Swanage Railway General Discussion

I am not a fan of black painted locomotives; they remind me of the dirty black locos of WW2 and the latter days of BR steam. Now green painted ones (all shades), provided they shine like Clan Line did on the DSR this week end, is fine in my book.
I just noticed I used the the word 'shine', well, it seems Clan Line did shine in many respects the the Torbay Express.

 

Looks like close to 100% authenticity in those 2 photos. They even half demolished the castle to increase realism! Of course, 80104 wasn't an SR engine but, it was 80146 last year so, near enough.

 

Indeed.This is what I like about Swanage Railway in general and Corfe Castle station in particular. It recreates the circa 1960 Southern Region so well with period locos and stock in the correct historic colors. There is nothing particularly special about that period or those colors to my mind except that it combines so well with the rolling stock available.

Robin's photos capture this so well. Apart from the possibly over clean locos there is only one tiny tell-tale that suggests that this is 2018 and not a 1960 period scene. I will not spoil things by saying what it is though.

Peter

 

I must admit Peter I had not noticed any, so you made me look, I would think two or maybe three things (but I would have to look at the last object concerned when I am next at Corfe) all very minuscule. That should in no way take anything away from Robin's excellent photos or the look that the Swanage Railway has recreated.

 

Don't look too hard because it is really a very minor detail and is too far away to distract from the subject matter of the pictures. The thing that really pleases me about the T9 shot is that in true Southern (Railway/Region) fashion there is a brake coach at the front of the train (behind the loco) - just as there would have been "in the old days". Its all in the detail and in this case the detail is faultless.

Peter

 

High Gain TV aerials wouldn’t have been needed in Corfe Castle until January 1966 when BBC2 started in the South.....

 

Is it the spiky wooden thing laid on the platform ramp? Not sure what they are called, what their purpose is, or if they are a recent invention?

 

Thank you for those kind words about my snaps. The Swanage, and particularly Corfe, is almost achingly authentically Southern. As someone who was privileged to first train / work on the ’Big Railway’ at Waterloo, a bit of me will always be ‘south western’. I am privileged to be allowed to pull levers here on the Swanage from time to time, particularly at their stunning Galas.

Robin

 

Is the bay now available for passenger traffic?

On my one visit (hands head in shame!), this was occupied by a static buffet and the I think the dining train.

Steven

 

The bay has been in use for several years now; all the Wareham services in 2017 operated from there and it is frequently used at galas - trains leaving from one platform moments after one has arrived at the other.
The static Birds Nest buffet now occupies the 'squint' at the stop blocks on the run round loop - hiding behind the loco in my photo here:
http://www.wsr.org.uk/cgi-bin/snap.cgi?h=Snapshot&p=2018/05/151
Sent from my SM-A300FU using Tapatalk

 

Arris rails are what you are thinking of.
Could it be the orange s&t trunking for the shunt dummy or the ETH box on the first coach?

 

That's it - the orange S&T trunking was the only thing that caught my eye that was not in period - and it has to be said it is a very minor detail. I have to confess that I had not noticed the ETH socket (also orange) on the MK1 and the tv aerials are too distant to be a distraction.

Peter

 

Also, I think that baby buggy being pushed on the castle path (just above the cab) looks too modern!!!

Ed Chap

 

Why do I think you should NOT have gone to Specsavers?

Peter

 

This is my best effort at capturing what Swanage Railway does so well - and it does not matter that it was taken on a dull, wet Saturday in February. This is pure Southern circa 1960 (when I was aged nine) except that Harmans Cross did not exist back then - it is a creation of the preservation era, but everything looks as it should be. To me this is preservation at its very best.

Peter

 

Yes, nice one. nothing wrong with dull sometimes as long as you 'play to the conditions'. This is one of my personal favourites for a B.R. era LSW scene (service trains, not a photocharter).......

 

Great photo.

And here’s another thing preservation does well. A family who had come to Harman’s Cross for the model railway show spoke to me on the platform while I was waiting to exchange tokens and were then invited into the box after the trains had left. Under instruction, the children put back the signals and (with their parents’ assistance) reversed the points ready for the next crossing movement, while having the function of the box explained. They said that they had often travelled on heritage railways but never visited a signal box before. Dad turned out to be a radio presenter in the north of England, so we exchanged e-mail addresses and below is part of the e-mail received on Sunday evening.

Robin

E-MAIL EXTRACT:

Thanks so much for your time and kindness today during our visit to Harmans Cross.

M[DELETED] & G[DELETED] haven’t stopped talking about their visit to the signal box and being allowed on control the signals and points. You really made their day. C[DELETED] & I were really impressed too.

 

There’ll be blue skies over...

Back at Corfe today and I was asked for a ‘blue sky’ version of my T9 shot from Saturday. Here’s the best I can do today. Unfortunately in an hour or so the sun will move round and leave this side of the train in shadow.

Robin

 

That really is an excellent very well composed image Peter. My guess would be March 1st 2015 when the U did four round trip test runs with the 2 Bulleids and the M7 was on the service train. Also not rare, but unusual, to have the down train platformed before the up train arrives.

 

I bet the sun shone on 1/3/15! This was the day before that, with the M7 on the service train I was travelling on, and the U Class on whatever Swanage call their footplate experience course. A day of pure BR Southern nostalgia.

Peter