FROM SALISBURY TO SWANAGE - THE FIRST STEAM LOCOMOTIVE RUNS IN FROM THE MAIN LINE SINCE 1967 - 2nd July 2007
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News Item and Press Release from Andrew P.M. Wright - dated 2nd July 2007
Official photographer & press officer, Swanage Railway.
Photographs are copyright Andrew P.M. Wright unless otherwise acknowledged.
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.

To see the full set of nearly 130 photos of No. 76079 arriving at the Swanage Railway on Monday 2nd July 2007, please scroll to the bottom of the page.

By Andrew P.M. Wright

A piece of long-awaited history has been made on the Swanage Railway's relaid Purbeck Line with the first steam locomotive running in off the national railway network - since Sunday, 18th June, 1967.

It was a strange feeling to watch BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0 tender locomotive No. 76079 slowly make its way along the half mile of track between Furzebrook and the start of the Swanage Railway at Motala - something I have been waiting for since I first walked the overgrown trackbed of the Swanage Railway back in 1980.

But, it was a wonderful and moving moment and one that I was truly privileged to experience.

No. 76079 also made another important piece of history on the afternoon of Monday, 2nd July, 2007, by being the first BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0 tender locomotive to run down to Swanage from the main line since Sunday, 7th May, 1967.

Known as the 'Pocket Rocket', the locomotive is owned by Riley & Son Ltd based on the East Lancashire Railway and is visiting the Swanage Railway to take part in its three days of celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the end of Southern steam in July, 1967.

Taking place on Saturday, Sunday and Monday - 7th to 9th July, 2007 - No. 76079 will be one of seven steam locomotives operating an intensive train service on the Swanage Railway across the three days.

The arrival of the BR Class 4 2-6-0 tender locomotive at Swanage sadly caught many enthusiasts out because it arrived at Wareham station some three hours early!

It had been booked to leave Salisbury station at just before 2.30pm but, in the end, the 2-6-0 steamed out of the cathedral city around 11.30am at the request of Network Rail.

The locomotive had arrived at Bournemouth station by 1.45pm where it was stabled in the middle sidings at the station - opposite the site of the MPD where so many of its long scrapped brothers were based - until it left for Wareham just after 2.30pm.

The driver on the trip from Salisbury to Swanage was Peter Roberts and the fireman was Geoff Bailey.

With signalman Paul Anken in Wareham signal box, No. 76079 pulled into the station just after 3pm where Alan Greatbatch of Network Rail and Swanage Railway operations manager Steve Dyer climbed aboard for the journey to Motala, just east of Furzebrook, and the connection between the national railway system and the Swanage Railway.

From Motala, the driver of No. 76079 was Swanage Railway operations manager Steve Dyer while the fireman was Andy Shaw who works for Riley & Son.

At Corfe Castle, No. 76079 passed another BR Standard class steam locomotive - a Class 4 Tank which was hauling the 4.30pm Swanage to Norden park and ride train. Truly a very special moment.

The honour of signalling the first steam locomotive to run to Corfe Castle and Swanage from Wareham since Sunday, 18th June, 1967, fell to Roger Pleasant who was on duty in Swanage signalbox and Mike Coomber at Corfe Castle.

The BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0 tender locomotives ran on the Swanage branch from the late 1950s through to 1967 - past the end of regular timetabled steam on the line.

Initially, they were used on through trains from Bournemouth - such as the workers' train - but, by the early 1960s, they started to appear on freight work to Corfe Castle and Swanage - including clay trains to Furzebrook and Norden - as the older freight locomotives were withdrawn.

But, the Standard Class 4 2-6-0s could also be seen on the occasional passenger trains where they helped out the Standard Class 4 Tanks and the Ivatt tanks between Wareham, Corfe Castle and Swanage.

It was a Class 4 2-6-0 - No. 76010 - that hauled the very last timetabled steam train between Swanage, Corfe Castle and Wareham on the evening of Sunday, 4th September, 1966. The driver was the legendary William 'Johnny' Walker from Bournemouth MPD and, from the following day, the branch service was in the hands of a 'Hampshire' class three-coach DEMU.

The very last Class 4 2-6-0 tender locomotive to run on the Swanage branch was No. 76026 on the wet morning of Sunday, 7th May, 1967.

That was when the locomotive was on the Wareham end of the 'Dorset Coast Express' while unrebuilt West Country class Bulleid Pacific No. 34023 'Blackmore Vale' did the honours at the Swanage end.

For the rail tour's second run from Wareham to Swanage on that Sunday in May, No. 76026 was replaced by BR Standard Class 4 Tank No. 80011 by which time the ran had stopped and the sun had come out - much to the delight of the many photographers that followed the special train.

The final BR steam train of all to run on the Purbeck branch line was on Sunday 18th June, 1967 - just after the end of the Arab-Israeli six day war - when the RCTS (Railway Correspondence and Travel Society) ran a rail tour down to Swanage.

On the front of the long train was rebuilt Battle of Britain class Bulleid Pacific No. 34089 '602 Squadron' - the last Bulleid to be overhauled at Eastleigh in September, 1966 - while BR Standard Class 4 Tank No. 80146 was on the Wareham end.

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To visit the other pages featuring Andrew P.M. Wright's photos of the arrival of BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0 tender locomotive No. 76079 on 2nd July 2007, please follow these links.
- To visit the second page of photos please click here.
- To visit the third page of photos please click here.
- To visit the fourth page of photos please click here.