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Swanage Railway General Discussion

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

  1. oliversbest

    oliversbest Member

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    on another note,glancing at the MHR discussion could 34105 become available???
     
  2. ghost

    ghost Part of the furniture

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    I can't see who (Swanage related) would be interested in buying 34105, if it was to become available (which seems unlikely).

    The railway would require a massive cash injection to buy the loco and complete its restoration. What's the benefit? The railway already has a supply of Bulleids via Southern locomotives which will effectively be a subsidised supply with SLL making up any difference in the overhaul costs. If the railway owned 34105 it would have to shoulder the full costs of running/overhauling the loco itself.

    SLL have more than enough on their plates!
     
  3. Alan Kebby

    Alan Kebby Well-Known Member

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    SLL having more than enough on their plates hasn’t stopped them buying more locos before!

    Swanage Railway I believe have made enquiries about buying 34105 before when the owners considered selling in the late 1990s / early 2000s.

    But yes, in any case, unlikely to happen.
     
  4. oliversbest

    oliversbest Member

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    lighten up Guys !! 34105 Standing at Wareham with a train bound for Swanage. The publicity would be almost equal to the value of the loco.!!!!!!!! WIBN!!
     
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2021
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  5. oliversbest

    oliversbest Member

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    Personally I do recall "Swanage" running through Poole and British Preserved Locos notes the engine on the inaugural Royal Wessex in 1951. Teachers and pupils at Poole Grammar School checked their watches as the 8.23 ex Poole(this is from memory) began its assault on Parkstone Bank.! This loco had fairly low mileage on withdrawal after being shedded at Bournemouth and Eastleigh . Again from memory I believe an attempt was made to bring it to Swanage before it went to the MHR. 34105 has been out of service since 1997!



    1 v
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2021
  6. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

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    I also thought that when recently saw 34105 being overhauled in the engine shed at Ropley.
    From the MHR thread MHRPS has a 26.6% shareholding in the loco so likely to stay at Ropley. Hopefully relations between the MHR and SR so in future the overhauled 34105 and class 205 DEMU might go to Swanage, and for the overhauled 563 or M7 go to Alton for future galas?
    Similar to what Bluebell railway recently did with heratige coaches?
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2021
  7. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

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    Good to see a photo of the recently acquired LSWR coach body next to another LSWR coach body at Corfe in the latest Swanning Around newsletter.
    Sad they will be stores/workshops for a while rather than being restored to run with the 563 or M7 as a LSWR or Southern railways era train for galas.
    But understand that
    work on restoring the Bulleid, Maunsell and 4tc coaches take priority.
     
  8. 80104

    80104 Member

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    Does SR publish a forward fleet plan showing the status of all owned / hired in locomotives and carriages together with a prioritisation score with rationale for those that are being restored / stored for future use?
     
  9. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    Does any heritage railway?
     
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  10. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

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    The policy for carriages was discussed on comments on the Facebook Swanage Railway-Heritage Carriage Group page and there is a talk on YouTube.
    For locos there seems to be many groups pushing for funds and priority?.
     
  11. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Specific fleet plans (certainly widely accessible ones) may be a tad thin on the ground, though so far as info relevant to the OP's question goes, actually rather more's readily available than you'd think. Certainly, both the Bluebell and IWSR's websites are pretty comprehensive, right down to what's kicking around awaiting some TLC. "Festipedia" is an extremely well maintained resource and the IMR's Wikipedia page looks reasonably well loved, both detailing the fates of former stock.

    The sort of structured plan the Bluebell has produced recently might have frightened a few, but realistically, a lot of unrestored kit has been sitting around for anything up to six decades now and with the gradual (perfectly natural) generational turnover in the active membership, others will need to look to emulating their example. Already, quite a bit of tired wooden bodied stuff is largely only useful as a repository of component patterns and that's a situation which ain't about to get any better. It's often easy to overlook the stabilisation and storage stages which usually come between rescue and restoration, which are going to become increasingly important factors, if there are to be realistic prospects for future restorers.

    Maybe it's symptomatic of me being a bemused old fart caught in the headlights of the I.T age, but when I recall the former extent of info was largely dependant on what sort of mood James Boyd happened to be in, when he composed a relevant chapter or appendix, I do still often wonder at our collective expectations these days.
     
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  12. 80104

    80104 Member

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    Thanks to DcB for providing that.

    Does this mean though that there are two "groups" of carriages: the "Heritage Carriages" looked after by the HC Group and the "day to day carriages" (sorry not sure what they are called) - the ex BR Mark 1s and the dining set looked after by presumably the LCW department?

    As regards locos I was just wondering if there were so many vying for attention and funding it meant that the resources available were being dissipated.
    Of course it could be said that donors give to a specific loco (or carriage) and the funds would not be given for something else, likewise presumably some volunteers would only work on one type of carriage and not others.

    It also occurred to me that Rumpole referred to the operational problems caused by a lack of siding space, is that caused in part by having so many locos and carriages awaiting restoration / being restored that siding space needed for operations is in fact being taken up by these projects?
     
  13. oliversbest

    oliversbest Member

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    As our parents would have said. "Cut your cloth according to your means" HR should have Disposal committees which could annually evaluate the viability of unrestored stock
     
  14. 61624

    61624 Part of the furniture

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    The Bluebell has a fairly comprehensive carriage review and vision on its website.
     
  15. Matt37401

    Matt37401 Nat Pres stalwart

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    Wouldn’t it just be easier to put a 34105 smoke box plate and ‘Swanage’ plates on 34072? Or to really get some folk wound up 34028?
     
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  16. Andy Moody

    Andy Moody Member

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    34105 has previously visited the Swanage railway in the mid 1990's I remember it double heading with 34072 when the line only went to Harmans Cross.
    Summerly, 34072 also visited the Mid Hants Railway around the same time.
     
  17. oliversbest

    oliversbest Member

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    The BPS site has a photo of the loco at Barry with Swanage Railway society on the Smokebox so I think the genuine article would be better!!
     
  18. Alan Kebby

    Alan Kebby Well-Known Member

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    A really interesting watch, hearing the history of the coaches, the make do and mend restorations of the 1980s (pallets used as floor boards!), and the more comprehensive recent restorations. Also good to hear plans for the future. I hadn’t realised that 4366 was so close (comparatively) to heading off to Ramparts, with over half the costs already raised. Keep up the good work, and that carriage shed can’t come soon enough.
     
  19. ady

    ady Well-Known Member

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    34105: ...we got enough Bulleids/Express engines now...
     
  20. oliversbest

    oliversbest Member

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    You can never get enough of a good thing!!!
     

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