DIESEL GALA & BEER FESTIVAL TO MAKE HISTORY WITH FOUR MAIN LINE LOCOMOTIVES VISITING FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE 1960s
11th, 12th & 13th May 2007

News Item and Press Release from Andrew P.M. Wright - dated 8th May 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.

History is to be made on the Swanage Railway when its dedicated volunteers stage a very special and historic beer festival and diesel gala – featuring four main line ex-BR diesel locomotives hauling trains on the relaid Purbeck Line for the first time since the 1960s.

The three-day beer festival and diesel gala takes place from Friday 11th to Sunday 13th May, 2007, with special permutations of diesel locomotives operating an intensive train service from 9am between Swanage, Harman’s Cross, Corfe Castle and the Norden park and ride station.

The focus of the fund-raising event – with proceeds going towards the development of the Swanage Railway – will be a large marquee offering more than 30 specialist beers in a field close to Harman’s Cross station.

More than 20 bottled and canned beers – as well as soft drinks, teas, coffees and snacks – will be available from buffet bars on the trains. Non-alcoholic refreshments, hot and cold food and snacks will be available in Harman’s Cross village hall next to the station and opposite the beer festival marquee.

A special intensive train service will be operating between Norden park and ride and Swanage every 20 minutes with trains passing at Harman’s Cross and Corfe Castle. On the Friday and Saturday evenings, the diesel trains will be operating until just before midnight.

The visiting ex-BR main line diesel locomotives will be two Class 73 electro-diesels built for the Bournemouth to London electrification scheme switched on in July, 1967 – No. 73 136 owned by the Class 73 Locomotive Preservation Group and No. 73 208 owned and operated by GB Railfreight.

They will be joined by ex-BR Class 52 No. D 1015 ‘Western Champion’, owned by the Diesel Traction Group and based on the Severn Valley Railway. It is also hoped that an ex-BR Class 47 diesel locomotive will be appearing.

The diesel gala and beer festival will also see another first not seen at Swanage and Corfe Castle since the BR days of 1971 – the running of a rare push-pull operated train using a preserved ex-BR 4VEP class four coach train dating from the mid-1960s and kindly provided by South West Trains.

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

As well as the visiting diesel locomotives, some of the trains will be hauled by two diesels based on the Swanage Railway – ex-BR Class 33 No. D6515 ‘Stan Symes’ and the James Bond 007 ‘Goldeneye’ Class 20 D8188 owned by the Somerset and Dorset Locomotive Company Ltd.

For those visitors who prefer steam to diesels, a small proportion of the beer festival and diesel gala trains will be hauled by one of the Swanage Railway’s ex-BR Standard Class 4 Tank steam locomotives.

In another piece of railway history, the four diesel locomotives – and the four carriage 4VEP train – are arriving at Swanage by rail via the Purbeck Line’s newly installed connection with the main Network Rail system between Corfe Castle and Furzebrook.

Swanage Railway General Manager, Nick Brown, explained: “It will be the first time that our new connection with the national railway system has been used for the delivery of locomotives and we would like to thank Network Rail and GB Railfreight for their help and co-operation.

“Previously, steam and diesel locomotives – as well as carriages and other rail-borne items – have had to be taken to the Swanage Railway by special low-loader road transporters which have delivered their locomotives to our road/rail interchange at Norden station,” he explained.

Special one, two and three-day rover tickets for unlimited train travel will be available, as will be normal return and single fares between stations.

One-day rover tickets are £11 for adults, concessions £8 and £30 for a family while two-day rovers are £20 for adults and concessions £15. Three-day rovers are £25 for adults and £20 for concessions.