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Swanage Railway - could we see trains to Wareham in 2024?
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Invincible
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Iskra
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The last Branchline Society newsletter that came out on Friday reported no trains to Wareham this year (going off my memory here and I’m not in a position to check right now, so although I think I’m correct I reserve the right to be wrong 
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"MR28] Swanage Railway, Dorset (MR p6): There will be no through Wareham services this year. Last year's service fulfilled the railway's commitment to the local council. The 2023 trains lost money - as in the earlier years - but was part of a 'deal' for a longer term lease. Inwards charters may run, of course."The last Branchline Society newsletter that came out on Friday reported no trains to Wareham this year (going off my memory here and I’m not in a position to check right now, so although I think I’m correct I reserve the right to be wrong
They lose a significant amount of money operating the service because of "high" operating costs (1) the mainline operating insurance premium (2) the track access charges for running on the mainline (3) the station access charges for Wareham.
Swanage Railway is in a bit of awkward position because originally it stated it would operate a service to Wareham if the tax payer / public purse funded (1) the overhaul of suitable dmus to mainline standard (2) the integration of the Swanage railway signalling system into the mainline system - an essential requirement for operating on the mainline (3) the overhaul of the northern section of the line from Norden to the network rail boundary. Then Swanage Railway would meet any direct operating costs: fuel, maintenance plus the aforementioned charges. Unfortunately the revenue does not cover those charges.
Legally it was bound to operate two trial services one of 60 days and one of 90 days. The years were meant to be consecutive but they werent: 2017 and 2023.
Swanage Railway is now hoping that they can get funding from somewhere to meet the gap between revenue and costs but that seems unlikely.
The reality is that operating to / from Wareham adds little to the appeal of visiting Swanage nor does it encourage significant additional patronage using the mainline network to get to Wareham and thence to Swanage.
Swanage Railway is in a bit of awkward position because originally it stated it would operate a service to Wareham if the tax payer / public purse funded (1) the overhaul of suitable dmus to mainline standard (2) the integration of the Swanage railway signalling system into the mainline system - an essential requirement for operating on the mainline (3) the overhaul of the northern section of the line from Norden to the network rail boundary. Then Swanage Railway would meet any direct operating costs: fuel, maintenance plus the aforementioned charges. Unfortunately the revenue does not cover those charges.
Legally it was bound to operate two trial services one of 60 days and one of 90 days. The years were meant to be consecutive but they werent: 2017 and 2023.
Swanage Railway is now hoping that they can get funding from somewhere to meet the gap between revenue and costs but that seems unlikely.
The reality is that operating to / from Wareham adds little to the appeal of visiting Swanage nor does it encourage significant additional patronage using the mainline network to get to Wareham and thence to Swanage.
Iskra
Established Member
Thank you
I do not have access to the article but the wording "part of a deal" is not how I would describe it.
The two year trial service was a condition of the new lease (2014) between Dorset County Council (as then was) and Swanage Railway for the trackbed which was bought by DCC from BR back in 1972 when the line closed.
There has been a great deal of vagueness about the whole matter with Swanage Railway continually trying to row back from any promises or implication it gave in the earlier years of Project Wareham that it would run a year round service and / or that it would run trains at times suitable for commuters or locals to use to get to / from Poole / Bournemouth for social and domestic purposes. How success of the two trial years would be measured has never been made public indeed there are some who think that failure was always going to be the declared outcome. Compared with the early years when the whole raison detre of the Swanage Railway was to provide a rail service between Swanage and Wareham this has slowly dropped down the priorities of Swanage Railway indeed becoming more of a burden than the goal. Indeed there has even been some quite "clever" wordplay spin doctoring suggesting that the whole purpose was to reinstate the physical link (ie the track and signalling) rather than it being to operate trains between Swanage and Wareham.
The railway has received a great deal of public money C£5+M to enable the wareham service to operate and there will be those who think that SR has given very little return on this money. It has got two fully refurbished DMU a class 117 and a Class 121 at little cost to itself. The signalling system has been integrated with the mainline. It enables mainline charters to visit Swanage for which SRC receives a track access fee.
Overall not Swanage Railways finest hour.
I posted last year that this appears to have been a big pit for public money that could have been better used elsewhere...but those apparently wiser than me explained that I was wrong.
IMHO it was one of those situations where once the first decision had been taken there was no easy out.
To run any form of scheduled service along the branch from Norden to Wareham or vice versa:
1) the branch line had to be included in the Wool - Poole mainline resignalling scheme. Or put another way when the area was resignalled they could have severed the junction at Worgret and left the Swanage branch line marooned (disconnected) from the mainline. After representations from SRC and DCC Network Rail included the branch and the junction was left in. This cost a lot of money. Not sure what % of the total area scheme.
2) Swanage Railway required mainline certified rolling stock. This is big mistake no 1. Rather than hiring suitable rolling stock for the trial, Dorset County Council bought some very old DMUs and provided a grant for their refurbishment and bringing up to mainline standards. This cost in excess of £1.2M and SRC had to pay for the cost overrun. How much has never been made public but believed to be C£200K. The refurb over ran due to axle issues and the 2017 trial had to be operated with hired in stock
3) The 2017 trial (60 days) lost about £70K. At this point permission should have been sought to abandon the trial ie not operate year 2. I do not know if permission was sought and denied or simply not sought any way year 2 finally operated in 2023 and lost a considerable sum of money. Either way Big Mistake No 2 was operating a second year given the results of year 1.
4) No lessons seemed to have been learnt from the 2017 trial. The trial basically said that the vast majority of the traffic used the first down train (to Swanage) in the morning and the last train (back to wareham) in the afternoon. The middle of the day round trips carried very few passengers and the balancing workings first up last down also carried very few passengers. No attempt was made to vary the timetable to provide more services down to Swanage in the morning. It may well have turned out that that could have been worse but the purpose of a trial is to test ideas. Repeating a failing concept just to double prove it doesnt work beggars belief.The 90 day trial was self evidently longer and this meant that there were more operating days outside of the peak season. It seems to me to be inevitable that carryings out of the peak season will be lower than in the peak season.
5) The lease for the track bed that specified 2 trial years should not have been accepted or agreed to by SRC in that form. Any wise headed person would have negotiated some form of get out clause to cater for the possibility that year 1 lost a lost of money and there was no sign that year 2 would be any better. If DCC had insisted on 2 trials then at the very least SRC should have negotiated some form of financial support if year 2 lost a great deal of money.
6) No one really knows what the true cost has been as so much cost just gets lost in the overall running for example driver training on the DMUs, driver medicals, management time spent on the project, phone calls, paper work, meetings etc etc.
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7) Any normal trial of a service has a well worked out means or standard of determining success or failure. For example carrying xK passengers or generating £Y revenue. Project Wareham seems to have had no definition of what constituted success.
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I dont think so, possibly on one or two occasions.
One could write a book on the trials and tribulations of the Wareham service but it seems to have a lot against it which is a pity.
Ironically it would probably do better in terms of passenger numbers if it was not a heritage railway but a mainline railway that served a pretty Victorian seaside town. Then the fares both point to point and through would be lower as well as railcards being valid. Operating 7 days a week with say a service 0700 - 1900 would suit the population better.
The station at Wareham is a good walk from the town centre. Those wishing to travel to Wareham from Swanage use the bus: it is cheaper, takes the same journey time and operates hourly throughout the day seven days a week and serves the town centre.
It's a complex situation partly because of the protracted length of time it took from originally thinking about the service and how it might be delivered, to the point where the second trial year could begin. In that time there were significant changes to the whole landscape of heritage railway operations, including competency/training requirements and insurance costs.
There seems to have been a poor decision made during refurbishment regarding the wheel sets being specified to 70mph, which added signifcant cost and time. (In the 2023 trial both 117 and 121 units were restricted to 25mph on the mainline section.)
The sad thing is the Wareham Project has been, to some extent, divisive for the railway. Some see a Wareham service as financial and reputational jeopardy (partly right - the financial results look dire). Others see exciting opportunities for steam on the mainline, or diesel with a 4TC set or DMU again, operating a community service on a smaller number of days, at optimum times of day, probably only during the summer holidays.
At a recent public meeting it was announced that the report on the 2023 trial has been completed but was being shared with the significant stakeholders first before being made public. It was also announced that the 2023 trial made a loss of £100,000.
It should be noted that there is still strong and significant support for a future Wareham service from some influential quarters. What is also clear is that if the service should go ahead in future years, Swanage Railway would not be in a position to be able to pick up the bill for any deficit.
One thing I hope we can agree on though is that the operation of the trial was a success from the reputational, operational, technical and engineering aspects, from signalling to pway to arrangements with the contracted TOC (West Coast) and reliability of the 60+ year old units, available for all 90 days and running on 89 of those.
Will it run in 2024? Vanishingly unlikely, no. Will it run again? I sincerely hope not in the next few years. Will it ever run again? I'd like to hope the railway would be back in a position where this might be possible in some form.
There seems to have been a poor decision made during refurbishment regarding the wheel sets being specified to 70mph, which added signifcant cost and time. (In the 2023 trial both 117 and 121 units were restricted to 25mph on the mainline section.)
The sad thing is the Wareham Project has been, to some extent, divisive for the railway. Some see a Wareham service as financial and reputational jeopardy (partly right - the financial results look dire). Others see exciting opportunities for steam on the mainline, or diesel with a 4TC set or DMU again, operating a community service on a smaller number of days, at optimum times of day, probably only during the summer holidays.
At a recent public meeting it was announced that the report on the 2023 trial has been completed but was being shared with the significant stakeholders first before being made public. It was also announced that the 2023 trial made a loss of £100,000.
It should be noted that there is still strong and significant support for a future Wareham service from some influential quarters. What is also clear is that if the service should go ahead in future years, Swanage Railway would not be in a position to be able to pick up the bill for any deficit.
One thing I hope we can agree on though is that the operation of the trial was a success from the reputational, operational, technical and engineering aspects, from signalling to pway to arrangements with the contracted TOC (West Coast) and reliability of the 60+ year old units, available for all 90 days and running on 89 of those.
Will it run in 2024? Vanishingly unlikely, no. Will it run again? I sincerely hope not in the next few years. Will it ever run again? I'd like to hope the railway would be back in a position where this might be possible in some form.
The second trial year could have been run in 2018 using the same hired in rolling stock as in the latter part of the 2017 trial year. The railway decided not to do so due to the likely loss which would be caused by doing so. The projected loss was £105K. Swanage Railway believed it would be cheaper to run the service itself once the dmus had been delivered and a non-mainline safety certificate granted rather than using WCR who had operated the 2017 trial for SRC. The problem which arose was that when Swanage Railway progressed this plan it suffered a severe shock when it discovered the cost of mainline insurance for SRC as a new stand alone operator. It is also worth pointing out as SRC prepared its application for its own non-mainline safety certificate - effectively the operators licence - it discovered the compliance costs and timescale were far greater than it had originally anticipated / budgeted for.
The problem with the wheel sets was that an assumption had been made that sufficient wheel sets would be recovered from all the units purchased by Dorset County Council to equip those units being refurbished. Dorset County Council had purchased a number of units (not sure how many) to act as donor or spares units. Unfortunately when the wheel sets were crack tested all had to be condemned as they were too far gone. New wheel sets had to be manufactured at considerable cost and with a significant time delay.
I am not 100% sure but IIRC the DMUs required a derogation from the ORR to operate on the mainline due to more recent higher crashworthiness standard requirements. Hence the DMUs could only operate at a maximum of 25 mph and could not operate outside of the defined Worgret Junction - Wareham section. Sadly, and yes it is with some hindsight, this calls into question whether the £1.2M+ spent on the DMUs was a good decision.
The strong support for the service comes from those involved in and connected with the Tourism Trade and those who believe it will take road traffic off the roads of the Isle of Purbeck. However those who are not involved in that trade question why council tax payers money should be spent on a service which primarily benefits non residents and not those paying the tax. Likewise there are those who believe the number of cars it would remove is insignificant (and not the best use of public money to achieve this aim) and furthermore it doesnt remove traffic from the main bottle neck getting to / from the Isle of Purbeck. (The A351 between the Bakers Arms roundabout and Wareham).
IMHO The idea of a community service is a bit of a white elephant as it would not provide a realistic travel choice for local residents. The bus is a far superior choice based on days of operation, operating hours, frequency of service, fare levels and number of points served en route. If Dorset Council wished to spend money to get traffic off the roads imho it would get a better return investing in enhancing that service.
Having steam or 3/4 TC on the mainline does have a big appeal but can the revenue from that pay not only its direct operating costs but all the costs related to maintaining the section of the branch line between Norden and Worgret Junction? Does it place SRC at too much risk?
The volunteers and paid staff of SRC (and the WCR staff) provided an excellent service last summer. Unfortunately no amount of dedication and commitment could balance the books.
D Williams
Member
This is the Swanage Railway that is now appealing for £450,000 to keep running in this year. The Wareham service was always a stupid idea and it's nearly bankrupted the company. What has happened is exactly what was predicted by many of the volunteer workforce.
I used the service last year and while I really enjoyed a trip to Swanage I wouldn't have done otherwise (as a non driver) there were a number of obvious flaws, including the lack of period returns for what is a short break destination, poor revenue collection on the train, and quite long connections with the mainline (c30 minutes in some cases).
I doubt the Swanage Railway can make a success of the connection. I suspect the line as a piece of infrastructure could be successful and make a more meaningful contribution to taking traffic off the roads if it were part of the national network, with normal operating hours and a regular service.
I doubt the Swanage Railway can make a success of the connection. I suspect the line as a piece of infrastructure could be successful and make a more meaningful contribution to taking traffic off the roads if it were part of the national network, with normal operating hours and a regular service.
357
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If someone was interested, there are four ex-EMR class 180s available
The connection times arent optimal because the SRC unit has to be allowed sufficient time to come from Worgret Junction to Wareham, drop off pick up and return back to Worgret Junction off the mainline. The sidings are out of use because of issues relating to the foot crossing and the bay platform on the upside is permanently out of commission.
Yes the question has to be is there a way of combining a mainline TOC operating a daily reasonable frequency service from Wareham to Swanage whilst still allow the heritage railway to run between Norden and Swanage. I reckon it could be done but would need some compromises from SRC and some excellent signage to prevent confusion.
IMHO it is a lot more than the Wareham service which has caused this problem. Passenger numbers are significantly lower than the pre pandemic carryings (over 200,000 per annum) but costs have not decreased inline. According to some reports they have struggled to identify and carry through cost savings.
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The service was designed to fail for locals, because the trains started too late and finished too early, plus the ticket inflexibility and high fares. The public service should take priority over leisure rides. If the only way to get the branch service back is for the steam service to fail, then so be it. Same with Minehead and other similar lines. Okehampton style is the way forward. Heritage services take second place.
357
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Unfortunately that's not how a business works. The trains making more profit will get the best paths and priority.
The Wareham service timetable and days of operation were only suited for inbound leisure passengers. Whilst this is understandable in the context of a heritage railway it does rather undermine the previous "promises" of Swanage Railway to reinstate the Wareham link for the benefit of the community.
I for one was very disappointed that the second trial year didnt test other timetable possibilities but one rather got the impression that the second trial was simply to meet the railways obligation to the local authority rather than any genuine attempt to test the market. For example they could have offered lower fares for locals (as they did for last weekends Community Weekend), marketing for the service was very limited and certainly not further afield, the promised through fares from SWR stations did not materialise.
I for one was very disappointed that the second trial year didnt test other timetable possibilities but one rather got the impression that the second trial was simply to meet the railways obligation to the local authority rather than any genuine attempt to test the market. For example they could have offered lower fares for locals (as they did for last weekends Community Weekend), marketing for the service was very limited and certainly not further afield, the promised through fares from SWR stations did not materialise.
357
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I was referring to this:
It shouldn't be assumed that the public service should take priority. From my limited knowledge of the situation, the trial could have been don't much better but I must disagree with a blind assumption that we should can the vintage service to enable a public service.
If Brush 4 is so convinced the branch should become a public railway again and that steam should be done away with, then the correct process is for NR or similar to take over and for Swanage Railway to be evicted, if necessary with a compulsory purchase order if relevant.
Falcon1200
Established Member
So am I, and I would not have visited the Swanage Railway otherwise, but fully understand the cost and complications of operating the trains. I doubt that even if the service was more frequent, and ran for more of the day, it would be more useful for local people than the buses.
(What a pity BR, or the SR, did not provide an independent third line between Wareham and Worgret Junction, as was done at Brockenhurst for the Lymington branch!)
It was LSWR who didnt provide an independent line between Wareham and Worgret Junction. They must have reasoned that it wasnt worthwhile which with hindsight is a shame.
Yes the bus service is difficult to beat.
Surely the trial was optimised to maximise the income whilst minimising the costs. If you'd offered early morning and late evening services you'd have been unable to run the service with a single crew which would have made the bottom line even more disastrous.
Ive never had any dealings with First Group TOCs but most of the TOCs charge the heritage railway an administration fee for every through ticket sold, so the heritage railway is having to discount its add on to cover this in addition to any through ticket discount. One of the prominent Northern TOCs allegedly didn't charge but I note that 1 of the Metropolitan area heritage railways has just recently stopped selling through tickets so maybe that's changed?
Yes having to use a second crew would have been more expensive - though of course some of the crew were SRC volunteers who provide their services free of charge. The purpose of the trial was to test demand for the service and it is disappointing that the schedule wasnt varied to test demand more widely.
Rereading my earlier posting I have realised I have made a mistake - I fell into a trap for the unwary. If I now recollect correctly it wasnt through fares as such that were to be offered (where both railways offer a discount to make the total fare cheaper than adding two separate fares) but add on fares with no discount. The benefit of such an arrangement was that the fares would appear in online booking systems and at SWR tvms.
Both Swanage Railway and SWR are members of the Purbeck Community Rail Partnership whose main raison detre was to support the Swanage - Wareham service. One would hope that at such meetings the two parties would be able to agree some form of deal to support the objectives of the PCRP. However over time the PCRP seems to have morphed into a group whose primary purpose seems to be recruiting volunteers to keep the environs of the SWR stations in the Purbeck area clean, tidy and with attractive flower beds rather than directly encouraging rail travel.
I believe that the freeholder of the majority of the Swanage Branch is Dorset CC or its successor who will be a statutory authority. I'm uncertain that Network Rail can actually compulsory purchase the property of a statutory authority. In reality these sort of things would be agreed between Network Rail and the CC. If you were able to progress the compulsory purchase you'd need planning permission, a Transport & Works Order which assuming there were objections to would require a public enquiry, engineering and enviromental assessments. Either way it would take years to progress and require £ millions up front before a wheel ever turned.
357
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So unlikely the steam trains will be disappearing anytime soon then.
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