Swanage Railway crew praises S15 Class E828 Harry A. Frith

Report and photographs by APM Wright - July 18th 1998

The Swanage Railway's first crew to operate S15 Class E828 Harry A. Frith on a Passenger-hauling train to Corfe Castle and Norden Park and Ride have nothing but praise for the veteran locomotive and its team of dedicated restorers.

SWANAGE Railway's first footplate crew to work 515 Class E828 on a passenger-carrying train on the award-winning relaid Purbeck Line between Swanage, Corfe Castle and Norden Park and Ride has given Harry A. Frith the definite thumbs up.

Driver Kevin Martin of Oxted in Surrey and ex-BR fireman Mike Jackman of Wimborne in Dorset worked E828 on the 10.30 am out of Swanage on Wednesday, July 15th, 1998 - the first 'up' train of the day under the peak summer two-train running timetable.

"She's very nice to drive - very powerful. A bit like a giant M7 in some ways - definitely of LSWR lineage, you can tell it comes from the same family as the M7," said Kevin, 44, a volunteer Swanage Railway driver for two years and in its Operations Department for six years.

"She is very responsive, has very good brakes and is quite easy to drive. She's a very nice bit of kit and in excellent condition - a real triumph for the people who did the restoration work. They should be very proud. They've done a very good job," added Kevin who runs a company dealing in visual merchandising equipment for shops.

The S15s like E828 - BR number 30828 from 1948 to 1964 - were the freight versions of the Southern Railway's popular and efficient King Arthur class 4-6-0 locomotives that hauled its express passenger trains across the south and west of England.

But the real praise for E828's performance on the Swanage Railway came from Mike Jackman who used to be a cleaner and fireman for BR at its Bricklayers Arms depot in South London from 1947 to 1956.

"It fires just like a King Arthur - it's a lovely engine," said Mike, 66, who has written two books about life on the footplate - 30 Years at Bricklayers Arms and Engineman SR.

"It's an easy steamer and it's comfortable. I can't really say there's anything wrong with her," added Mike who worked on King Arthur, West Country, School, GWR, War Department Austerity and Brighton Atlantic steam locomotives to mention a few.