Swanage railway station

Swanage
Swanage
Station on heritage railway
	Swanage station
General information
Location	Swanage, Purbeck ; England
Coordinates	50°36′37″N1°57′41″W / 50.61020°N 1.96145°W Coordinates: 50°36′37″N1°57′41″W / 50.61020°N 1.96145°W
Grid reference	SZ029789
Platforms	2
History
Original company	Swanage Railway
Key dates
1885	Opened
1972	Closed by British Rail
1982	Reopened by Swanage Railway

Last updated March 18, 2023

Swanage railway station is a railway station located in Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. Originally the terminus of a London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) branch line from Wareham, the line and station were closed by British Rail in 1972. It has since reopened as a station on the Swanage Railway, a heritage railway that currently runs from Norden station just north of Corfe Castle to Swanage station. It now also runs to Wareham on certain services, but not on regular services due to signalling problems.

History

Swanage lies at the tip of the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula bordered by the English Channel to the south, and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the north and east. Since the 12th century, the area around Swanage has been well known for the Purbeck Marble that was mined locally and shipped out by sea. The presence of this industry, together with the Purbeck Ball Clay works in the area to the north, attracted railway promoters once the L&SWR main line reached Wareham in 1847. Several schemes were promoted and failed, but eventually the Swanage Railway received its Act in 1881 and opened on 20 May 1885.^[1]

Swanage station was constructed with two platform tracks, on either side of a single passenger platform. The longer of these tracks had a run round loop, and was flanked by a station building built in the grey Purbeck stone. A single track goods shed provided facilities for general merchandise, and a turntable, coaling stage and single track locomotive shed were provided for use by the steam locomotives that operated the line. In order to handle the anticipated volumes of stone traffic, a four track goods yard was constructed. One of the lines in the goods yard was extended as a tramway running in a narrow alley behind Station Road to a stone store near the waterfront. This tramway should not be confused with the earlier Swanage Pier Tramway that linked nearby stone stores to a pier in Swanage Bay.^[1]

Towards the end of the 19th century, Swanage started to develop as a tourist resort. Through coaches and through trains were operated to Swanage from both London and from the industrial towns of the Midlands and North of England. To accommodate this traffic, the station was extensively altered in 1937, with extensions to the station buildings using matching materials and in a design blending well with the 1885 original. The new facilities provided a parcels office, ticket office, a waiting hall, a newsagents shop, and an extended goods shed. However the use of lorries to transport the ball clay, Purbeck stone, and Portland stone, and the increase in private car ownership in the second half of the 20th century eventually made the line unprofitable. Closure was first proposed in 1967, and despite local opposition the line finally closed on 3 January 1972.^[1]^[2] During the final few years of the line's operation under British Rail, passenger train services were operated by two-car Class 205 diesel electric multiple units (also known as type 2H).

After closure, a strong campaign was waged to allow the railway to reopen both as an independent community railway linking with the main line at Wareham and as a steam locomotive operated heritage railway. The Swanage Railway ran its first train in August 1979 from a temporary platform under Northbrook Road bridge up to the council yard. It began operating a steam service at the Swanage end of the line in 1982. The passenger station, goods shed and locomotive facilities have been restored to their 1937 configuration, although the goods yard is now the site of a supermarket.^[1]

Future

Water Tower Project

Swanage Railway recovered a stone based LSWR Water tower from Salisbury and are currently relocating the tower to the South East side of Northbrook Road Bridge. They will also install a spring water extraction system as this will save money in the long-term. The railway is currently dependent upon mains water which damages the boilers of the steam locomotives.^[3]

National Rail services

In 2020, it was announced that the government would provide funding for a feasibility study into reinstating regular passenger services between Wareham and Swanage.^[4]

Services

Services run every day from the beginning of April to late October, with weekend only operation in March, November and December. The level of service varies from 6 to 17 trains a day in each direction, depending the season and the day of the week. Northbound, trains operate to stations at Herston (trains stop only on request), Harman's Cross (10 mins), Corfe Castle (20 mins), and Norden (23 mins) also to Wareham on certain services, but not regular service because of signalling issues.^[5] Regular summer services to Wareham are planned for 2023.^[6]

Preceding station	Heritage railways			Following station
Herston Halt		Swanage Railway		Terminus

Facilities

Station Kiosk (in booking hall) – Open daily.
Railway Shop – Selling railway books and paraphernalia, open daily.
Bus Station – Two bus stops where all of Swanage's bus services terminate.

Related Research Articles

Corfe Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is the site of a ruined castle of the same name. The village and castle stand over a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The village lies in the gap below the castle and is around four miles (6.4 km) south-east of Wareham, and four miles (6.4 km) north-northwest of Swanage. Both the main A351 road from Lytchett Minster to Swanage and the Swanage Railway thread their way through the gap and the village.

Swanage is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately 6+1⁄4 miles (10 km) south of Poole and 25 miles (40 km) east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 9,601. Nearby are Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks, with Studland Bay and Poole Harbour to the north. Within the parish are Durlston Bay and Durlston Country Park to the south of the town. The parish also includes the areas of Herston, just to the west of the town, and Durlston, just to the south.

The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the north. Its western boundary is less well defined, with some medieval sources placing it at Flower's Barrow above Worbarrow Bay. John Hutchins, author of The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, defined Purbeck's western boundary as the Luckford Lake steam, which runs south from the Frome. According to writer and broadcaster Ralph Wightman, Purbeck "is only an island if you accept the barren heaths between Arish Mell and Wareham as cutting off this corner of Dorset as effectively as the sea." The most southerly point is St Alban's Head.

The Swanage Railway is a railway branch line from near Wareham, Dorset to Swanage, Dorset, England, opened in 1885 and now operated as a heritage railway.

Ipswich railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line in the East of England, serving the town of Ipswich, Suffolk. It is 68 miles 59 chains (110.6 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and, on the main line, it is situated between Manningtree to the south and Needham Market to the north.

Bridgwater railway station serves Bridgwater in Somerset, England. It is on the Bristol to Taunton Line and is operated by Great Western Railway. It is 151 miles 47 chains from the zero point at London Paddington via Box.

Wareham railway station serves the town of Wareham in Dorset, England. It is situated about 0.6 miles (1 km) north of the town centre. It is 120 miles 70 chains (194.5 km) down the line from London Waterloo. On tickets it is printed "Wareham Dorset" to avoid confusion with Ware railway station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herston Halt railway station</span>

Herston Halt railway station is a railway station located at Herston near Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. It is an intermediate station on the Swanage Railway, a heritage railway that currently operates from Swanage to Norden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harman's Cross railway station</span>

Harman's Cross railway station is a railway station located in the village of Harman's Cross, on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. It is an intermediate station on the Swanage Railway, a heritage railway that currently operates from Swanage to Norden.

Corfe Castle railway station is a railway station located in the village of Corfe Castle, in the English county of Dorset. Originally an intermediate station on the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) branch line from Wareham to Swanage, the line and station were closed by British Rail in 1972. It has since reopened as a station on the Swanage Railway, a heritage railway that runs from Norden station just north of Corfe Castle to Swanage station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norden railway station (England)</span> Railway station in Dorset, England

Norden railway station is a railway station located one mile to the north of the village of Corfe Castle, on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. It is situated on the Swanage Railway, a heritage railway that operates over the former London and South Western Railway line from Wareham to Swanage. Norden is the northern terminus of the railway's steam service from Swanage, and an intermediate stop on the railway's diesel hauled service that connects Swanage with the national rail network at Wareham station.

Harman's Cross is a small village on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A351 road between Swanage and Corfe Castle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Furzebrook Railway</span>

The Furzebrook Railway, also known as the Pike Brothers' Tramway, was a narrow gauge industrial railway on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. It was built by the Pike Brothers, to take Purbeck Ball Clay from their clay pits near Furzebrook and West Creech to a wharf at Ridge on the River Frome.

The Middlebere Plateway, or Middlebere Tramway, was a horse-drawn plateway on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. One of the first railways in southern England and the first in Dorset, the plateway was built by Benjamin Fayle, who was a wealthy Irish Merchant based in London and a friend of Thomas Byerley - Josiah Wedgwood's nephew. It was intended to take Purbeck Ball Clay from his pits near Corfe Castle to a wharf on Middlebere Creek in Poole Harbour, a distance of some 3.5 miles (5.6 km).

Purbeck Ball Clay is a concentration of ball clay found on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset.

The Paisley and Barrhead District Railway was a railway in Scotland that ran between the towns of Paisley and Barrhead. It was intended to serve industrial premises and develop local passenger and goods business.

Patiala State Monorail Trainways (PSMT) was a unique rail-guided, partially road-borne railway system running in Patiala from 1907 to 1927. PSMT was the second monorail system in India, after the Kundala Valley Railway, near Munnar in Kerala, and the only operational locomotive-hauled railway system built using the Ewing System in the world. The Kundala Valley Railway pre-dated this, also using the Ewing system between 1902 and 1908, although this only used bullocks for haulage. Following the conversion of the Kundala Valley Railway from a monorail to a narrow gauge railway in 1908, PSMT was the only monorail system in India until its closure in 1927. These were the only instances of a monorail train system in India, until the Mumbai Monorail was opened on 2 February 2014.

The Cambridge Branch is a rural railway line in the Waikato, New Zealand. The line stretchs from Ruakura Junction for 15.08 km to the settlement of Hautapu, having previously continued another 4.19km to the township of Cambridge. It had five stations along its length, at Newstead, Matangi (Tamahere), Bruntwood (Fencourt), Hautapu and the terminus at Cambridge.

The Purbeck Mining Museum exists to preserve and interpret the historic extractive industries in ball clay mining in the Isle of Purbeck. The museum is located adjacent to Norden station on the Swanage Railway and is open from the end of March to the end of September on weekends, some weekdays and Bank Holidays.

Aramac Tramway Museum is a heritage-listed former tramway station and now a museum at Boundary Street, Aramac, Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1912 to 1913. It is also known as Aramac Tramway Station. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 26 November 1999.

References

1 2 3 4 Kidner, R.W. (2000). The Railways of Purbeck (Third ed.). The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-557-8.
↑ "A brief history of the Swanage Railway". Swanage Railway. Archived from the original on 24 July 2007. Retrieved 18 August 2007.
↑ "Water Tower Project". Archived from the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
↑ National Infrastructure Strategy National Infrastructure Strategy p.41
↑ "2008 Timetable" (PDF). Swanage Railway. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 6 March 2008.
↑ "Major delay as rail service between Swanage and Wareham postponed". Swanage News. 18 March 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2022.

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[trop-1] 1 2 3 4 Kidner, R.W. (2000). The Railways of Purbeck (Third ed.). The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-557-8.

[srabh-2] "A brief history of the Swanage Railway". Swanage Railway. Archived from the original on 24 July 2007. Retrieved 18 August 2007.

[3] "Water Tower Project". Archived from the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.

[NIC-4] National Infrastructure Strategy National Infrastructure Strategy p.41

[srtt-5] "2008 Timetable" (PDF). Swanage Railway. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 6 March 2008.

[6] "Major delay as rail service between Swanage and Wareham postponed". Swanage News. 18 March 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2022.

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