Swanage Railway wins the Heritage Railway Association* Annual Award - 24th Jan 1998
*formerly known as Association of Independent Railways and Preservation Societies

Report from the HRA press release, supplementary photographs by Keith & Morgan

Elated volunteers are celebrating the news that they have won the coveted national 1997 HRA Annual Award which is going to the Swanage Railway for its excellent contribution towards meeting the transport needs of the Isle of Purbeck region of Dorset.

The unusual trophy was presented at the Association's Annual General Meeting in Manchester on Saturday, January 24th, 1998. The prestigious award from the highly respected campaigning, lobbying, marketing and publicity body representing the UK's 180 plus preserved railways and transport museums - both at Westminster and Brussels - is made each year for an outstanding contribution to railway preservation. The change of name to the more marketable Heritage Railway Association was agreed at the meeting.

The full citation to the Swanage Railway reads; "For excellence in achieving a significant improvement in meeting the transport needs of its area by introducing two-train working in conjunction with its imaginative park-and-ride scheme. Loaned to the Association by the National Railway Museum in York, the trophy for the Annual Award is an ornate coat of arms that once decorated the locomotive of Queen Victoria's Royal Train on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.

Construction of the Swanage Railway's new £12,000 signal box and 'up' platform at Harman's Cross station - and the installation of associated signalling equipment - means steam trains can now cross at Harman's Cross; the mid-way point of the six mile Purbeck Line between Swanage, Corfe Castle and the Norden Park and Ride car park.

The significance of this improvement - which came into use in July, 1997 and is known as two train running, trains setting out from Swanage and Norden simultaneously - is that throughout the busy summer period, when visitors come to Swanage and Purbeck in very large numbers - the Swanage Railway can run twice as many trains as before to cater for the influx.

With trains now able to leave Norden every 35 minutes, this is the maximum time passengers arriving at Norden have to wait, whereas previously the minimum wait between train was 70 minutes. That means the park and ride scheme is better used with very few cars now arriving and immediately leaving because of the waiting time. Usage of Norden has increased by 20 per cent since two train operation started with 35,000 passengers carried from the wholly new station during 1997.

Such has been the success of the Norden Park and Ride Scheme that work is now underway to double the size of the Norden car park from 130 to 250 cars under a £500,000 expansion plan. This work will be completed in time for the 1998 peak summer season. The enlarged scheme will include coach parking and permit local bus services between Swanage and Wareham to call there - thus making the link with Wareham by utilising rail for most of the distance. Better public toilets and other facilities are also being included in the extended Norden park and ride.

With the start of two-train running, the summer 1997 timetable saw the Swanage Railway operating 12 trains in each direction during the day, and a further four trains in each direction between Swanage and Corfe Castle during the evening. This is believed to be more trains per day than are run by any other standard gauge independent railway in the country.

Indeed, the last scheduled train of the day did not arrive back in Swanage until six minutes to midnight - a public service train and not the Swanage Railway's special 'Wessex Belle' evening dining train. During 1998, the timetable will be intensified.

"Everyone on the Railway is delighted because it's one of the top awards any independent railway can win. The Association's judging standards are very high," said Swanage Railway Chairman Bill Trite. "The Association is the main organisation representing more than 160 of the UK's preserved railways so receiving this award reflects much credit on the Swanage Railway and all its members and workers.

"This is an extremely important award because it recognises the enormous amount of work which has been undertaken to get the railway to Norden and then make all the arrangements at Harman's Cross to enable trains to pass each other there. The Railway's Council of Management is very grateful to everyone who has given so much time, effort and money to bring this about," added Mr Trite.

Steam locomotives operating on the Swanage Railway are ex-Southern Railway Battle of Britain class Bulleid Pacific 34072 '257 Squadron' of 1948, 1897-designed LSWR M7 Class 0-4-4 tank 30053 of 1905. Standard Class 4 2-6-4 Tank 80104 of 1955, ex-Yugoslavian Railways USA Class 0-6-0 Tank 30075 of 1960, and ex-Midland Railway 1F Class 0-6-0 tank 41708 of 1880. Steam locomotives undergoing restoration in the Swanage Railway's spacious Herston engineering works on the outskirts of the seaside town are ex-Great Western Railway 58xx class 0-6-2 tank No. 6695 of 1928 and Southern Locomotives Ltd's Standard Class 4 2-8-4 Tank No. 80078 of 1954.

First started from a few scraps of hand-laid track in 1977, the Swanage Railway started running trains to Herston (one mile from Swanage) in 1984, Harman's Cross (three miles) in 1989, and then to Corfe Castle (five miles) and Norden (six miles) in 1995. The Railway won two other coveted national awards last year.

Swanage Railway is negotiating with Railtrack, local councils and Stagecoach's South West Trains to ensure its link to the national railway system at Wareham is made as soon as possible, and that train services recommence from Swanage to Wareham - for the first time since the last BR train ran between the two towns in 1972 - as soon as arrangements can be agreed. The photograph shows the current view looking toward Wareham from Norden.