PHOTO REPORT - LAST SIGNALMAN & PASSENGERS FROM 1972 MARK 40th ANNIVERSARY OF FINAL BR TRAIN FROM SWANAGE - 1st January 2012

News Item from Andrew P.M. Wright - dated 3rd January 2012
Official photographer & press officer, Swanage Railway.
Photographs are copyright as noted
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Bob Richards (left) with Frederick & Peter Sills at Corfe Castle on 1st January 2012. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.

The man who signalled the last British Rail train from Swanage to Corfe Castle and Wareham on New Year's Day, 1972 - as well as some of its passengers - have gathered on the Swanage Railway to mark the 40th anniversary, to the day, of that historic but very sad occasion.

Bob Richards (left) with Peter Sills at Corfe Castle on 1st January 2012. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.

At Corfe Castle station, retired Network Rail signalman Bob Richards was also re-united with two pieces of signalling equipment that he last used - and saw - on Saturday, 1 January, 1972, while the last British Rail train passengers brought along printed copies of their tickets from 40 years ago.

Despite high winds and heavy rain, the poignant reunion of Bob Richards from Corfe Castle with 1972 last train passengers Peter Sills and his father Frederick Sills from Wareham as well as Malcolm Munro from Wool - took place on the Swanage Railway on Sunday, 1 January, 2012.

Bryan Trent (left) & Malcolm Munro (right) at Swanage on 1st January 2012. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.

The group was also joined by last train passenger Bryan Trent, from Parkstone in Poole, who turned up on Swanage station platform with his 1972 British Rail train ticket to watch the first steam train of the day carry a special commemorative headboard designed and produced by Malcolm Munro.

Ex-British Railways Standard Class 4 Tank steam locomotive No. 80104 carrying the commemorative headboard at Corfe Castle 1st January 2012. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.

At Swanage, Peter and Frederick Sills - as well as Malcolm Munro - boarded the steam train for a nostalgic trip to Corfe Castle to mark the sad trip they made from Swanage station on the night of Saturday, 1 January, 1972, when the last British Rail train left Swanage for Corfe Castle and Wareham.

For those who have forgotten - or who were not alive at the time - 1972 was the year of Conservative Prime Minister Edward 'Ted' Heath, the national Miners' strike, power cuts and the Munich Olympics in West Germany.

Exactly 40 years to the day since that last sad train trip, Peter and Frederick Sills - as well as Malcolm Munro - were welcomed at Corfe Castle station by Bob Richards who was reunited with two pieces of signalling equipment that he last used, and saw, at Corfe Castle station on New Year's Day, 1972.

Frederick (left) & Peter Sills on board the train at Swanage 1st January 2012. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.

The first piece of signalling equipment from 1972 was a single line staff - an inscribed section of steel tube with a metal ring in the end - used to allow a train on the line between Swanage and Corfe Castle. The single line staff was used from the summer of 1967 when the signalling at Swanage station was taken out of use and dismantled.

The second piece of signalling equipment from 1972 was an inscribed Tyer's electric key token made of steel which was the authority for a train to run on the single line between Corfe Castle and Worgret Junction near Wareham.

Frederick (left) & Peter Sills at Swanage on 1st January 2012. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.

Peter Sills - also the volunteer chairman of the Swanage Railway Company - brought along a photograph of Bob Richards using the same staff and key token to signal a British Rail train at Corfe Castle in late December, 1971.

A delighted Bob said: "It was great to hold the staff and key token again after 40 years. The British Rail signalling system at Corfe Castle back in 1972 was a traditional Edwardian manual system but it worked very well."

Malcolm Munro with the commemorative headboard at Swanage on 1st January 2012. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.

Peter Sills added: "I remember Bob because I rode on the trains between Wareham, Corfe Castle and Swanage as a child and so I knew the staff very well. The people who operated the branch line were like a large family and it was very sad indeed when the railway closed after a period of decline."

Bob Richards (right) with Peter Sills, and Bob Richards at Corfe Castle Christmas Eve 1971 (Tony Trood via Andrew P.M. Wright)

Malcolm Munro remarked: "I was 16 years old in 1972 and had to pay the adult fare of 50 pence for a special commemorative ticket to ride on that last British Rail train from Swanage to Wareham. It was a very sad occasion and after the railway was demolished, nobody thought it would ever come back."

Malcolm Munro with the commemorative ticket from 40 years previously at Swanage on 1st January 2012. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.

Because there was no winter British Rail train service on Sundays, the ten-mile branch line formally closed at 7.08am on Monday, 3 January, 1972 - the time that the first train of the day from Wareham would have left the main London line at Worgret Junction heading for Corfe Castle and Swanage.

Ex-British Railways Standard Class 4 Tank steam locomotive No. 80104 carrying the commemorative headboard at Swanage on 1st January 2012. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.

The Swanage Railway train service on New Year's Day, 2012, was hauled by ex-British Railways Standard Class 4 Tank steam locomotive No. 80104 built at Brighton in 1955 and restored from a scrapyard condition by Southern Locomotives Limited during the 1990s.

80104's morning crew on 1st January 2012 was driver Roger Stewart-Hindley and fireman Liam Trott. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.

The loco crews for New Year's Day 2012 were driver Roger Stewart-Hindley and fireman Liam Trott in the morning and driver Richard Winslade and fireman Gary Cox in the afternoon. The cleaners were Ashley Haines and Nathan Au.

80104's afternoon crew on 1st January 2012 - driver Richard Winslade and fireman Gary Cox, and with them are morning cleaners Ashley Haines and Nathan Au. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.

The train guard for the day was Dave Norton - who himself was a passenger on that last British Rail train from Swanage back in January 1972 - while the Swanage signalman was Iain Robinson and the Corfe Castle signalman was Clive Morris.

Close-ups of the signalling staff used on 1st January 1972. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.

Bob Richards outside the old Corfe box with two pictures of him in the box in late December 1971 and on the last day with Arthur Galton on 1 January 1972. Bob also is seen with the old BR Tyer's electric key token for Worgret Junction to Corfe Castle. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.

Bryan Trent with his 1972 last BR train ticket on 1st January 2012. Photo Andrew P.M. Wright.