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Swanage Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Rumpole, Oct 10, 2012.

  1. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    Aren't the last few posts missing a point? Getting travellers off the roads onto trains is by far most valuable at the busiest times. Just a summer Saturdays through service to/from Wareham can provide some reduction in the road traffic on those days.
     
  2. paulhitch

    paulhitch Guest

    Sorry but no. They are by people not overcome by W.I.B.N.
     
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  3. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    I agree. But I also think this argument misses an important point about this location and this circumstance.

    There is an occasional history of railways providing important relief when other transport is out. Most recently, the "floodexes" in Workington come to mind. Further back, use of the line through Ripon after closure while the Thirsk derailment was cleared up comes to mind. Others will doubtless come up with other examples.

    Separately, public money has been provided to help the Swanage Railway join up with the national network. There appear to this outsider to be multiple objectives, but relieving traffic to a tourist hotspot at the wrong end of not very good roads is one of them.

    With those in mind, there must surely be an opportunity while the ferry is out for the Swanage Railway and SWR to co-operate to provide a relief service, one that is both useful to the local population and washes it's face economically. Not as the harbinger of a full public transport function for the Swanage Railway, but in response to an exceptional event and to demonstrate what the railways can be capable of.
     
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  4. oliversbest

    oliversbest Member

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    So, did the pioneers envisage a steam heritage railway or a reconnection at Wareham or both Early Swanage News #s provide the answer e.g the great fight to prevent a by-pass on the railway lands. The initial efforts to keep a stub of track beyond Furzebrook intact
    That is what a lot of people signed up for in the mid 70s;rejoining the national network in the community interest!
     
  5. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

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    As a resident of Swanage and hence a sufferer of the traffic (and someone who will not use the ripoff ferry unless he has to) I of course support any removal of traffic of the roads of Purbeck as it will only get worse as they are not going to build any new roads.
    However the idea of an emergency service is on the face of it a good idea, but where would it run to and for what period in the day? If you are looking at all those car drivers that currently use the ferry then I assume they would have to park somewhere easily accessible to an SWR station. Because as I said earlier unless some fare reduction is provided I do not see people suddenly abandoning their car for the train. I have no idea how many ferry users go to Swanage or Corfe or just Studland (a very popular destination that a rail service will do nothing for) but on a busy summers day the ferry queue can be up to a mile long a times. So that would be a lot of car park space needed.
    For locals the existing Q paths (not saying you could not create more) give about a 90 to 110 minute elapsed time from Swanage to Bournemouth with a change at Wareham, (not sure on the practicalities of running to Bournemouth regarding paths platform space etc). No great saving (if any) in time over the rerouted bus and with a day ticket on the bus costing £9 I guess it needs to compete with that and be attractive enough for those on free bus passes.
    That all seems to imply some sort of help from our wonderful new council who like most are cash strapped so I am not holding my breath on that front.
    No idea if Swanage could even provide the volunteers needed to run beyond the hours of their normal summer service if it was proposed to run early morning or in to the evening.
    But never say never!
     
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  6. biggles200

    biggles200 Member

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    And it has arrived at Hythe tonight
     
  7. Daddsie71b

    Daddsie71b Member Friend

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    I joined in 1983 to see the re connection and worked solidly until the early 00's to help achieve that.
     
    Last edited: Jul 19, 2019
  8. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

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    Presume with no ferry the traffic on the A351 to and from Swanage has increased?
    The update https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/wareham-project-update seems to say the DMUs will be back and a limited train service will start later this year.
    Presume the idea for Summer 2020 will be the existing diesel service on the yellow timetable will give 6 return services to Wareham from 10AM to 6PM similar to the 2017 service, but using the DMUs and SR volunteers will be viable and take some traffic off the roads (and buses). Hopefully there will be some special evening services,
    Can see your point on fares, the current Saturday service from Bournemouth is £17 return so more expensive than the bus at £9.

    The update does say "Any service will obviously be dependent on financial viability", will have to show the service is reliable and be promoted as a good way to get to travel over car and bus? As the service eventually gets more busy and gets into an operational profit, then hopefully there will be offers to match the bus price?.
    At least the updated does say "The Swanage Railway Company remains fully committed to fulfilling its aims and commitments and to develop sustainable timetabled passenger train services to Wareham".

    Was good to see the SWR Class 442 trains being refurbished by Eastleigh finally enter service at Waterloo, and hope Eastleigh are also progressing with the SR DMUs engines and doors, so we get an another update soon with a date for when the DMUs return to Swanage
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2019
  9. alastair

    alastair Well-Known Member

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    Interesting post,but just to just to point out that if by "the current Saturday service from Bournemouth" you mean the SWR special service to Corfe Castle (changing at Wareham) then it is certainly not £17, the return fare is £7 or £4.60 with a railcard.

    Given that you then qualify for a special £10 (instead of £15) SR fare from Corfe to Swanage, this has the surprising result that(if you have a railcard), it is 40p cheaper to travel all the way from Bournemouth to Swanage as opposed to just travelling from Norden or Corfe!
     
  10. seawright

    seawright New Member

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  11. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

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    Very true and Bournemouth to Wareham is £4.70 return and Wareham to Corfe £5 return all with a railcard, although the Wareham to Corfe fares are I believe not railcard eligible. So usual modern railway fare illogic applies.
     
  12. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

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    It's £4.70 return with railcard Bournemouth to Corfe Castle. (Children go free) you can then pay £10 for the SR steam or diesel train to Swanage.
    https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/events/detail/summersaturdayspecial
     
  13. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

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    I realise that, just pointing out the imbalance that the greatest travel distance is the cheapest. Seems somewhat strange to have to pay 30p more to travel from Wareham than Bournemouth
     
  14. alastair

    alastair Well-Known Member

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    Actually Wareham to Corfe Castle is railcard eligible - £3.30 return :


    Fare Setter: SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY
    Walk-Up Fares – Standard Class
    Available at these prices on the day of travel.
    [​IMG]
    OFF-PEAK DAY R
    SWB
    Route
    ANY - PERMITTED Validity
    SEE RESTRICTNS
    Restrictions
    XA Weekend Super Off Peak Adult SNR
    £3.30
    Origin 5959 WAREHAM DORSET WRM
    Destination 7765 CORFE CASTLE CFC
    Railcard / Discount SRN SENIOR RAILCARD
     
  15. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

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    Thanks obviously changed this year as this was the T & C last year and earlier the SWR website only offered the £5 fare along with the F Class one.

    Corfe Castle Special Fares:
    • This fare is offered as a day return. Single/one-way fares are not available.
    • Where no through fare is offered to Corfe Castle, buy one ticket to Wareham and another between Wareham and Corfe Castle (day return is £5.00 Standard Class, £15.00 First Class)
    • Child fares are 50% of the discounted adult fare. There are no further discounts for Railcard holders.
    • These fares are on sale now, until 8 September 2018. You can buy them through our website or from a staffed ticket office.
    • Travel on Saturdays from 26 May - 8 September 2018.
    • Through fares to Corfe Castle are only valid on South Western Railway services. These fares are not valid on services operated by Swanage Railway.
     
  16. alastair

    alastair Well-Known Member

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    Yes,you're correct - the rules do seem to be different this year. Last year we had to buy our tickets from Wareham to Corfe C. on the train (with no railcard discount,as you say). This year, my local ticket office (Farnborough Main) was more than happy to provide us with the £4.60 railcard discounted return ticket from Bournemouth to Corfe C. This is a decent saving as we then only needed to buy our main tickets to Bournemouth rather than Wareham.

    It's just so unfortunate the SWR Corfe C. service has been partially crippled by staffing issues and strike action, although my trip a few weeks ago ran perfectly. Hope they can get things sorted for the rest of the summer.
     
  17. ady

    ady Well-Known Member

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    Just to add in as I don't think its come up here, but Southern Railway 'Drop-Window' Third S1381S has now entered services, bring the number of non-BR coaches that are operational to four. According to Swanage Railway Magazine which I received today, sister coach S1346S is next and they 'hope' for two years.

    Disappointed to read nothing on the status of 31874, I guessing not this year neither...
     
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  18. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

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    Does look like the Wareham to Corfe service is scheduled for today?
    Although SWR pledged that “each passenger train shall operate with a guard with safety critical competencies”, they have yet to confirm it, so the RMT are not ruling out further stikes.

    As mentioned earlier in the thread, on the Sunday 28th July it's been confirmed the LU 4TC with Class 73/1 locos will run a return trip from Waterloo, Woking and Basingstoke to Corfe and Swanage, but run by UK railtours rather than SWR.
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2019
  19. alts1985

    alts1985 Well-Known Member

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  20. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

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    Was mentioned in posts #2867 and #2878, but some way back now due to the ferry debate and associated discussions to which I must be added to the "guilty party brigade"
     
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