Swanage Railway General Discussion

No 28, going into the works after returning from the Moors.

 

Oh dear - that doesn't sound very encouraging for its visit "op north". Looking forward to it all the same.

Peter

 

"We regret to announce that this year’s Autumn Steam Gala will no longer be taking place. Despite much hard work by the gala organising committee, due to a combination of unforeseen circumstances and the last minute unavailability of the visiting locomotives earmarked to attend, it is with much regret that we must cancel this event." SR facebook today.

Very sad, apart from the last minute unavailability of visting locomotives what the other problems are??

I for one, if it was just the visiting locos not coming, would have loved to still see a 'winter warm up' style event just with their home fleet plus one of their 33s

 

Absolutely

 

I think it’s due to being fitted out for the main line

 

The article on the SLL website said “we are seriously considering the possibility …” and “we have asked supporters to fund this”. That wording suggests to me it isn’t a done deal, but is being considered. Which in turn suggests whatever is planned for its next visit to the works, it isn’t automatically correct to assume it is fitting the necessary mainline equipment.

Of course, maybe things have progressed since, though if my knowledge of fundraising is anything to go on, doing work using general funds for which there is an active appeal and then hoping the appeal backfills what was spent after the work was actually done is rarely successful in fundraising terms. (Though sometimes there are tactical reasons for going down that route).

Tom

 

I believe 34028 is going to Herston works for planned winter maintenance.
33111 (as far as I know) is going directly from the Bluebell to Barrow Hill for bodywork repairs. (https://33pres.com/home-page/bagpipe-blog/)
So the home fleet is currently 34070 (stopped for maintenance), 31806, 563 & D6515.
I hope that helps.

 

Just seen at 17.10 the 33s leaving on a passenger train....... has the U class failed again?

 

Presume there was some issue, Jenny Lewis was moving the U around when I dropped the wife off at the surgery at 15:50. But then unusually I never heard the U at all today.

 

and the 08.......

 

And the 117 and the 121

 

Please do not mention such alien things

 

They are traction, but so are weights strapped to your legs or arms

 

Announced on Facebook that 563 will be in service tomorrow (Thursday).

 

Yes gents I should have included them, but not sure how the timetable would fair if the 08 was hauling 5 coaches as the service train!!

 

Lovely day in Swanage today, although a bit breezy early on.
More Bus however regard it as winter as the T3 passes a bus roof being reattached.
Later this afternoon another failed visit to collect some medication for my wife 34028 gleams in the late afternoon sunshine prior to its Yorkshire holiday.

 

Yes Morebus revised timetables from Monday this week. These actually slightly improve the afternoon connection from the 40 to train at Wareham

 

No public trains today but 34028 has just passed Corfe on 4 coaches , presumably on a test run?

 

Driver Experience trains running today.

 

SLL has always struck me as a well-run organisation that considers each new step very carefully before proceeding. Admittedly, the decision to sell 80078 a few years back didn't go down well in some quarters, but otherwise, it has displayed a lot of flexibility and imagination in the way it manages its locos - for instance the move away from being essentially a supplier of locos to the Swanage Railway to being a set-up with a second base at the Spa Valley. More recently has been the decision to take on 34058 and thus establish a link with a third heritage railway, namely the Mid Hants.

So while I agree that equipping 34028 with the necessary main line gubbins isn't definitely going to be part of the work done to it at Herston on its return from the NYMR, I would think that SLL knows its shareholders and supporters well enough to be pretty confident that they will support this move.