Swanage Railway
| Wareham - Corfe Castle - Swanage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 A Swanage Railway train seen from Corfe Castle
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| Route length: | 10 (16) km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Swanage Railway is now a museum railway . The branch line from a branch near Wareham to Swanage in Dorset opened in 1885, and the independent railroad company that built it merged with the larger London and South Western Railway in 1886 .
Passenger traffic ended in 1972. There was only a remainder of freight traffic over part of the route, British Rail had the remaining tracks removed in the same year. Nevertheless, railway enthusiasts managed to gradually rebuild the line - starting from Swanage.
The original railroad
Early industry
Even before the Victorian Age , there were many stone quarries and clay pits on the Isle of Purbeck . Some of the clay was processed on site, but most of the production was transported away for use elsewhere. The transportation was mostly by coastal shipping, and, in some cases, simple railways for transportation within the pits and on the various loading points on were natural harbor Poole Harbor built.
Left out of the main route
The Southampton and Dorchester Railway opened its main line through Wareham in 1847. Train traffic was operated by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), and in 1848 the LSWR took over the railway company. The new line gave the area a continuous rail link to London, but it did not get close enough to attract the transport of mineral resources, which for the time being continued to be transported mostly by coastal shipping.
The construction of the main line through Wareham inspired various ideas to connect Swanage or the clay pits in Purbeck, but these did not get the necessary support.
The branch line
Eventually a project for a branch line was successful: on July 18, 1881, the Swanage Railway received the necessary approval from Parliament with a share capital of £ 90,000 and the right to issue interest-bearing securities over £ 30,000.
The railway line was opened on May 20, 1885 and operated from the beginning by the LSWR. It branches off the main line at Worgret Junction, more than a mile west of Wareham Station, is single-track and 10 miles long.
The branch line crossed the older Furzebrook Railway , a narrow-gauge industrial line for transporting clay to the loading point on the River Frome , and the Middlebere Plateway , which brought the mineral to Poole Harbor . However, the owners of these lines had little interest in setting up reloading points to the Swanage Railway. There was only one intermediate station at Corfe Castle . The elevation is undulating with slopes of up to 13 ‰. From Worgret Junction the route falls a mile and then climbs again to Furzebrook ; from there it falls to Corfe Castle and rises again to about half of the remaining distance to Swanage, before finally falling to the terminus.
The first timetable contained five passenger trains per day and direction as well as one daily freight train. From August 1, 1885, passenger and freight traffic were merged and mixed trains ran .
By a parliamentary resolution of June 25, 1886, the Swanage Railway was taken over by the LSWR. This was just a formality, however, as the LSWR had assumed the Swanage Railway's £ 2,914 debt as early as 1881 and has been its de facto paymaster ever since.
The old small station in Wareham east of the level crossing was replaced by a larger station west of it, which was large enough to handle the transfer and reloading traffic to the Swanage Railway. It was opened on April 4, 1887.
The 20th century
Seaside resort holidays became fashionable at the beginning of the 20th century, and it was around this time that through trains were being established from London. The train service was gradually improved; in the winter of 1931 there were 13 passenger trains on the route every day. The kaolin pits and other minerals quarries on the Isle of Purbeck were initially not connected to the Swanage Railway, but reloading points were eventually created and the minerals transported on by rail.
The Railways Act 1921 merged the numerous British railway companies into four large companies, and the LSWR became part of the new Southern Railway . The Transport Act 1947 brought about another reorganization: the railways were nationalized as British Railways in 1948.
In the period after 1945, the local trains on the branch line were operated as push-pull trains . Through coaches were attached to some of these trains, and when the locomotive pushed the commuter coaches, the through coaches were behind the locomotive ("sandwich").
With the increase in road traffic, both for people and goods, the use of rural branch lines declined rapidly in the 1960s. However, the Swanage Railway was not mentioned in the 1963 report The Reshaping of British Railways , which recommended the closure of many such lines.
In 1966, the time of steam traction in the area ended. Passenger traffic was handled with diesel-electric multiple units of the 205 series. On Saturdays in the summer of 1969, a non-stop train ran from London, pulled by a diesel locomotive.
In May 1967, the then government investigated deficient branch lines, and the suspension of passenger traffic on the Swanage Railway was recommended. At the end of 1967, British Railways announced the closure of the route in September 1968. The closure was postponed due to opposition, which mainly argued with problems with bus traffic in the summer months. An inspector from the Ministry of Environment stated that the route should be preserved, but this recommendation was later ignored by the responsible minister. On January 3, 1972, the last passenger train ran on the route.
Fart brook
In Furzebrook , the Swanage Railway crossed the Pike Brothers' field railway, known as the Furzebrook Railway , which was used to transport clay. Initially there was no connection to this narrow-gauge railway, which ran on 2 ft 8½ in (825 mm) gauge, but a transfer point was later set up.
north
In the north there was a connection (reloading point) to the also narrow-gauge Middlebere Plateway , which was operated by Benjamin Fayle and his successors. During the Second World War there were special military sidings for railway guns.
After the end of passenger traffic
Even after the cessation of passenger traffic, there was still freight traffic from Furzebrook, where the Pike Brothers loaded clay.
1978 additional sidings were laid in Furzebrook to load crude oil from the Wytch Farm oil field; the oil wells are about three miles away, and the oil was piped to the loading point, which was next to the clay loading tracks.
Preservation of the route
In May 1972, the Swanage Railway Society was founded with the aim of re-establishing year-round train services for the local population as a link to the main line in Wareham, which was to be 'subsidized' through the operation of steam-powered museum trains during the holidays.
In the summer of 1972 British Rail (BR) commissioned private contractors to dismantle the route between Swanage and the connection for freight loading in Furzebrook. The Swanage Railway Society (SR) organized protests, and this was followed by an agreement between the SR and British Rail that the ballast would remain completely in place and half a mile of track at Furzebrook would not be removed. Regardless of this, the line from Furzebrook remained in operation until it was connected to the main line for the transport of clay; later the crude oil from the Wytch Farm oil field was loaded in Furzebrook. British Rail had intended to sell the property with Swanage station to a private investor. But after Evelyn King, the MP for South Dorset, intervened at the SR's request, BR put it up for sale to the Swanage community.
Initially, neither Dorset County Council (DCC) nor Swanage Town Council (STC) supported the SR's plans to reopen the railway line. DCC wanted to build a bypass for Corfe Castle on the railway line, and STC began demolishing the Swanage station. In order to find a way out of the impasse, the SR set up two subsidiary organizations: the Swanage and Wareham Railway Group was supposed to persuade the local government; and the Southern Steam Group began collecting historic railroad rolling stock and establishing a railroad museum. After much interventions from the population, STC finally allowed the Swanage Railway Society to use part of the area of the Swanage station in 1975. In 1975, DCC bought the site of the railway line between the Furzebrook junction and Northbrook Road (immediately in front of Swanage station) to pursue the idea of a bypass for Corfe Castle. The Swanage Railway Society successfully applied for charity for the Southern Steam Group, and subsequently both the Society and Railway Group joined the new Southern Steam Trust.
reconstruction
In 1979 museum railroad traffic began on a short stretch of the route within the village of Swanage. This was initially extended to Herston Halt and then in 1988 to Harman's Cross; there had previously been no train station at these two locations. In 1995 the line returned to service as far as Corfe Castle and further north, where there is a Park & Ride car park . The opening of Corfe Castle station was delayed until the north station was completed, as DCC was concerned about possible traffic problems in the town's narrow main road (the A351 from Wareham to Swanage). On January 3, 2002, the gap to the freight line to Furzebrook was closed in Motala, and the Purbeck branch line was complete again to the day exactly 30 years after its closure.
business
Trains run between Swanage and the north on weekends and bank holidays all year round . There is daily train service from Easter to the end of October. Every year in December, St. Nicholas' trains run as a special attraction.
The railway workshops in Herston, on the outskirts of Swanage, are not connected to the railway line. Locomotive transport for repairs must be carried out by road because the Swanage Railway has not been able to reach an agreement with the local landowners about the construction of a siding to the workshops in Herston.
North – Wareham
Even though there has been a continuous track connection to the main line since 2002, the regular train service continued to end in the north. The connection was only used by occasional special trains. The first continuous train in 30 years was a brand new class 220 ( Voyager ) diesel multiple unit from Virgin Trains , No. 220018, which went to Swanage on September 8, 2002, where it was named Dorset Voyager .
In the years that followed, the railway company worked with Network Rail and the local authorities to procure suitable rolling stock and to upgrade the infrastructure for future regular train journeys. Dorset County Council and Purbeck District Council approved a £ 3.2 million grant for re-signaling at Worgret Junction near Wareham, where the Swanage Railway's branch line branches off the Network Rail-operated main line. From the state Coastal Communities Fund , SR received £ 1.47 million to modernize the route and the diesel multiple units it will initially operate. BP paid £ 500,000 to build a gated level crossing on the road to the Witch Farm oil field .
Trial operations between Wareham and the north - initially with diesel multiple units - should begin in 2016. In January 2016 the SR announced a postponement to spring 2017 because the refurbishment of the historic railcars was delayed. Scheduled traffic between Wareham and Swanage finally began on June 13, 2017. Initially, a train made up of passenger cars with a diesel locomotive at each end, which only runs on 60 (2017) and 90 (2018) days during the summer, is used.
literature
- JHLucking: Railways of Dorset . Ed .: Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. 1968.
- D. Henshaw: The Great Railway Conspiracy . Leading Edge, 1994, ISBN 0-948135-30-1 .
- RW Kidner: The Railways of Purbeck . The Oakwood Press, 1988, ISBN 0-85361-372-9 (first edition: 1973).
- Andrew PM Wright: The Swanage Branch Then and Now . Ian Allan, 1992, ISBN 0-7110-2046-9 .
Web links
- Swanage Railway (English)
- Swanage Railway Trust (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c RA Williams: The London and South Western Railway: volume 2: Growth and Consolidation . David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1973, ISBN 0-7153-5940-1 .
- ^ A b EF Carter: An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles . Cassell, London 1959.
- ^ A b c Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith: Branch Line to Swanage . Middleton Press, Midhurst 1992, ISBN 0-906520-33-9 .
- ↑ a b RW Kidner: The Railways of Purbeck . Oakwood Press, Lingfield 1973.
- ^ JN Faulkner, RA William: The LSWR in the Twentieth Century . David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1988, ISBN 0-7153-8927-0 .
- ↑ Virgin Voyager visit to Swanage on 7th & 8th September . Swanage Railway. September 9, 2002. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013. Retrieved on December 21, 2014.
- ^ Project Wareham / The Purbeck Line . Swanage Railway. Archived from the original on June 2, 2015. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
- ↑ Major line upgrade almost complete (PDF; 272 kB) Swanage Railway. January 5, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
- ↑ Volunteers celebrate returning Swanage to Wareham Train Service for first Time in 45 Years . Swanage Railway. June 17, 2017. Retrieved June 26, 2017.