The Swanage Railway Trust

Catering Department

Buffets

We have just come through a very busy season, ending with The Thomas The Tank Engine Experience . Our staffing has been has been at an all time low as Chris Miles has been off sick at present long term and I have not been able to find any extra help.

The customers were not such a happy lot this time, lacking in consideration, for the heritage coaches, and length of The Queue. Less patient and lacking control of their children and with total disregard of their surroundings. As luck would have it the weather was kind but on Sunday when it rained we were glad to at least have the support coach.

The Norden Nest. Staff worked under extreme pressure to give a proper service with the problem of the lack of water on site last week. For 3 days at the beginning of a very busy week, eventually a provisional supply was rigged up from the mining museum site to the porters cabin on the station at Norden. On the bright side, our figures exceeded last years at this time. Thanks Glenwyn and to all the staff and volunteers who have continued to give the daily service to our customers in the buffets.

Mrs Kyndleys Tea Rooms at Harman’s Cross was a great success figures up on last year.

Wessex Belle. Christmas Lunches, bookings 60% loading at present. I feel sure that we will achieve 100%.

Penny Jones,
Acting Catering Manager
 

Retail

No Report

Ralph Smith,
Shop Manager
 

Operations

Health and Safety

Nothing to report

Monthly Report

On Wednesday 10th October a GBRF Class 66 locomotive and a train of fifteen loaded autoballasters visited the railway, this formed part of a team building exercise involving Network Rail, GBRF and ourselves. The day was spent dropping the ballast on the extension with a break at lunchtime when the Class 66 and D6515 were used to transport everyone to Swanage for lunch in the Wessex Belle. The train weight inbound was 1423 tonnes; 654 tonnes outbound, this means that 769 tonnes of ballast was dropped on the extension where it is needed. At the end of the day the visiting train was stabled on the extension ready for departure the following morning, this left the line clear to Corfe Castle in the evening for a special train to take our guests to the Bankes Arms for an evening meal.

'THOMAS’ arrived on the railway on the evening of Thursday 18th October having been delayed on its journey from the Midland Railway Centre, the loco was steam tested and a test run undertaken on Friday ready for its entry into traffic on Saturday.
Some crews are still finding this locomotive a difficult to operate, but they are in the minority most people have no trouble. The loco ran well for most of the week with no passenger trains being lost and mostly running to time. The loco left the railway on Monday 29th to return to its home base

Passenger numbers for the week were over 9400, generating total fares income of just over £74,000.00. Our trial Internet ticket sales for the event using our agent, ticket web generated sales of £3580.00, 398 passengers at no cost to us.

Fares income for year to 29th October stands at over £1,050,000.00. 183,000 passengers carried.

Christmas Lunches

Advance bookings are progressing well with 230 seats (65%) already sold.

Santa Special Advance Bookings

The advance bookings for Santa Specials are coming in at a steady rate with over £22,000.00, 2400 (29%) seats sold.

Steve Dyer
Operations Manager
 

Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon

Health and Safety

No incidents to report

Locomotives

80078 – Non-destructive testing of the R/H crankpin proved that it was cracked and unfit for further use. Southern Locomotive Engineering have contracted South Devon Railway Engineering to change the R/H crankpin. They have a wheel drop and large presses, which will make the job much easier than at Swanage or Herston. We have, while waiting for results, continued with the annual exam. Valves & pistons have been cleaned and new rings fitted. The crossheads have been re-metalled and await machining.

80104 – In service as usual. The R/ Leading coupling rod bush broke up while on Driver Experience service. This was repaired in time for the next Driver Experience.

6695 – Partially stripped at Williton for axle box repairs.

30053 – Failed with loose bogie tyre. We have sourced some suitable new tyres and the bogie wheel sets are booked in at South Devon Railway for re-tyring.

7714 - In traffic as required.

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

08436 – In traffic

108 DMU – DMBS in Goods Shed for bodywork overhaul and repaint. The interior is being cleaned or painted and the seats will be re-trimmed.

117 DMS - More engine problems. Awaiting free issue replacement heads from original engine contractor.

117 DMBS - Lighting control circuit repaired after recurring fuse blowing.

D6515 – Internal gutters being replaced, in service – shuffling permanent way trains about.

33108 – Collision damage repairs underway at Barrow Hill.

47635 – In traffic as required.

Coaches

9015 – New batteries fitted.

Wagons

1248 PMV - Outside Goods Shed, now that external painting has been finished.

James Cox
LCW Manager
 

Infrastructure Department

General

There is a great deal of advanced works and planning taking place for the Swanage Crossover and Phase 2 Signalling scheme for this winter. A detailed plan of works has been issued so all parties concerned. Work will start on the week beginning 5th November with catch points and point replacements being installed.

There is concern over the amount of water being wasted from the water tower due to the valve not seating properly because of blockages from algae and rubbish. There is a need for a cover which is being investigated. This will probably result in a project being raised to carry out the work.

The bund around the Diesel tank has a lot of contaminated water in it which needs pumping out into a road tanker. The bund should have a roof on it to prevent rainwater from collecting.

At the start of Thomas week the water supply to the Norden Nest and Station was cut off. A temporary supply was installed from the mining museum to the station to cater for the Thomas Week while investigations were being carried out. The water meter and stopcock has been traced and a meeting has been arranged with Wessex Water to reinstate the supply which had inadvertently been turned off.

Preparation of Budgets for next year for Maintenance work and planned Project work is ready for the review in November.

Dave Cobb,
Infrastructure Manager

Permanent Way and Civil Engineering

Track Work

When given the date of ballast drop on the extension current work had to stop and 10 days were spent slewing the track to correct alignments from Cats Eye Bridge to Motala. Slews ranged from between 4 inches to 2 feet. 900 tons of ballast was dropped as a training exercise on October 10th. Some minor adjustments to the drop will have to take place before the tamping machine comes in the Spring for a training exercise.

Some ballast has been spread at Eldons to level up the work site.
The buffer stops at Corfe Castle have been moved back to extend the siding to accommodate the coaches and any engine.

Vegetation

Some vegetation cleared around the viaduct and culvert 17B. Some areas of trackside have been seeded where clearance work had been carried out.

Fencing

There is a new fence encroachment at the rear of 174 Kings Road West, Swanage.

Planned Work

The Salmon, Rudd, Turbot and plate wagons have been emptied in readiness for the installation work at Swanage.

There is also a need to install revetment drains at Harman’s Cross to stabiles the bank slip.

Tony Andrews
PW Manager
 

Signal & Telegraph and Telecom

General Maintenance

General maintenance is on target. Some of the signal posts at Corfe Castle are being painted.

Annual Inspections

These inspections are still behind schedule due to other commitments as Infrastructure Manager.

Swanage Distant Signal at Herston

The replacement signal is nearing completion and the existing ground frame will have locking modifications and a key token lock and tablet lock fitted to the release levers. When complete both signal and ground frame will be commissioned.

Signal Drawing Updates

Mike Walshaw is continuing with the inspection and update of all the S&T circuit diagrams for Swanage.

Swanage Signalling Phase 2

Work on the new bracket signal for the replacement of the existing Inner Home signal at Swanage is nearing completion. Other equipment has been refurbished and should be ready to move to Swanage in December.

Faults

No major faults during this period. All systems have been working well.

Dave Cobb,
S&T Manager

Telecom

Internal Telephone System and Cable Network

Most of our time this month has been taken up in trying to locate a fault in one of our main cables between Cow Pat and Dickers crossings. This fault became apparent with the reports of Pondarosa crossing phones and the phone in Harmans Cross Porters room both being out of order. This section of cable is buried at the side of the track, and our tests show that the faults are in the area that has recently been cleared and landscaped. We are having to dig up the cable, and although we have found some damage we, we still have further to go to locate the problem. The circuits are now working by temporarily using spare pairs in this section, but the damage to the cable will have to be found and repaired.

Whilst there, we have found that the crossing phones at Cow Pat and Dickers are in less than satisfactory condition, so both are being replaced.

The overhead wires at Corfe Castle station have been lowered out of the way for when work starts on the new signal box.

The internal system seems to be performing fairly well, but there have been some instances of an intermittent fault which is being investigated.

BCM & BT Lines

There have been no problems with the BCM system, however we are aware that from the main menu options Marketing needs to be redirected to extn. 213.

The call usage on the BT mobiles is again within the free minutes allowance, so again no call charges.

Terry Otter
Telecom Manager
 

Stations

Norden

Eric Gurney, Station Master, is recovering well from his operation and hopes to be back on site very shortly.

The station suffered a break in water supply just before Thomas week was due to start. A temporary supply was run from PMMG site (thanks to P Sills for this) and Wessex Water have been contacted regarding reinstatement of a proper supply

Then bank behind the platform has been cleared of scrub / grass etc from the ticket office down as far as the waiting room. Over winter this will be smoothed and generally made more presentable by next summer. Thanks to Waynes Gang for this.

The rough vegetation opposite the platform, behind the siding should be cleared during COM weekend.

It is planned to have the boundary fence running from Skew Arch bridge, behind the station to the tramway arch replaced by Easter as it is in a poor state of repair and a H+ S liability, especially where the public have access to it by Skew Arch.

It is planned to walk the site during November to find out exactly where water and electric supplies run with the aim of tidying them up where possible. In view of the water supply problem, it might also be a good idea just to know where they all run!

Norden's Future.

As the Board /COM may be aware, Norden Station is fast approaching the time when decisions have to be made about it's future. It is the Northern Gateway to Swanage railway, or just a country halt?. Do we just keep applying TLC or can / should some serious improvements be made. I shall be talking with Dave Cobb shortly about this.

Ian Diffey
Station Manager
 

Herston Halt

There has been some good progress during the most recent visit by the Royal Signals, when eight soldiers installed timber to prevent ash falling from the compound towards the track. The first container (to be labelled as “Container B”) has had a few holes in the roof, so a third has been covered in new roofing felt. Other tasks included clearing away stores recently moved from Harman’s Cross, fixing three new road-side no smoking signs, the final part of the sort of Container B, grass strimming, tree pruning and removal of the weeds from the top of Washpond Lane bridge.

I believe there have been 5 incidents at Herston this season:

• Easter. Stn hut door smashed in – door rebuilt and frame replaced.
• Incident with youths and DMU.
• Jun. Wooden Memorial Seat was smashed, and now disposed of.
• Sep. Two gates broken through, Container B broken into, Telecom hut door smashed.
• Oct. Two gates forced, all three containers broken into, and Telecom hut door demolished.

These actions have resulted in a substantial amount of damage and a good deal of theft. It was only during the Topham Hatt exercise that I was able to truly assess the cost. A good deal of heavy (but man-portable) cable has been removed; mainly the 20-50m lengths of external cable that was stored behind the Telecom Hut. Also removed: 20 cable drums of various types from inside the Hut, around 6 smaller external cable drums, a generator donated by Liz Sellen’s team for Topham Hatt and 4 rolls of roof felt. I would estimate the monetary value at around £5,000

My prime concern is that we do not have a generic reporting system during such matters. Whilst I have now completed a photographic survey of the stores on the Bank, even for me it would be difficult to identify for the police what items may have been stolen. In any event, I am not sure how many of these incidents, with the exception of the Sep one handled by Martin Trott, were actually reported to the police.

We should address:

• Who liaises with the police in such matters?
• Who informs and the supports the relevant Railway manager in such instances; for instance, four of the five station managers live away from site.
• What is the format for claiming on insurance?
• New security gates and extra security fencing should be installed at Herston Bank
• CCTV.

Other more general work has seen general maintenance continue, the first generic Station Area inspection has been completed together with a Plan of Works and the budget for 2008. The anchor fencepost at the end of the wire fence between the steps and the platform came loose; it has been reset, and the six wires re-tensioned. A box of building ballast has been fixed to the platform so that sand/salt/gravel can be spread across the wooden platform when required during the winter months.

Under the banner Team Herston, regular working sessions now take place on the second Saturday of the month commencing at 09:00. I am still hoping that we can generate some new support.

Decisions on the future of the platform must be made soon. Accepting it should be replaced during winter 08/09, the biggest decision must surely be should we replace it with the three carriage-length concrete platform stored at Eldon’s, or do we construct a new timber structure. I am keen to enlist the support of anyone who would like to help with this project.

Finally can I mention that our link with the Army. Dave Green has agreed that on Sat 10 Nov fifty soldiers can conduct a sponsored row/bike/run at Swanage station in support of the RBL Poppy Appeal. The following day 100 soldiers from Blandford will march in the Remembrance Parade. There is also the possibility that 100 will conduct a weekend Topham Hatt in the spring.

Frank Roberts
Station Manager
 

Swanage

Platform

The last platform lamp has been put in to place. This will give more light to the area around the Water tower.
The Concrete Panel at Soldiers Gate has been taken down due to it’s poor condition. Replacement options are now being looked at.

The work party days for Swanage station are on 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th Nov. Meeting at the Buffet at Swanage at 10.00am.

Steve Whittingstall
Station Manager

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Photographs

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