The Swanage Railway Trust

Catering Department

Buffets

I would like to make everyone aware how hard the staff worked during the 40th Anniversary. Our takings were on a par with the Steam Gala ’06 but outstanding figures for the weekend must go to Glenwyn and Jill who recovered over £800 between them at the Norden Nest on Saturday. This venue is still staffed daily by one person. The RMB raised £669 on the same day. Out total figure for Saturday was £3,476.71.

Just a reminder that the Birds Nest will be open in the evening on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the summer – until mid-September. For your added enjoyment 100 cases of ’40, Not Gone’ Real Ale have been delivered and will be on sale from Saturday 28th July in the RMB and Wessex Belle. It’s Carnival time again and the RMB will be running on 28th July, 1st and 4th August. To coincide with this event the Birds Nest will also be open on the evenings of 27th & 28th July and 1st, 3rd and 4th August.

Penny Jones,
Station Buffets Manager

On-train Dining

No Report

Linda Moore,
Senior Train Manager
 

Retail

No Report

Ralph Smith,
Shop Manager
 

Operations

No Report

Steve Dyer
Operations Manager
 

Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon

40th Anniversary of end of Southern Steam

All visiting locomotives arriving by road were transited from Norden to Swanage by Ops. And LCW staff and volunteers. The locos were inspected by Frank Mead and Ollie Furnell for Boiler and Mechanical standards. A number of defects were attended to by LCW staff and owners representatives. We also assisted owners with components and advice. After the event, LCW and Ops. Staff detached tender locos and prepared all for transfer back to Norden. This additional work put our normal schedule back by at least 2 weeks.

Locomotives

80078 – In traffic.

80104 – Annual Boiler Exam next week. A chance to catch up with various repairs.

6695 – Visited the North Norfolk Railway, who were very impressed by its performance.

30053 – Accepted for traffic 5th July. Worked all 3 days of 40th Anniversary event with no problems. Water change carried out, in traffic next week while 80104 is stopped. I currently do not know of DLL plans for livery or painting schedule.

D8188 – On loan to Severn Valley Railway, during their reconstruction.

08436 – In traffic

108 DMU – In regular Friday & Saturday evening service. And Green timetable.

117 DMS - Mechanical and electrical fault finding and repairs required carried out over the past 3 weeks, test run on 26th July brought a possible engine fault to attention. Tests currently being carried out.

D6515 – In service as required.

33108 – Collision damage repairs underway at Barrow Hill.

47635 – Brake defect repaired, loco used by Seco Rail for training.

Coaches

4349 – Rampart carried out collision damage repairs in time for 40th Anniversary event. Finishing paintwork will be carried out after the peak summer service, as this useful coach is required in traffic.

4365 – Currently in Goods Shed, for attention to windows by C&W volunteers.

Wagons

1248 PMV - Due to go back into Goods Shed soon for final painting.

James Cox
LCW Manager
 

Infrastructure Department

General

Frank Roberts has resigned from the post of Stations Coordinator but is continuing to Manage Herston Station and Bank. I will step in as Stations Coordinator for the time being and a Station Managers meeting has been planned for 1.30pm on Sunday 19th at Corfe Station.

The bank slip has been completed at Ponderosa thanks to the efforts of the Permanment Gang and the digger driver Mark Bosley. Work has been delayed by wet weather, contaminated fuel and trying to fit stone trains in before daily running. My thanks to all involved

There is a new phone number 01929 481438 for the Infrastructure Office which is shared with the Porters Office. I can also be contacted on 07918 714927.

Dave Cobb,
Infrastructure Manager

Permanent Way and Civil Engineering

Track Work

The line inspection and Points & Crossings checks are now complete.

A lot of track maintenance is outstanding because of the works at Harmans Cross Slip, Ponderosa slip and reinstatement work at Quarr Farm Crossing.

The whistle boards on the down side of Ponderosa and Dickers crossings have been moved further back to give more warning time of an approaching train.

Vegetation

Strimming and weedkilling is ongoing.

Pondarosa Slip

Work is virtually complete with only tidying up of the bank and reinstatement of the up side temporary working area. Wet weather and contaminated fuel for the digger has delayed the work. The digger should be removed from site on Friday.

Tony Andrews
PW Manager
 

Signal & Telegraph and Telecom

General Maintenance

The general maintenance of signaling equipment is slowly getting back on schedule after the disruption of the Quarr Farm incident.

The 6 monthly servicing of the key token and tablet machines is 66% complete but will have to go on hold until 2 train running ends in September.

Annual Inspections

A start has been made on these inspections but they will probably take several months to complete due to wet weather.

Quarr Crossing

The work on repairing the damage to the crossing has been completed and the system has been fully tested. Inspection of the event recorder data from the accident proved that all systems were would satisfactorily.

Swanage Down Distant at Herston

Work is progressing with this replacement signal situated near to the ground frame into the siding. It will replace the temporary signal the far side of Washpond Lane Bridge. A new power supply to the signal should be installed by Telecom shortly.

Faults

A wrong side failure fault occurred on the up home signal at Corfe Castle during the 40th Anniversary of the end of Steam Gala. The signalman on duty had pulled the signal off when the wire was over tensioned which cause the signal to jam in the off position. Adjustments have now been made to the signal to prevent this happening again.

Dave Cobb,
S&T Manager

Telecom

Internal Telephone System and Cable Network

Progress is being made with providing busy tone and NU tone on the Tandem unit at Corfe Castle. This will help reduce the occasions when the caller is left listening to a dead line.
Connections have been made at Corfe Castle so that the Sig 10 Off indicator, fitted under the bridge, can be connected.

BCM & BT Lines

An additional BT line (01929 481438) has been installed at Corfe Castle. The existing line is now exclusive to the Signal Box, and the new line is shared by the Station Master’s office and the Infrastructure Office.

Signal Box Concentrators

With the Pondarosa campsite about to open for the summer, it was decided to transfer the crossing telephones from the Internal system to the Swanage signal box concentrator. This means that in the event of someone needing to call a signalman urgently, they only have to lift the receiver rather than have to work out which number to dial.

Cables have been installed at the Swanage distant signal so that the lamp can be installed. As this signal is adjacent to the Herston siding points and ground frame, a signal post telephone is to be installed connected to the Swanage signal box concentrator.

Terry Otter
Telecom Manager
 

Stations

Norden

Norden Permissive Path

This should be virtually complete and opened to the public once the temporary fencing is put in place at the top end, as a precaution until the metal wire fence concrete posts are replaced.

Platform Shelter

Members of the public got extremely wet when it rained hard a few weeks ago, because Norden does not have enough waiting room space or any covered area for passengers to shelter under. There is a need for a larger shelter.

Ian Diffey
Station Manager
 

Herston Halt

A considerable amount of work has gone into the preparation for the Swanage in Bloom Competition led in the main by Nick and Melanie Field and two additional volunteers who have joined the team recently. 350 new plants have supported this effort, and have been nurtured since March.

The structure of the platform continues to give rise for concern. Despite repeated efforts to repair the supporting structure over the past 10 years, it is likely that the substantial work will be needed; this is planned for the winter 2008/09. In the interim Dave Green, who has spent some time at the Halt on most weekends this year insists that the surface should be recovered without delay. Some work has been done on the surface to help this to remove trip hazards and sand has been made available to reduce the slip hazard when it rains. Chicken wire has now covered the London–end ramp (the other end will be done shortly)

There have been no Army visits since March, but maintenance has continued. The platform lights were off for a week until 15 Jul, but the fault was found in an external socket. Grass cutting continues monthly, the vandalised door frame has been replaced, and the capacity of the rain-water storage system increased by 25% to 350gallons – these are filled mainly from surface water that runs off Washpond Lane.

Frank Roberts
Station Manager
 

Swanage

Station Toilets

The Station Toilets have had some blockage problems over June and July. A drain company has been to carrying out cleaning and clearing the drains. A Camera Line has been put through the drains and I am now waiting for a report from the company.

Platform

The Sygnets came down to Swanage in July and cleared the rubbish in the Bay Platform under Birds Nest and Wessex Belle. Also they started work on painting the fence next to the Birds Nest Buffet. I would like to thank them for hard work.

Swanage In Bloom is being judged in July and once again John and J Trott have done some great floral displays at Swanage Station.

Recycling

New waste regulations are coming into place during the autumn and in preparation new procedures for dealing with recyclable waste came in July. All cardboard is being flattened down and sent to Swanage Station and put beside the Red Biffa Bins under the shelter. Also Glass Bottles are being taken away by Biffa. These are procedures working well and with very few problems.

I am looking into ways of disposing of office paper waste as this goes in to General waste at the moment.

Picnic Area

The current crazy paving is uneven and may also be a trip hazard for the elderly or infirm. I would like to put a new path down in the Picnic Area and also widen the whole path at the same time so that wheelchair bound people can navigate to the picnic area far more easily.

The work party day for Swanage station is on Tuesday.

Steve Whittingstall
Station Manager

Quick Links

Photographs

All photographs on this page by and copyright Andrew P.M. Wright,
Swanage Railway official photographer