Swanage Railway General Discussion

Desparately needed on the down loop at Corfe

 

Checking the very useful Swanage station webcam this morning I saw a diesel on the front of a not in steam 31806. And later both were gone. Presumably having taken the U class to wherever it will be loaded onto a transporter to bring it up to the Spa Valley Railway. Is the transfer point at Norden?

 

Yes, Norden is where locos get loaded and unloaded for road movements

 

Yes went down (really up of course) before the first service train.

 

Noticed Bloomberg has reported that Oneweb, that provides the Government backed WiFi and satellite testbed for Swanage railway in the hope of selling to others, is struggling to survive.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-starlink-rival-afloat?embedded-checkout=true

 

Firewalled to me.

 

Latest news from SLL Southern Locomotives Ltd. <BJ>

''Owing to circumstances beyond our control, Eddystone will almost certainly not be taking its first scheduled train from Victoria to Weymouth on 23 July. Further information will follow in due course''.

 

A snippet: https://www.advanced-television.com/2025/06/11/eutelsat-racing-to-find-extra-cash/

 

Thanks for the link.

 

Be very wrong to like that, but thanks for the info which I see is on their Facebook page.

 

A shame, but not surprising bearing in mind Eddy hasn't actually left Swanage metals for any mainline test runs yet.

 

Rather late in the day due to a manic week an image of the NR MPV that visited to deal with the weeds.
I am sure NR use very strong stuff, but as most garden weedkillers understandably say apply on a dry day, not sure how effective it will be in the downpour we had on Thursday.
After the MPV headed off to the sidings Manston arrived with the 10:40 from Norden which shows the quality of the weather and the light.

 

Manston in for a washout on Friday. So the T3 is rostered from Friday (normal caveats apply). I'm guard on Friday. Come and say hello.

 

Late night running for the Roads to Rails event saw mw wander up the station last night. Manston resides on shed and the Class 117 DMU having arrived on the 22:00 from Norden.
Seemed all did not go well yesterday as it appeared the 20 failed in Corfe around lunchtime (from looking at the webcam) and there was no sign in the station when I went for my 15:30 GP appointment. When I came out at 16:40, (do they offer delay repay) it appeared the set and the 20 had been collected by the 08.
However the 20 back in service today ( I always think there must be Russian attack helicopters overhead when it goes out).
This morning as "management" returns from her week on the Isle of Man tonight I was under instructions to go to the butchers. Hence stumbled on Manston sporting "The Southerner" headboard.
A couple from Townsend Bridge this afternoon the 20 image showing the sea mist that kept blowing across the Afflington area.

 

The railway’s been very busy the last two days - even the diesel set was a lot busier than usual, no doubt helped by the very thrashy 20! A few fans of the traction were making themselves known today.

As regards to the 20 failing, I can’t remember exactly why but the engine was unable to make a vacuum - basically filled up with dirt etc and was unable to make a vacuum because of it. The replacement part was driven down express from Barrow Hill and it was repaired by 23:30 and ready for the service today.

 

It was the drain valve on the main air reservoir, as you say it had dirt in it and would not close. it couldn't hold air, therefore no controls.

 

Diesel replacing steam due to the high lineside fire risk. We've done well to keep going this far, but I'm sure the footplate crews will be glad. We were going through firemen last Friday at the rate of one per round trip. Even the opps manager had a turn on the blade to keep the show on the road.

 

Do you roster spare crews?

I had three round trips on a Bulleid at the Bluebell a couple of weekends ago (not as hot as it's been, but still quite hot), for 66 miles. We had a spare crew to take over at Sheffield Park between each trip and the 30 minutes or so break away from the engine and having someone attend to jobs like pulling coal forward and run round / watering / coupling etc made a considerable difference to the enjoyment.

Tom

 

Spare crews!!! Crumbs, it's hard enough ATM to get any crew.
Lucky there are always qualified people around the shed that can take a turn.
Funnily enough, the late turn fireman (an older hand) did all three rounds trips and it was even hotter.
It amazes me that you footplate types dress up for winter, claiming that all those layers keep you cool.
There's something wrong with you

 

There are not enough steam turns really at Swanage at the moment so it's not a shortage of crews. When we regularly ran two steam it was much more of a challenge.