephens

Many railway enthusiasts will know of ‘The Colonel’, as he was called. Born in 1868, he was a widely read and educated railway engineer of the late Victorian era. Holman Fred Stephens had a forte for designing and building rural railways very cheaply, but without compromising safety. The major railway companies had more or less completed their networks by the end of the 19th century and were not really interested in expanding further, which gave The Colonel an opportunity to engineer lines to serve small rural communities, spurred on by The Light Railways Act of 1896, which enabled lines to be constructed to less exacting standards than the main line railways.

He ran his railway businesses from Tonbridge in Kent, employing up to 17 staff to administer some 17 independent railways around England and Wales; each a highly individualistic line, from light standard-gauge lines to the mountain lines of North Wales. The Kent & East Sussex Railway and the Festiniog Railway in North Wales are examples of lines that The Colonel controlled that are still running for the pleasure of tourists, although sadly most of the lines fell prey to the motor bus and the private car.

Holman Stephens also had a lifelong interest in the military, having been a member of his college Cadet Corps, and rose through the ranks of the Territorial Army in East Kent to become the Commander of the Dover Fortress unit of the Royal Engineers. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1916, having given valuable service in raising and training troops during World War I. Colonel Stephens died in October 1931, a lifelong bachelor, but his empire continued under his Chief Assistant until 1950, when the last of his little railways closed or were swallowed up in the mighty British Railways. Come and learn more about ‘The Railways of the Colonel Stephens’ Empire’ on 16 May.

Tony Ward

If you are interested in helping us in any way, contact our Volunteer Liaison Officer, Mike Whitwam, SRT, Station House, Swanage, BH19 1HB or leave a note for him at Swanage Station Booking Office, phone him on 01929 422555 or email him on volunteer@swanagerailwaytrust.org.uk.