LOCOMOTIVES READY FOR THE 40th ANNIVERSARY END OF SOUTHERN STEAM CELEBRATIONS - 5th July 2007
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News Item and Press Release from Andrew P.M. Wright - dated 5th 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 photos of over 90 photos of the arrival of BR Caprotti-valve gear fitted Standard Class 5 4-6-0 No. 73129 on Thursday 5th July, please scroll to the bottom of the page.

By Andrew P.M. Wright

The cast is assembled for one of the Swanage Railway's biggest and best productions ever - and the weather forecast is looking good as well!

The exciting three-day 40th anniversary end of Southern steam event explodes into life on the relaid Purbeck Line on Saturday, 7th July, and continues to the end of Monday 9th July, 2007.

A lot of work has gone into the preparation for this event which will see seven steam locomotives operating an intensive train service between Norden park and ride, Corfe Castle, Harman's Cross, Herston and Swanage.

Four of the main line steam locomotives will be visitors – three being new to the Purbeck Line and one being an old friend.

Unrebuilt ‘Battle of Britain’ class Bulleid Pacific No. 34081 ’92 Squadron’ arrived by road at the Norden road/rail interchange from the North Norfolk Railway on Wednesday, 4th July, 2007.

After the last passenger train of the day, Class 33 diesel-electric No. D6515 ‘Stan Symes’ was dispatched from Swanage to collect the new arrival.

Just after 8pm that evening, the Class 33 – driven by Swanage Railway operations manager Steve Dyer – towed the Bulleid down to Swanage where it took up residence in the headshunt.

The signalman at Corfe Castle was Martin Trott while the signalman at Swanage was general manager Nick Brown.

At Norden, the James Bond ‘Goldeneye’ Class 20 diesel-electric shunter built in 1967, and driven by Ron Roberts, was employed to shunt and connect the Bulleid with its tender – and also marshal the tender from BR Caprotti-valve gear fitted Standard Class 5 4-6-0 No. 73129 which had arrived at Norden the same day.

On the morning of the following day, Thursday, 5th July, 2007, No. 73129 arrived at Norden from the Midland Railway Centre.

Again, the Class 20 driven by Ron Roberts was used to shunt the locomotive and also load GWR Collett 0-6-2 tank locomotive No. 6695 – which is visiting the North Norfolk Railway – on to a road transporter.

The dead Class 5 locomotive was towed to Swanage by the Class 33 diesel locomotive which was dispatched from Swanage and driven by Pete Frost. With No. 73129 in tow, the Class 33 left Norden station at around 10am and passed the 9.50am ‘up’ train from Swanage at Corfe Castle.

Later that same morning, the USA ‘Yankee Tank’ look-alike 0-6-0 locomotive No. 30075 arrived from Cranmore on the East Somerset Railway. Many people will remember the Eastern European rescued locomotive running at Swanage from the early to the late 1990s.

On Monday, 2nd July, 2007, the other visiting locomotive for the 40th anniversary of the end of Southern steam celebrations – Ian Riley’s BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0 tender locomotive No. 76079 based on the East Lancashire Railway – arrived at Swanage by rail.

In doing so, No. 76079 was the first steam locomotive to run between Wareham, Corfe Castle and Swanage since Sunday, 18th June, 1967, and the first Standard Class 4 2-6-0 tender locomotive to do that since Sunday, 7th May, 1967.

Also appearing with the four guest steam locomotives for the special end of Southern steam event will Swanage Railway’s resident locomotives – 1897-designed LSWR M7 tank No. 30053 built at Nine Elms in London in 1905 and BR Standard Class 4 Tanks No. 80078 and No. 80104 both built at Brighton in 1954 and 1955 respectively.

The signalman at Corfe Castle was Iain Robinson while the signalman at Swanage was John Smith.

On the Friday and the Saturday, the evening train service from Swanage to Norden park and ride will be operated using some of the visiting locomotives. Bar facilities will be available on all evening trains.

On the Saturday and Sunday, it is planned that the railway’s peak 40-minute timetable will be supplemented by additional trains throughout the day – providing a similar timetable to that recently operated for the Beer Festival in May, 2007.

On Monday, 9th July, 2007 – the actual end of BR southern steam anniversary – the Swanage Railway will be operating a 40 minute frequency train service throughout the day. For this, it is planned to use M7 No. 30053, Bulleid Pacific No. 34081, Class 5 4-6-0 No. 73129 and Class 4 2-6-0 No. 76079.

The chess pieces are already in place on the board! It should be one hell of a game!

One-day rover tickets for unlimited day and evening travel are £15 for adults with concessions £10 while evening rover tickets for unlimited travel after 5pm are £4 for adults and £3 for concessions.

Full visitor information for the 40th Anniversary event 7th-9th July 2007, click here

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To visit the other pages featuring Andrew P.M. Wright's photos of the loco movements on 4th 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.

All photographs are copyright Andrew P.M. Wright unless otherwise acknowledged.
Photos on these pages are low resolution versions.
Full resolution photos are available for media use

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Last updated 5th July 2007 by Keith Morgan.
© Swanage Railway