First steam train to run from Wareham to London in 36 years

Press Release from Andrew P.M. Wright - 8th October 2003
Official Photographer & Press Officer, Swanage Railway.
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Swanage Railway chairman Bill Trite (left) and Roger Hardingham (right) of Kingfisher Railtours in the cab of Battle of Britain 34072 '257 Squadron'

Swanage Railway volunteers and an enterprising Dorset man are soon to make a special piece of Dorset history – by running the first main line steam train to run from Wareham to London since the summer of 1967.

Thirty-six years on from the end of steam traction in the south of England – and with the locomotive carrying a special headboard – the train called the Royal Wessex makes its historic return run from Wareham to the capital via Poole and Bournemouth on Saturday, 6th December, 2003.

The Swanage Railway’s catering department will be providing breakfasts on the special fund-raising train as well as a three course evening meal. A share of profits from the train trip will be going to the Swanage Railway which is run by volunteers and is a registered charity.

As well as offering the chance to travel on the first main line steam train to leave Wareham since July, 1967, the special train will also give passengers the chance to spend five hours in London.

"It’s a very exciting partnership with the Swanage Railway that offers the public the chance to turn back the clock and travel in style behind an ex-British Railways main line steam locomotive from Wareham to London and back," explained Roger Hardingham of Kingfisher Railtours and Kingfisher Publishing which are both based at his home in Osmington Mills near Weymouth.

"It will be the first since in 36 years – since July, 1967, and the end of steam traction in southern England – that a steam-hauled passenger train has run between Wareham and London Waterloo.

"It’s very exciting because the special steam train will also be stopping at Poole and Bournemouth on its way to London," added Mr Hardingham.

The special train will be hauled by the mighty 1940s-designed Battle of Britain class Bulleid Pacific steam locomotive No. 34067 ‘Tangmere’ which used to run on the line between London and Weymouth.

Still in its futuristic air-smoothed casing, the mighty leviathan of steam has been lovingly restored after languishing in a South Wales scrapyard following its withdrawal from British Rail service when steam was replaced by electric and diesel traction.

Swanage Railway chairman Bill Trite explained: "It was at 2.54 pm on Sunday, 9th July, 1967, that the last steam train left Wareham on its way from Weymouth to London Waterloo.

"The steam locomotive that hauled that historic last train was Merchant Navy class Bulleid Pacific No. 35030 ‘Elder Dempster Lines’ which is now a sectioned exhibit in the National Railway Museum in York," added Mr Trite.

Thirty-six years on, the Royal Wessex – named after a regular express steam train service that ran from London Waterloo down to Wareham and Weymouth during the 1950s and 1960s – will depart Wareham for London just after 8 am on Saturday, 6th December, 2003, and reached the capital at around 11.30 pm.

Mr Hardingham explained: "It was just after 8 am back in July, 1967, that the Royal Wessex train left Wareham for London Waterloo before the end of steam traction meant the end of the Royal Wessex train."

Mr Trite added: "This special steam-hauled train to London 36 years on from the last one from Wareham is a first for the Swanage Railway and I am delighted that its running is a partnership with Roger Hardingham’s Kingfisher Railtours.

"I am hopeful that this train could be the first of many more special steam trains from the Swanage Railway on the national rail network," he added.

Tickets are £59 for a standard return and £149 to include a full dining service with breakfast and three-course dinner provided on board. They are available from 0870 747 2983 or visit the Kingfisher Railtours website at http://www.railwayvideo.com/ by clicking here where you can book online.