Swanage Railway General Discussion

33025 leaves tomorrow by the look of it.
I sort of assumed it would go back to 81C on the Swanage Belle on Wednesday. Maybe that would make the train too long at Victoria.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:R45408/2026-05-15/detailed

 

The T3 is in service today. Stock includes vintage coaches and the GWR inspection saloon at the rear.
IMHO, the GWR inspection saloon blends in much better than the Pullman observation car. <BJ>

 

Does anyone know if the Steam Charter on Wednesday with 34028 is actually running? There are so far No timings published on real time trains.
Thanks in advance.
Andy

 

Confirmed timings from RTC:

Dep London Victoria 08:21
Swanage 14:32 - 16:35
Arrive London Victoria 22:09

[BJ]

 

Also, RTC website states limited seats in Premier Dining with Standard Class currently having a waiting list (for cancellations presumably) - so, presumably, trip hasn't been caped.
It is somewhat strange that main line timing details are not yet apparent. Perhaps NR forgot to let RTT know?
For those wanting to go out and see it in the Purbeck area - Wareham departure is 13:44, after picking up Swanage Railway Conductor Driver and Guard, with Corfe Castle scheduled to be passed at 14:05 followed by a Swanage arrival at 14:23 as mentioned above.
Swanage departure is 16:35 with Corfe Castle passed at 16:49 and arrival in Wareham at 17:21 (to set down SR Conductor Driver and Guard).
Accuweather says tomorrow will have "Broken cloud and sunny spells with a passing shower". Hope the fabled 'Purbeck micro-climate' helps improve the actual weather.

 

Takes all that time and in theory only 6 minutes off Wareham in front of 1W23. Mind you as it is SWR, that will probably be late, (only 21 minutes today) so maybe not an issue.

 

Apparentley, from a very reliable source, no pathing available ATM

 

Same SWR timetable as the past few years isn't it Steve?

Gary

 

No Idea

 

Now on here

https://live.rail-record.co.uk/train.php/?c=U84328&d=2026-05-20

 

Swanage have changed their May half term timetable to include two steam services !

bringing back the pre Covid classic yellow timetable!

brilliant news

 

Yellow Steam is planned to run for the May holidays and the two “core” weeks of the summer holidays (10th-23rd August).

 

https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/locomotives-stock/category/steam-locomotives
Presumably with 563, 31806, Manston and 257 Squadron there are enough steam locomotives to support a 2 steam train timetable, plus 30054 and 81404 finishing overhauls.

 

We are assuming that the M7 and 80104 won’t be ready for this summer season. Maintenance requirements, steaming limits, coal & water costs and other ongoing issues would cause problems if we tried to run a 2 steam service for the whole summer - I can garuntee you there would be a diesel substitution on some days. It’s better to have diesel booked on some days than have to substitute for steam.

 

And Manston is at the GWSR for a couple of months as well I believe.

 

Yes, but it should be back by late July.

 

It seems a little confusing to have a Yellow steam service and a yellow (D) one steam one diesel as from the calendar page there is no way of telling which is which.
Of course they are only two of the five Yellow options, I have yet to determine what Yellow with EN is, or which days it applies to.