SWANAGE RAILWAY VOLUNTEERS TO STAGE A FUND-RAISING BRANCH LINE WEEKEND TAKING PURBECK BACK TO THE 1960s
- Saturday 31st March and Sunday 1st April 2007

Press release from Andrew P.M. Wright - dated 26th March 2007
Official photographer & press officer, Swanage Railway.
Photographs are copyright Andrew P.M. Wright. To view a larger version of any photograph on this page, just click on the thumbnail photograph and subsequently use the Back button on your browser to return to this page. Photos on these pages are low resolution versions. Full resolution photos are available for media use.

Dedicated Swanage Railway volunteers are to stage their annual fund-raising Branch Line Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, 31 March and 1 April 2007 – evocatively taking the Isle of Purbeck back to the ‘Swinging 1960s’.

And among the locomotives hauling the special trains will be ex-BR Class 33 diesel-electric locomotive D6515 ‘Stan Symes’ that hauled the last train from Poole to Wimborne in May, 1977, before that line was closed and lifted.

Class 33 diesel loco D6515 'Stan Symes' at Harmans Cross on 10th March 2007

The nostalgic yesteryear event – which includes a display or classic cars and motorcycles at Corfe Castle stations – will see steam and diesel trains running between Swanage, Harman’s Cross, Corfe Castle and Norden park and ride.

There will be passenger trains, goods trains and even evening trains with bar and dining facilities.

Swanage Railway General Manager Nick Brown explained: “The special weekend will be taking visitors on a trip back in time to the heyday of the southern branch line in the 1950s and 1960s before Dr Beeching wielded his infamous axe and closed many of the railway routes.

“The Branch Line Weekend will feature unusual train workings every 40 minutes – with unusual locomotive permutations – that would have been seen on the Swanage Railway when it was run by British Rail before the line was controversially closed and the tracks lifted in 1972,” explained Nick.

Proceeds from the Branch Line Weekend will be going to the further expansion and development of the award-winning Swanage Railway which started from nothing at a disused Swanage station in 1976.

The steam locomotives hauling the special trains during the Branch Line Weekend will be the Swanage Railway’s two ex-BR Standard Class 4 Tanks No. 80078 and No. 80104 built at Brighton in 1954 and 1955 respectively.

Class 33 diesel loco D6515 'Stan Symes' waits in the sidings at Harmans Cross on 10th March while being passed the service train - hauled by ex-BR Standard Class 4 Tank No. 80104 built at Brighton in 1955. Also working on 10th March were the two-coach driver experience trains hauled by fellow ex-BR Standard Class 4 Tank No. 80078 built at Brighton in 1954.

The Standard Class 4 Tanks ran the branch line service between Wareham, Corfe Castle and Swanage between 1964 and 1966 when the trains were formed of three-coach ‘Hampshire’ class diesel-electrical multiple units.

Also hauling the Branch Line Weekend trains will be the Swanage Railway’s ex-Great Western Railway 0-6-2 wheel arrangement ‘Taffy Tank’ No. 6695 built by Armstrong Whitworth at Newcastle in 1928.

The diesel locomotives running between Swanage and Norden park and ride during the Branch Line Weekend will be early 1960s Birmingham-built ex-BR Class 33 diesel-electric locomotive D6515 ‘Stan Symes’.

The Class 33s locomotives ran down to Swanage between 1963 and the end of the branch line in 1972 hauling trains from Bournemouth, Southampton and London.

The other diesel locomotive helping to haul the special Branch Line Weekend service will be the ex-BR Class 20 D8188 engine that starred in the 1995 James Bond film Goldeneye.

In a distinctive black livery and built in Manchester in early 1967, D8188 has the same engine design and sound as the ‘Hampshire’ Class diesel-electric multiple units that ran the passenger train service for British Rail between Wareham, Corfe Castle and Swanage from 1966 until the end in 1972.

Special event tickets for unlimited train travel on the day of issue are £11 for adults, £8 for children aged five to 15 years and OAPs, children under five are free, and family tickets (two adults and up to three children) are £30.

Special two-day rover tickets for unlimited travel during the Branch Line Weekend are available – in advance only – at £20 for adults and £15 for children and OAPs. Details from the Swanage Railway on 01929 425800 or by following the link below.