Project Wareham

How many PLVs has Swanage got and how much would it take to get them mainline certified then?

 

Although another viewpoint could be that More/Go-ahead have taken advantage of the DMU service not running, and SWR now 2 hourly at Wareham, to get more passengers.
Let's hope the new bus services do well, and there will be potential passengers for the DMU if it does start 2023?

 

Surely as the DMUs were refurbished to a high standard at Eastleigh getting permission, and a temporary TOC licence, to test them and train staff into Wareham later this year, so preparing for the 2023 service, should be straightforward?

As far as I know, it will be a unique "slam door" regular mainline service in the South of England since the Lymington service closed.

 

Point of order: The Lymington branch is still very much with us. The actual only demise was that of the final two CIG units.

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/travelling-with-us/at-the-station/lymington-town

 

Ha ha ha....

 

The main issue is getting past the WENG faction. World Ends at Norden Gates!!

 

On a purely personal note a bus service to Moreton WBN. The gravesite;.The Church; The Ford; apparently some very nice tea shops.

 

....where you can apparently sit down and have conversations!!

 

Surely that just demonstrates how buses will always be preferable to rail? Firstly, the cost of starting is lower, so new routes can be tried at lower risk to test demand. And in the specific case of Arne - looking at a map, if you tried to get there by rail, you are actually further away at Corfe Castle than you were when you changed train at Wareham! (4.5 miles Wareham station - RSPB Arne vs. 5.5 miles Corfe Castle station to RSPB Arne).

To entice people from car to public transport, you have to make the transport go where the demand is; not try to generate demand where the transport is. A bus will always have more inherent flexibility in that regard.

Tom

 

So Beeching and Marples were right?
Many travel guides advise using the "base town' method and so with a rail service Wareham to Swanage one could use Wareham,Corfe Castle, or Swanage as a base and avail themselves of trips as described. Surely this is one of the more feasible Restoring Your Railways projects. Track and signalling already in situ. Restored DMU.s ready(?) to go. Enthusiasts(haha!) willing to volunteer. Don't they already do that at Wareham Station?
Government goals on air pollution and lessening use of motor vehicles recognised
Once We head north from Norden Gates the future will rise to meet us as forseen in.,wait for it!
The Swanage Railway Company. A Prospectus 1981
It is argued that the founding principles have been overtaken by time and events. Well now certain World events and Government Policies are making THAT view redundant.
Respect the past and embrace the future. SR can lead the way againn.

 

Is there such a thing as a temp TOC licence? I have never heard of it. All sounds very "ungovernment" to me.

 

As much as I like buses and sometimes visit the London bus museum. Will be sad if all train services and heritage railways close and become bus routes or even just cars and taxi routes.

I prefer a train ride over a bus ride.
Rail services and buses can complement each other, long term I, and several others are hoping the Wareham heritage DMU service starting in 2024 will be a good feeder from the SWR mainline to the steam trains and help relieve road congestion.

 

As Andy Moody says (and he has the experience) to start testing and training for the 2023 Wareham service ASAP, maybe in the Autumn quiet period (if Summer finances do well) will ensure a smooth and safe operation when it does start. I am sure the ORR, NR and SWR will be sympathetic as for them something out of the ordinary, but good for the long term.

 

I think the government's "sympathy" for transport has been well illustrated today by Grant Shapps' comments on the aviation situation.
All three bodies you mentioned are either government owned or funded. But we will see.

 

My main experience was 42 years in the rail industry mainly as a mainline guard. Since privatization I have seen major changes, For instance when steam returned to the Southern mainline in the late 1980's, providing a Locomotive was fitted with Automatic warning system and was mainline (TOPS) registered and crewed by BR footplatemen there was no problem and we saw the likes of 30053,30828, 31625, 41312, 34016, 35005, 35028 and 73096 in regular action for a time.
Following privatization, things changed dramatically with more and more restrictions resulting in more equipment having to be fitted to steam and Diesel Loco's. Only 31806 and D6515 (33012) from the Swanage Railway are currently allowed over Network Rail and they have to be crewed by West Coast Railway personnel.
If you remember when the class 121 55028 was overhauled at Eastleigh , D6515 brought it back to Swanage, there were two other class 121's on NR's books which worked on Chiltern Railways, The class 117 move from Eastleigh was a different matter, there were no 117's on Network Rails books and a issues (on paper) with a lineside location cabinet, resulted in the class 117 coaches having to be moved from Eastleigh East yard to Norden by road!
I must say that I am at a loss to understand how or why some of you are predicting the SR will make a loss running to Wareham, when we haven't even started!

 

I think predictions of a loss are based on a analysis of the 2017 trial service revenue* set against the anticipated own account running costs which have to include "mainline running" insurance, mainline track access costs and Wareham station access costs. In 2017 |SRC sold tickets at Wareham from a mobile ticket office but as that space is now occupied by the cycle rack some other solution will have to be found.

*As I understand it a significant proportion of 2017 trial service passengers were PLMs (Premier Life Members) ((ie nil fare) and Priv Card Holders (25% of fare).

 

From 2018
https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/1...railways-project-wareham-trial-train-service/
"Mark Woolley said: “Visual surveys indicated that up to 70 per cent of passengers travelling on last year’s Swanage to Wareham service arrived or departed from Wareham by a main line train which fulfils one of the trial service’s key objectives."
But does not say how many were Premier Life Members or Priv Card Holders.

 

I was a passenger on 4th July 2017 and arrived at Wareham by car , took the rail service to Swanage , then did some line siding with a local friend { Swanage volunteer } , a most enjoyable experience and reasonable cost . Oh and I 'm a Canadian / UK citizen and have no affiliation with the other Canadian forum visitor . I plan on a return visit this year in July - so yes there are visitors from across the Pond that appreciate all that the Swanage Railway does , I also travelled the branch in 1971 not long before it closed , so giving my age away , and really appreciate all the work it took to reopen and now run the service and see what happens in the future .....RMC

 

Try telling that to the Metropolitan Line !

 

Though of course there was the well known "sparks effect".