Swanage Railway - 'Wareham Service' 04/04/2023
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- The evening of the 1st of January 1972. The final BR passenger service travels across the Swanage branch, leaving Swanage. Two days later, the branch is officially closed to passenger traffic on the 3rd. 51 years, 3 months, and 3 days later - an awful long wait for a train - the Swanage Railway brought an end to the drought, by operating their first service train into Wareham using their own heritage rolling stock.
It's no secret that variations of a 'Wareham Service' have been seen previously. The first 'Wareham Service' came about in 2017, featuring top and tailed diesel locomotives on a four coach set. However, although this was operated by the Swanage Railway, the carriages and some of the diesels were hired in from West Coast Railways, and as such the service was heavily reliant on their availability. In similar vein, a partnership with South Western Railway saw a limited mainline connection service run into Corfe Castle station during 2018 and 2019, using Class 159 DMU's. This rendition only operated on Saturdays, and was very much a SWR service with the costs being handled by them. This new 'Wareham Service' completes the mission set out by the Swanage Railway Society at its inception in 1972, to bring a regular timetabled service back to Wareham from Swanage using the SR's own heritage stock, with its inaugual day bringing in much local interest.
The stock for this new service is comprised of SR's own heritage DMUs; a Class 117, and a Class 121, both of which have received extensive, painstaking, and costly upgrades to meet current mainline operating requirements. This is a necessity since Worgret Junction, the beginning of the Swanage branch, is situated roughly a mile south on the South West Mainline from Wareham station. A significant number of the doors have been welded shut and plated over, with the remaining doors being fitted with electromagnets to enable central locking. Significant bodywork and framework overhauls and upgrading, to meet the required crash structure demands, as well as brand new wheel sets. On top of this, there's the various electronic systems such as TPWS, OTMR, and GSM-R, which have been fitted to ensure the DMUs integrate with modern signalling and communication methods. As such, it's fair to say that this project has been groundbreaking for a first generation DMU in preservation, with an estimated cost of over £1M. The route between Worgret Junction and Norden especially, has also been heavily invested in, with significant trackwork, lineside clearence and infrastucture upgrades tacking place to ensure the route itself was up to standard. The road crossing at Norden Gates being a prime example. And, a new stabling and servicing depot at Corfe Castle for the DMUs.
Inevtiably, there has been some complaints from a few about the ticket cost of the service. But taking into account that this service is not operated by a mainline company, but rather a heritage railway that has heavily invested in acheiving a goal that's been in the making for half a century, ticket cost becomes much less of a snagging point; especially with operating and pathing costs. The new service is scheduled to operate on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, between the 4th of April and the 9th of September.
The fact there was a time, where the sight of a railway in the Isle of Purbeck was in serious doubt, shows just how far the Swanage Railway has come in the last half-century. What we see today, is a testament to all the hard working staff and volunteers who have painstakingly rebuilt the railway, and who continue to maintain and improve it.
Locomotives:
BR Class 117 DMU - W51356+W59486+W51388
BR Class 121 'Bubble Car' - W55028
Ex-SR U Class - 31806
All footage filmed on Tuesday the 4th of April 2023.
Such an achievement by the Swanage railway congratulations on such a well done service. The whole Swanage crew are to be congratulated
Just wait until they get to London
Hopefully lots of people will find out about this service and try it out. I had a most enjoyable day travelling all the way from Hertfordshire by train. You can now fit in Corfe Castle, a steam train ride and Swanage seaside without needing your car at all. And, if you fancy a round trip, a return on the open top bus to Bournemouth or the Jurassic Coast boat to Poole. What's not to like?
This is a great achievement, not just running the service but also timetabling. This is a very busy main line and the service has to fit in with this and Swanage Railway’s own intensive service.
lovely flowers and trains nice to see them running on the main line nice video thanks.
This is a great move forward for preserved railways.
Love the old first gen DMUs, great character, they were the future once, must say I've not got much confidence in the present future, HS money pit.
Thanks for the upload, cracking weather as well.
Swanage branch line train going into Wareham. A lovely sight!
This is truly splendid, and well done to all involved. Let’s hope it’s a great success ! 12:13
I hope I always 'like' when I watch one your videos but I wanted to write this comment to thank you for posting it. This is a smashing video, really well shot and edited. It gives me inspiration and challenge how I should try and capture footage. Thanks again for taking the time to make and post these.
I visited this 3 years ago it was totally awesome & felt like the good old days 👏🙌
I may be more a Steam Enthusiast, but damn I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a soft spot for those Diesel Railcars.
Well, that's something for my To Do list this summer. A trip to Swanage all the way by scheduled train. Great video.
Excellent videography…my congratulations! Your choice of locations was excellent too with unhurried views of the trains passing by. It was good to see Worgret junction where the substation is sited nowadays…I remember enjoying many cups of tea with the signalmen there during my BR days. Many thanks for some great scenes which brought back many memories. Regards from Rob In Bournemouth.
Highly likely that I've been on the DMU's given they were on the Western Region and operating services into Paddington. They look fantastic.
A beautifully filmed record of the historic day the service is restored & congratulations to all concerned who brought it about. I'll visit to see for myself in the near future!
Glad you enjoyed the video. It certainly is a real credit to the efforts of the SR.
Great views. Thank you for sharing this new chapter for the Swanage Railway.
Great that you captured this. I was there! Good to see it now from outside as well as inside. Outside Wareham station I was delighted to see that the town map also had a good panel on LSWR T3 4-4-0 No. 563, which is now in the final stages of restoration - another real Swanage Railway success story. I believe it will be the oldest British express engine in full working order (1893), just a few years older than the T9 which will hopefully soon follow it into the repair shops, provided the money can be raised for both.
Excellent! It's great to finally see a through service from Wareham to Swanage again. I hope it's permanent, well-used and maybe extended to provide more frequent trains run every day.
Incredible to see such an old design so well re-fitted
Hi , at last , well done and the last time I took a train from Swanage for an onward journey via train was in 1954 . Must get on this one , before I am one last puff up a chimney . 🤔👍
Even the Daffodils are waving 😊
To the shade of Beeching..."Up Yours!" 🙂
I thought it would be packed and standing on every train, so I am a little surprised. As my back is shot I am a little reluctant to take a ride in case I have to stand, but maybe it's worth the risk for a trip after all. I took our Grandson to the Steam Gala a week or so ago and we had plenty of trips up and down with the rover tickets. Great value I thought. I just hope that all those photographing the trains at least had a few trips themselves as money is so desperately tight. I'm a long-term member and supporter of the SR and have to congratulate them all on the trials and tribulations (of which they are many) for getting to this 'crowning glory'.
Brilliant footage Matt. Hopefully this will be a bit step forward for the Swanage Railway. 👍
Funny how a preserved line run by faithful volunteers has to be told to do this, that, follow best practice and spend millions when they possibly could be looking at themselves as to how to run a railway🤔 Anyway, hats off to the Swanage for carrying on in the face of adversity and at last reaching their goal 👍👍👍 Thanks Matthew, our roving reporter in the South!!!!
A really nice and interesting video Sir,,well taken, Thank You😊😊
Thanks very much
Well done, Matt - a great record of an historic day. Good to see so many passengers - hopefully the numbers will hold up throughout the Summer season.
Thanks very much, Nigel! Fingers crossed for its success.
Excellent filming and summary of the history of this. Must admit I would much prefer diesel loco haulage, but what a wonderful achievement by everyone involved from the fabulous Swanage Railway
Absolutely Amazing!
Great to see this up and running again .. it would be good to see a bay platform at Wareham for the service :)
Does one exist?
@@alistairkewish651 Used to, was one each side at Wareham. 1 for arrivals and other for departures.
Some nice footage, and a great achievement by the Swanage Railway.
Thank you
What would be good to see is a cabride/gopro style of the Nordan to Wareham journey
This is a very historic day for the Swanage Railway, getting their passenger service finally back to Wareham. By the way, isn't there plans for the bay platform at Wareham Station to be restored for the Swanage Railway?
There has been talk, but it's understood there's no concrete plans as yet.
@@TheSouthernerYTChannel Concrete plans ... lol
How much are track access charges between Worgret Junction and Wareham? Info not openly declared.
You had a nice day for it, and you got some good shots in the April sunshine! Good professional camerawork with well considered angles and viewpoints. It is a good idea to bring visitors to the line using a DMU, as the running costs are much more economic these days with Russian coal being out of the question! Thanks for uploading.
Thank you very much. Got exceptionally lucky with the weather! Glad you enjoyed the video.
Excellent video as usual. Great to see this historic occasion and hope it continues to be well supported.
I am surprised, however, that NR have agreed to this working as the down main is effectively blocked from the time the train leaves the branch at Worgret until it returns. It must be a tight turnaround to fit in with SWR services?
The Weymouth trains are run fairly close together from memory.
Swanage and Wareham both deserve a good running train service.....
It might be helpful if the government showed support by funding from the Restoring railway budget the reinstatement of the bay at Wareham. I hope you will be lobbying for this local MP. Great to see this service though bureaucracy has caused additional expense by requiring crewing by WCR. I notice the speed is very low on the main line. Why is that I wonder? With the DMUs now compliant with national network standards some use of the main line speeds should be taken advantage of bearing in mind a proportion of the passengers will only be interested in getting to / from Swanage as quickly as possible.
The real problem is that the speed is limited to the usual 25 mph on the Swanage Railway, so end to end journey times are slow compared to the bus. It did speed up noticeably on the main line but there's only a mile of it. And it's a reminder of the relatively slow acceleration of a dmu compered to modern units or Southern Electrics - though still quicker than a steam train.
awsome video
Cheers
I heard that the section to Wareham is on South Western Railway? So is the Swanage Railway now part of National Rail, and therefore no longer a heritage railway?
Network Rail from Wareham to River Frome Viaduct.
Swanage Railway from River Frome Viaduct to Swanage.
Still very much a heritage railway. Just that a section of the heritage service they provide, operates over NR metals.
Very good video. May I ask if the style of construction of the tracks (Bullhead) that we see in the minute 7:02 is still used (for renovation and construction of new tracks) or are they "legacy" tracks?
London underground use Bullhead in areas. It isn't used on the mainline for track replacements these days. Only really find it nowadays on unfrequently used Branchline, yards or abandoned sidings .
@@mattlander9119 Thanks for the answer👍
Good shots of the DMU pair and 31806. She seemed to shut off steam before the camera and then open up after it which was unusual but still some nice sounds. Really unusual to see the DMU arriving into a modern mainline station like Wareham. Is that DMU mainline registered?
Thank you. For the boiler-first shot, it's slowing for Norden station. For the tender-first shot, it's just the nature of the line; there's the outer-home signal for Corfe Castle station out of shot to the right.
The DMU is mainline registered.
Lots of time and money in getting that. No way the service would be allowed without every aspect being ‘certified’.
I can't understand why the destination blinds have been covered over- surely to have Wareham and Swanage on the ends of the train would be a nice touch?
Because the shell where the code boxes were, now houses the majority of the mainline equipment. Very easy access should anything go wrong.
Well done
Very nice video :)
Thank you
Why are the DMU headcodes painted over with white paint? Never saw one run like that.
It's a clever way around a modern problem. The headcode boxes are actually empty of any conventional equipment. Instead, the housing has been used as space for some of the modern equipment necessary for mainline operation.
@@TheSouthernerYTChannel Understood, but for me it has ruined the look of unit. The front is the equivalent of the face and therefore important. Aesthetics are paramount in preservation. Should be restored to original condition.
@@gainsbourg66 Each to their own
Just curious, but does this mean that those DMU's can now be used on mainline tours out of season or do they still fail various safety clauses?
Very interesting question. Since they are OK for Worgret to Wareham they would probably be usable for longer trips if there was demand. But you'd have to have trained drivers and route knowledge, and the payload is limited. I wonder if they would been allowed down the Hamworthy, Fawley and Southampton Docks goods lines?
@@iankemp1131 I guess we will just have to wait and see, although I imagine they are on something like the NYMR class 25 which is only permitted to Whitby and back as far as I'm aware.
i wish the swanage railway had a thumper unit to run this service ,it would be far more prototypical than a western region 117 unit and bubble car.
How do you get to the spot at 10:50?
I was hoping both platforms at Wareham would have been knee -deep with welcoming faces. Apparently not. This is very sad.
A tad short notice, middle of a working week, and bang between their 'Spring Steam Gala' and the Easter weekend.
Honestly, the amount of expense and trouble and bureaucratic faff that Often Don't Work Rail insist on before someone can have the privilege of running a mile on their track
Agreed. It does seem excessive for that mile but no doubt it’s down to it being ‘Main’ line.
I don’t think the NYMR have to go through all of this trouble to run to Whitby. Their locos are fitted with TPWS and NR give the locos and coaches compliance certifications and I think that’s it. Probably because it’s a slow moving ‘Branch’ line.
Nature of the beast. The mile between Wareham and Worgret has never been theirs, since it's part of the SWML, so the SR have to comply if they want to run on it. As mentioned, it would probably be different if it was a slower branch line. The benefit of going to the immediate expense that they have done with their own stock, is it will bring long-term operating costs down since it's as much of an inside job as it feasibly can be, while future-proofing their units.
Very good video. Something that I could never do. Entirely my fault. Sorry. 😭