Hot News!Trains now run every weekend until daily running starts on 3 April. Trains leave Swanage at 9.50 and then every 80 minutes until 4.30 and Norden Park & Ride at 10.30 and every 80 min until 5.10.
The Wessex Belle Dining Train re-starts on Sat 18 March and then runs nearly every Saturday evening. Doors open at 7.00 pm for pre-dinner drinks in the Bar Car and the train departs at 7.30 pm. For times and essential bookings call at the Station, phone 01929 425800 or visit our website at www.swanagerailway.co.uk.
Make a date for our Branch Line Weekend 1-2 April and re-live the past when we re-create the aura of a typical seaside branch line of the ‘50s and ‘60s, with a variety of steam and diesel-hauled passenger trains. A goods train will be run and there will be a vintage vehicle display at Corfe Castle. As a former ‘Somerset and Dorset’ engine, No.34028 Eddystone will mark the 40th anniversary of the closure of this much loved line from Bournemouth to Bath, before it moves to the North Yorks Moors Railway for a spell. Holders of the Special Event tickets may enter a photographic competition with railway-related prizes. Mothering Sunday 26 March. Why not do something different for Mum by taking her for a superb meal on a leisurely train ride through Purbeck this year? Luncheon will be served on our Dining Train, leaving Swanage at 11.50 am on 26 March. Three courses plus coffee and mints for £24. Booking is essential, as usual, for our popular dining services. Residents’ Community CardResidents of the Purbeck District Council area may wish to buy a Residents’ Community Card at just £5 per person for the year, entitling the holder to 50% off our fares (except for some dining trains and special events). Driving ExperienceHow about driving and firing a Steam Locomotive over the demanding gradients of the Purbeck Line? Our Steam Driving Experience Courses last an hour, during which you drive the loco in one direction and fire it in the other, under experienced Swanage Railway Enginemen. The ‘Driving Experience’ makes a superb present for your best friend! Booking essential. Purbeck Railway CircleOur next meeting is on Friday 17 March when local author Michael Baker will present a slide show about Irish Railways. Michael first visited Ireland in 1959 and now goes there twice a year, so it must be good. 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. Return of an Old FriendResidents with long memories may recall the first items of rolling stock arriving at the fledgling Swanage Railway and those early journeys that barely left the station. Whilst these rides may have been short, many of the passengers were conveyed in some style in a former Southern Railway Bulleid coach. Several other former SR coaches were also acquired in the early days. They had real character, with mahogany veneered walls, cosy compartments, well-padded seats and wonderfully atmospheric framed posters for distant destinations. Whilst the former BR coaches that carry today’s passengers are themselves nearly 50 years old, these earlier SR ‘heritage’ coaches had a style all their own. Although not part of our current operating fleet, these heritage coaches have not been forgotten. Indeed the Bulleid-designed coach 4365 that provided many of those early services is coming to the end of a major overhaul at a specialist workshop in Derby. It is expected to return to Swanage in late March, when work will start to restore its interior to return it to passenger service. Much of this work will be relatively straightforward but we must raise several £000s to have a new batch of seating fabric produced to a deep red and cream design that was specially created for the Bournemouth services. It really will add the finishing touch to 4365! Restoring coaches is a challenge and those built post-war pose particular problems as they were built when materials were scarce and often of low quality. The body of a Bulleid coaches is a welded steel skin on a hardwood framing, so if it can’t rust then it could rot! Around 75% of the steel skin of 4365 has had to be replaced in the overhaul. The coach’s distinctive curved windows also pose particular challenges! 4365 was built at Eastleigh in 1948 specifically for services from Waterloo to Bournemouth. Whilst it also worked on other lines, it spent its entire working life with sister vehicle 4366. Both were withdrawn in 1966 and sold to the Army and subsequently separately acquired by the Swanage Railway. It is our aim that they will eventually run in service together, along with our two other Bulleid coaches and a two-coach ‘push-pull’ set that operated Swanage services in the early ‘60s. The rate at which we can restore these heritage coaches is limited by funding so all contributions will be gratefully received. Andy Vincent. |