30120 Swanage 23.4.19
In May 1972 the Swanage Railway Society was formed with the objective of restoring an all-the-year-round community railway service linking to the main line at Wareham, which would be 'subsidised' by the operation of steam-hauled heritage trains during the holidays. However, during the summer of 1972, BR hired contractors to lift the track between Swanage and Furzebrook sidings. Protests were orchestrated by the Society and an agreement between the Society and BR followed, leading to all the ballast being left in situ plus an extra ½ mile of track at Furzebrook. The track from Furzebrook to the main-line junction at Worgret remained in use for ball clay traffic, later also serving the oilfield at Wytch Farm. BR had intended to sell the Swanage station site to a property developer, but, after the intervention of Evelyn King, the MP for South Dorset, at the Society's request, it was offered to Swanage Town Council.
At first, neither the Dorset County Council nor the Swanage Town Council backed the Society's plans to restore the railway. Dorset County Council planned to build a by-pass for Corfe Castle on the railway land, while the town council started to demolish Swanage station. To break the impasse, the Railway Society formed two additional organisations: the Swanage and Wareham Railway Group, composed of local residents prepared to lobby the local authorities, and the Southern Steam Group, to collect historic railway rolling stock and establish a museum of steam and railway technology. In 1975, after many interventions by local residents, the town council finally granted the Society limited facilities on the Swanage station site. In 1975, Dorset County Council acquired the railway land between the end of the line at Furzebrook and Northbrook Road bridge in Swanage, and undertook to ‘give further consideration’ to routes for a Corfe Castle by-pass. The Society piloted a successful application by the Southern Steam Group to the Charity Commissioners for charitable status, and subsequently both the Society and the residents' group joined the new Southern Steam Trust.
In 1979, a short line was re-opened the length of King George's playing fields. This was extended, first to Herston Halt, and then to Harman's Cross in 1988, neither of which had been stations previously. In 1995, the railway reopened from Swanage to Corfe Castle and onwards to Norden Park and Ride, another post-BR station. The reopening of the station at Corfe Castle was delayed until Norden was ready, as Dorset County Council had concerns about the effects of traffic on Corfe's narrow main street (the A351 road between Wareham and Swanage). On 3rd January 2002, the track was temporarily joined with the Furzebrook freight line at Motala and the Purbeck branch line was once again complete, thirty years to the day after it was closed.
Drummond Greyhound 4-4-0 No.30120 is seen here departing Swanage on April 23rd 2019. New to the LSWR from Nine Elms Works during august 1899, the locomotive was withdrawn from Eastleigh in July 1963, having spent much of its BR career based at Dorchester and Exmouth Jct - which latter's 72A shedplate it is wearing here.
30120 Swanage 23.4.19
In May 1972 the Swanage Railway Society was formed with the objective of restoring an all-the-year-round community railway service linking to the main line at Wareham, which would be 'subsidised' by the operation of steam-hauled heritage trains during the holidays. However, during the summer of 1972, BR hired contractors to lift the track between Swanage and Furzebrook sidings. Protests were orchestrated by the Society and an agreement between the Society and BR followed, leading to all the ballast being left in situ plus an extra ½ mile of track at Furzebrook. The track from Furzebrook to the main-line junction at Worgret remained in use for ball clay traffic, later also serving the oilfield at Wytch Farm. BR had intended to sell the Swanage station site to a property developer, but, after the intervention of Evelyn King, the MP for South Dorset, at the Society's request, it was offered to Swanage Town Council.
At first, neither the Dorset County Council nor the Swanage Town Council backed the Society's plans to restore the railway. Dorset County Council planned to build a by-pass for Corfe Castle on the railway land, while the town council started to demolish Swanage station. To break the impasse, the Railway Society formed two additional organisations: the Swanage and Wareham Railway Group, composed of local residents prepared to lobby the local authorities, and the Southern Steam Group, to collect historic railway rolling stock and establish a museum of steam and railway technology. In 1975, after many interventions by local residents, the town council finally granted the Society limited facilities on the Swanage station site. In 1975, Dorset County Council acquired the railway land between the end of the line at Furzebrook and Northbrook Road bridge in Swanage, and undertook to ‘give further consideration’ to routes for a Corfe Castle by-pass. The Society piloted a successful application by the Southern Steam Group to the Charity Commissioners for charitable status, and subsequently both the Society and the residents' group joined the new Southern Steam Trust.
In 1979, a short line was re-opened the length of King George's playing fields. This was extended, first to Herston Halt, and then to Harman's Cross in 1988, neither of which had been stations previously. In 1995, the railway reopened from Swanage to Corfe Castle and onwards to Norden Park and Ride, another post-BR station. The reopening of the station at Corfe Castle was delayed until Norden was ready, as Dorset County Council had concerns about the effects of traffic on Corfe's narrow main street (the A351 road between Wareham and Swanage). On 3rd January 2002, the track was temporarily joined with the Furzebrook freight line at Motala and the Purbeck branch line was once again complete, thirty years to the day after it was closed.
Drummond Greyhound 4-4-0 No.30120 is seen here departing Swanage on April 23rd 2019. New to the LSWR from Nine Elms Works during august 1899, the locomotive was withdrawn from Eastleigh in July 1963, having spent much of its BR career based at Dorchester and Exmouth Jct - which latter's 72A shedplate it is wearing here.