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Swanage Autumn Steam Gala - 12-14 October 2018

Discussion in 'Galas and Events' started by Rumpole, Jul 3, 2018.

  1. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    The morning climb wasn't bad either. Had to reverse a few times at stops which can happen on top dead centre so maybe a sign it's not fully run in yet or valves need adjusting. Happens to the best e.g. Clan Line at Sherborne a while back. Great to listen to her from second coach back and star of the show for me.
     
  2. CH 19

    CH 19 Well-Known Member Friend

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    Well done Swanage, brilliant day out thank you. First ever gala, first ever Duchess and first sight of the T9 in steam so was really looking forward to it and was not disappointed. I'll bet there are a few signalmen who will sleep well tonight, and I will definately be on a return visit when its a teenzy weenzy bit quieter.
    PS I also learnt that apparently Dorset sheep are one of the few breeds that can lamb all-year, hence the very young lambs gambolling about in mid October

    Cheers,
    Chris
     
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2018
    Sunnieboy likes this.
  3. Daddsie71b

    Daddsie71b Member Friend

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    Easter lamb.
    Did you not notice the amount of venison that was roaming around north of Norden?
     
  4. CH 19

    CH 19 Well-Known Member Friend

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    Nothing spotted this morning I'm afraid, maybe they are afraid of strange red engines;).
     
  5. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

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    Do not know what the issue was late today but my Dad said he got an a train at Corfe at 18:00 that finally arrived at Swanage at 20:10! I actually heard it arrive, but assumed it was the delayed dining train leaving. That I think finally left about 20:30 from the noise around then.
     
  6. ady

    ady Well-Known Member

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    I had a good day. The timetable hadn't bothered me to much. But it slipped even more in the evening for some reason. I was at Swanage waiting for 44781 and 6233 to return but they never did before my bus came. I had heard something had gone wrong but since I only over-heard that briefly in passing someone with a walkley talkie I can't say for sure what.
     
  7. free2grice

    free2grice Part of the furniture Friend

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    I kept a note yesterday of the late running services. The first departure from the River Frome with the Duchess departed on time but was held at Corfe Castle for 25 mins due to the late arrival of 80078 from Swanage. The following trains from Swanage were 29 mins late (80104 with the goods), 33 mins late (34072) and 40 mins late (the Duchess). You may notice a pattern developing here as each service arrived it had dropped a few minutes from the schedule. The final train I noted was the 'U' with the 15:39 from Swanage which arrived at Corfe Castle some 83 mins late.

    Although the intensive timetable did slip, the railway must be congratulated on running one of the most adventurous galas of the year. The Duchess was stunning, there was the pleasant surprise of the 'U' piloting Sir Keith Park, both the T9 and 34072 back in service, a visiting Black '5' …..what was there not to like?

    Well done to the Swanage Railway, you did us proud. <BJ>
     
    Sunnieboy, gricerdon, CH 19 and 2 others like this.
  8. 47513

    47513 New Member

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    Let's put a bit of realistic perspective in to all of this! Whilst I absolutely appreciate that this gala and the railway is run by volunteers and they were under loads of pressure yesterday for various reasons, the facts of the matter are that they were attempting to run an impossible timetable that should never have agreed from the outset. Whilst it maybe classed by some as 'gala fun' when trains run late, when you have a 130 mile car journey and you were expecting to arrive at Swanage at sometime around 18.30ish but not arriving until 20.15 with no explanation (or apology) of what was actually happening - is not good at all. There were many non enthusiast passengers travelling yesterday, that were literally kept in the dark for well over an hour at Corfe Castle last night - it is unlikely that they will ever return! I as an enthusiast will definitely think twice before I visit the line again. Apologies for being negative but what happened yesterday was not a particularly good advert for Heritage Railways.
     
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  9. 6026 King John

    6026 King John Well-Known Member

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    I do feel for gala organisers - they are between a rock and a hard place. If they go for a simple but robust timetable people complain that it's boring, if they go for an ambitious timetable and it doesn't work out then people complain about the late running. Who'd be a gala organiser? It's not just a Swanage problem - the Severn Valley and Great Central suffered from it this year too. I was surprised at the latter, despite the double track which should allow for more flexible running things still got behind. The West Somerset on the other hand did pretty well although they opted for the simpler "boring" timetable. My personal preference is for something simpler that works rather then something ambitious that doesn't, but not everyone will agree.

    I think a certain amount of timetable slippage is understandable but when things get to the stage where they are 60-80 minutes behind then something has gone badly wrong. Swanage need to have a bit of an enquiry into this one as it isn't a good advert for the railway and will discourage others from attending in future - which is a shame as it's a great line. The lack of information given to passengers is also an issue and this applies to several lines, not just Swanage.
     
  10. Andy B

    Andy B Member

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    As a gala organiser myself and a visitor yesterday I fully appreciate the problems and dilemmas involvedin putting an event like this on. Straight from the outsider things are hard for swanage with only two pits, limited watering facilities and 8 locos filling every space. Only two points I’ll Male was like above, lack of info for passengers, with no tannoy/pa system this was always going to be diffulcult. Secondly the dining train last night probably wasn’t the best idea on a the busiest day of the gala, there must have been non enthusiast diners who were looking forward to a lovely evening (the sun shone most of the day !). Other than that, I do like the railway and everyone involve was doingvthere utmost best to try and keep it rolling.
     
  11. AnthonyTrains2017

    AnthonyTrains2017 Well-Known Member

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    Could the Nordon to River Frome section had been capped on some services to allow make up of time.
     
  12. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    I had realised that it wasn't going to work and so we drove as we couldn't risk missing a bus for the train at Wareham as the buses are only hourly in winter. The late running didn't really matter to us as we just finished on an earlier train. The ambitious timetable resulted in fantastic atmosphere at Corfe which we wouldn't have got with something simple. If I may say so without being shot down again the very tight sectional times didn't help especially with a 10 tsr at MP 134.5. Generally station work was good e.g. less than two minutes at Swanage between the xx12 arrival and xx15 departure both times we did it, which really cant be bettered. Insufficient time allowed at Harmans Cross on up trains all day. Trains kept or regained time at the River Frome end, but just too much was planned at Corfe for it to work. I offer this not as criticism but in hope it will help the planning of future Galas. We still had a great day.
     
  13. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    Yes it could and probably should have been. Was there somebody in overall charge of regulation?
     
  14. 6026 King John

    6026 King John Well-Known Member

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    It would make sense but then some would complain that they specifically came to do that section. Again you can't please everybody.

    I can't say too much about the Swanage gala as unfortunately I wasn't able to attend but looking at the timetable I can understand the problems. It's a good and interesting timetable but allows absolutely no recovery time in the case of problems and also relies on some very slick working from all concerned.
     
  15. Penmere

    Penmere Guest

    Why Cancel what most of us come down to the railway for?

    Pig ignorance from behind a keyboard sat in your armchair isn't gonna help, but I'm sure Swanage will be appreciative of your bright ideas.

    Swanage pulled off a 5 Star job again, not sure where all these complaints of lack of communication came from, Found if you asked you got the information you needed.
    But then its easy for you all to attack Swanage from your armchairs,

    How many of said complainants paid to actually travel during the gala rather then freeload?

    If you freeload you have no right digging into a free show, while the rest of us pay for it.

    If any volunteers from Swanage read this ignore the pig ignorance from the armchairs, Your doing a good job,
    Same time next year as they say,
    also heard the five is staying for a couple weeks, any plans for it to be in steam on service trains ?
     
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  16. Andy B

    Andy B Member

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    I’ll think you’ll find that most of the people who have come up with constructive ideas were actually travelling. How one coil freeload is beyond me as the tti was able to do there job. It wasn’t as busy as may have been expected. Also I’ll add, as a gala organiser, £30 plus £3.50 parking at nordon imho is too much.
     
  17. Penmere

    Penmere Guest


    TTI's were walking the lineside were they.
    £33.50 for a days entertainment is fair enough, where else you gonna get the level of activity , The railway put on over the last 3 days ?

    If you don't like it I'm sure SVR,ESR,Name another railway would snap your arm off for the money,
    Yours would be no great loss, apart from your cash that is,
    But its too easy to criticise from an armchair. Like the suspect who claimed its easy to cape trains seems to like to do.
     
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  18. Matt37401

    Matt37401 Nat Pres stalwart

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    Don't think anyone's attacking the Swanage, just observations being made that things were a bit too ambitious (which I'm sure will be taken on board during the de brief) late running is no fun especially if you've traveled a long distance and have things like connections to think about or drive home to consider. Regarding your comment about £33.50 for days entertainment, no it's not but it's not just your on the day ticket is it? Things like transport, food, drink and other things come into play I spent a hell of a lot more than the £28 my Rover ticket cost me at the Blubell yesterday. As ever though you fail to see the bigger picture.
     
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  19. HerstonHalt

    HerstonHalt Member

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    The railway doesn't run the car park at Norden - its the local authority.
    Car Parking in Swanage is split between Swanage Town Council (car parks) and Dorset County Council (on-street) so chances are you'd have had to pay parking at either end, and wherever you parked the railway wouldn't have taken any of the revenue.

    Sent from my SM-A300FU using Tapatalk
     
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  20. free2grice

    free2grice Part of the furniture Friend

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    The Duchess has been replaced this afternoon by 34053 on the 15:15 Swanage to Corfe Castle and the 16:32 River Frome to Swanage.

    This is probably down to the timetable slipping again and the fact that the loco is required to depart to Bury tomorrow morning at 07:00. <BJ>
     

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