"Over the Road"
Manufactured exactly 100 years ago, guest locomotive GWR 2-8-0 4247 works on the climb from the River Frome to Norden Junction on the Swanage Railway.
She was hauling the return leg of the FIRST scheduled passenger service to run on this re-opened stretch of railway line since New Year's Day 1972. It is true that some freight ran until 2005 and there have been very occasional passenger 'specials' down the line over the last 15 years, though these have been few and far between. Considerable sums of money and a huge number of volunteer hours have been used to get the track and infrastructure back into condition and the title "Over the Road" refers to the line going over the new Norden Gates level crossing.
Today's service was only allowed to run to the River Frome which is the limit of Swanage Railway's empire. On that up line service the train was pulled by one of their own locomotives, 31806, whose steam can be seen at the rear of the down line photos above. After a brief stop at the river, 4247 headed the return run.
Swanage Railway is now making an application to run a full service in 2017 a further mile to Wareham Station on the main London-Weymouth line. However, these will be diesel operated, primarily because there is no turntable at Wareham.
"Over the Road"
Manufactured exactly 100 years ago, guest locomotive GWR 2-8-0 4247 works on the climb from the River Frome to Norden Junction on the Swanage Railway.
She was hauling the return leg of the FIRST scheduled passenger service to run on this re-opened stretch of railway line since New Year's Day 1972. It is true that some freight ran until 2005 and there have been very occasional passenger 'specials' down the line over the last 15 years, though these have been few and far between. Considerable sums of money and a huge number of volunteer hours have been used to get the track and infrastructure back into condition and the title "Over the Road" refers to the line going over the new Norden Gates level crossing.
Today's service was only allowed to run to the River Frome which is the limit of Swanage Railway's empire. On that up line service the train was pulled by one of their own locomotives, 31806, whose steam can be seen at the rear of the down line photos above. After a brief stop at the river, 4247 headed the return run.
Swanage Railway is now making an application to run a full service in 2017 a further mile to Wareham Station on the main London-Weymouth line. However, these will be diesel operated, primarily because there is no turntable at Wareham.