Swanage Railway General Discussion

My first driving turn was an all-day shunting turn with a de-tuned Bulleid; it soon made me want a proper one instead!

 

Surely, a bit like using an articulated lorry for a doorstep milk delivery?

PH

 

Indeed, in my driving days I much preferred a day out on a Austerity to an LMS designed tank engine with that b***dy screw reverse.

 

Could have been a Q1!!

 

I have driven Bulleid, Drummond and Wainwright locomotives with steam reversers.

My top pick would be the one on the Wainwright locomotive. Beautiful bit of engineering and an absolute pleasure to use. Its the one I would pick!

The Drummond one on 30053 is the one i have the most experience with. It is on the whole, extremely good. You can get the reverser to trickle in either direction which makes dropping the gear out in 2nd valve a accurate operation. You can carefully watch it move extremely slowly so you don't pick up the water. The M7 is prone to priming in 2nd valve, if you operate the gear in a jerky manner once in 2nd valve you will set the locomotive up, quickly to prime. That said, 30053 isn't behaving like this at the moment, you need to nurse the steam reverser but it is probably behaving in its more documented manner.

In preservation steam reversers appear to have a better time of it, 34070 reverser seems as good as the first day it came into traffic, extremely easy to use, fine adjustment available at all times. That said the locomotive isn't doing 250 miles a day racing up and down the LSWR mainline!

 

30053's reverser had new seals fitted last week.
It's spot on now.

 

There is a good front cover for the April issue of Countryfile Magazine featuring Corfe Castle and former resident 80078:


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SUPERB COVER!!

 

Great News for Swanage Supporters. The railway is to be the new home and owner of LSWR T3 #563.

And before you ask, no, this is not an April Fool.

Its being discussed on Nat Pres under 'Steam Traction'

SR press release here
http://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/new...-ownership-of-rare-victorian-steam-locomotive

 

The results are in from Swanages 'Strictly Bulleid' gala.

It was the largest gathering of working Bullied Pacific steam locomotives in one place since the end of main line southern steam in the summer of 1967.

A record-breaking 5,700 passengers carried

The event required over 110 volunteers a day to operate

"The Swanage Railway's hard-working retail and catering outlets were exceptionally busy and we expect them to have produced record takings once the figures have been fully analysed,"

700 people visited Herston Works to see 257 Squadron, 31806 & 31874 undergoing work.

Full story here
http://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/new...nage-railways-most-successful-steam-gala-ever

 

A quiet weekend again in the Purbecks...

 

Until the diesel gala

 

Sad day today..... RIP Frank. You are one of the unsung heroes who deserve so much praise. You are a gent and someone who we all at Swanage on the loco/fitter dept hold you with the highest possible esteem.

I recall watching you in awe as your fired 100% by the book (little and often). It was a privilege to have you as my fireman.

The place has something missing now.... Cheers Frank.

 

According to www.wsr.org.uk, GWR 0-6-2T 6695 won't be coming back to Swanage after its current overhaul. Shame - it wasn't strictly prototypical at SR, but it added some variety and as a class 5 loco, it had plenty of power.

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It would give the train a violent shaking at certain speeds in back gear though. Not nice,

PH

 

Apparently so, although seems the WSR are happy to have it for 25 years.

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Is it a feature of the class or a problem with a particular loco?

 

Not sufficiently qualified to comment, other than hearing similar comments about 2-8-0Ts, the 38xx 2-8-0s and other freight locos.

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Sometimes 4270 can be a bit rough as well, both locos designed for heavy coal trains in south Wales it's not exactly surprising.

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I've been watching the comings and goings at Corfe Castle and Swanage on the webcams. The Corfe Castle webcam, which I believe is mounted on the signal box can be found on the Corfe Castle web page at http://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/corfe-castle. The Swanage webcam took a bit more tracking down. As far as I can tell it is not linked or embedded on the official website (please correct me if I'm wrong) but can be found at http://swrail.webdisplay.info/webcam64.html.