The Swanage Railway Trust

As befits the season I am taking the liberty of putting down some thoughts on the year that has just passed and the year ahead.

2005 – The year just past

Corfe Signalling and the start of 2005

The beginning of 2005 saw the successful commissioning of Corfe Signalling (which has since won the Westinghouse Signalling Award). In commercial terms 2005 was a year of somewhat mixed blessings and from a strong start in February and March saw income decline below predictions during April and May – seemingly a factor of the uncertainty provided by the General Election and the general condition of the economy at that time. After a slight rise of fortunes in June July saw a nationwide problem in rail travel following the London bombings and this had an effect on us and many other heritage railways.

Swanage 120

The celebration of our 120th birthday was a bright point in this otherwise depressing first half of the year and its success in terms of our local relationships is still evident in my visits to schools and other local organisations where it still excites clear memories and goodwill.

Improvement through the autumn

Mid August seemed to mark a real turning point and from that point on passenger numbers (and revenue) have increased. As if to prove the point we have just had our best December ever with heavily loaded Christmas Dining Trains and our Santa Special services running as near capacity as we can hope for (up to 96% full on some trains, 89% loadings overall and over £60,000 for the first time).

Structure and staff changes

2005 has also seen a number of changes in both personnel and management structures – some of which are still in progress or bedding down. The largest structural change, early in the year, was the reorganisation of Passenger Services and Operations Departments to create the Motive Power and Traffic Departments under the Operations Manager. This move has also allowed a start to be made on developing a stronger marketing strategy and corporate image as this is now a focus in its own right rather than just one part of the Passenger Services portfolio. 2005 also saw the introduction of the first phase of a new Safety Management System (SMS) – copies of which are now around the railway – and a new Staff Handbook to bring together existing policies – a copy of which is in the lobby of Station House.

The latter part of the year has seen a couple of personnel changes with the retirement of Roger Sinar in November and Mike Standhaft in December. Final decisions about both posts are still to be made by the Board of Directors but James Cox and Steve Dyer are currently covering the posts in an acting capacity.

The year as a whole has been one of change and development and I hope that 2006 will be a time when we can start to reap the first harvest of these changes.

2006 – The year ahead

The relationship between Company and Trust
Whilst 2005 has seen refinement of the Swanage Railway Company’s (SRCL) internal structure it has also seen the Swanage Railway Trust (SRT) continue the debate started in 2004 over its core responsibilities. Whilst it has a clear role in directing the strategic operational activities of SRCL it has a number of areas that are its own responsibility, aside from SRCL. In 2004 these were identified and the following list was included in the 2005 Strategic Plan (see Swanage Railway Magazine for more information):

1. The extension of the Swanage Railway to enable the delivery of the planned community services

2. Creating the conditions to facilitate capital input for identified projects

3. Facilitating the acquisition and first phases of development of Furzebrook depot

4. Directing SRCL to return a net surplus each year, such surpluses as are not retained within the company to be covenanted to the Trust for improvement and development projects

5. Improving volunteer facilities.

6. Increasing its general fund-raising profile and seek grant aid for selected projects.

7. Developing the Railway’s Museums

8. The phased restoration of the Railway’s fleet of heritage coaches and wagons.

In practical terms this means that the Council of Management now has three core areas of focus: Fundraising, Volunteer Facilities and restoration of Heritage Vehicles. This places a clear responsibility on SRCL to operate and maintain the infrastructure and operational rolling stock as well as operating a safe and commercially viable railway.

Transfer of assets

To assist in the management of these responsibilities much of the asset base in use by SRCL will be transferred to its direct ownership from the SRT early in 2006 and this has but an additional burden on the budgeting process for 2006 in coping with this transition period. This should, however, avoid problems with capitalisation that SRCL experienced during 2004 and improve our long term financial planning and efficiency.

To bring together the activities of both bodies and provide a clear idea of future direction a Five year Strategic Plan was issued, via Swanage Railway Magazine, early in 2005. Experience during the year has led to a number of suggested changes and it is hoped that a revised Strategic Plan will be issued within the first quarter of 2006.

2006 Timetable and operating plan

The 2005 timetable contained a number of changes to cope with the introduction of signalling at Corfe and allow us to utilise the newly available third path. This led to a change back to a two-train service based on a 40 minute frequency. The 2006 timetable sees a few tweaks to rectify errors in the 2005 service particularly with the evening service which, while commercially successful, created a number of staffing problems during the year. 2006 also sees the wider provision of the 0900 DMU service from Swanage which now runs on all peak operating days in addition to Market Days. The introduction of new methods of working at Corfe saw a drop in punctuality and it is hoped that recent improvements in this respect will be continued in the future and that we can avoid having to provide taxis in order for passengers to maintain boat connections as happened on several occasions in 2005.

The early part of the season will see the introduction of parking charges as part of Purbeck District Councils local parking strategy. Arrangements are being made for part-refunds towards fares and special arrangements for members and these will be included in the Newsletter and Swanage Railway Magazine shortly.
 

2006 sees a further development of the Special Event programme during the off-peak period with the repetition of the Branch Line Weekend in April and the development of the Diesel Day into a 1960s Weekend with mixed traction on the Saturday and Diesel only on the Sunday. We have also joined with the East Dorset branch of CAMRA to put on a Beer Festival from 19th to 21st May.

Marking our 30th Anniversary

2006 marks the 30th anniversary of the day when the infant Swanage Railway Project gained occupation of the site at Swanage Station. To mark this event I am planning to issue Certificates of Long Service to those members of staff who have provided 20 or more and 30 years of active service to the Swanage Railway. As I have not been present for all of these years (only being born in late 1976), and so as not to offend too many long-serving members of staff I would like to ask any member of staff who is eligible to drop me a note of their starting date (or nearest guess if this is lost in the mists of time) and roles and responsibilities that they have undertaken during their time on the railway. Likewise, if you know of someone who is eligible, but to whom modesty prevents them writing directly to me, please write to inform me of their service so that it can be recognised.

Communication

Finally could I end with a plea to all members of staff to assist in the clear and accurate communication of information around the Railway. In an organisation like ours this is a notoriously difficult task but much energy can be wasted by people acting on wholly or partially incorrect information. Over the last 18 months I have tried to establish means of routinely and accurately communicating information and the following publications are intended to provide as much information as possible without over-burdening everyone with paper:

• Traffic Notices – are issued weekly and contain information for all staff regarding the services being run, work taking place and information about future events. I am still receiving complaints about lack of information that has been published in this document and in many cases the information has been available for some time but not been read. Traffic Notices are posted on official Notice Boards, in Booking Offices and on the 71b website. They are also available from the lobby of Station House at Swanage. PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ THEM.

• The General Manager’s Newsletter – is intended to provide more general information about the Railway and normally includes reports from Around the Railway, a summary of the latest meeting of the Board of Directors and details of working parties and staff vacancies.

Both of these publications supplement The Swanage Railway Magazine which contains news and strategic information such as the Strategic Plan as well as news on SRT specific projects.

Finally…

Could I personally thank all staff (both paid and not) for the tremendous effort that goes into making the railway successful and offer you my best wishes as we move forward into 2006.

Nick Brown
General Manager
Swanage Station
Tel: 01929 475213 or 07901 852198
Email: nick.brown@71b.co.uk

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Photographs

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