Swanage Railway = 40 Years of Galas and Special events

The much-loved Swanage branch

began services along a short stretch of track alongside King George’s playing fields in 1979. This followed the formation of the Southern Steam Trust soon after BR closed the branch in 1972. With all the track dismantled, volunteers rebuilt the branch initially to a new halt at Herston and then to a new station at Harmans Cross in 1988. Final goal of operating to Corfe Castle was achieved in 1995 with further progress along the still-surviving line to Furzebrook. This programme examines the large number of steam locomotives to operate since those early days right through to recent times.

Through our archive films, we see the early engines hired-in to run passenger serv­ices such as LMS Nos. 41708 and 47383. Then engines from various other

heritage railways who assisted Swanage develop in the early days – Nunlow, Bellerophen, Whiston,

GW 7752 and many more. From the early 1990s we see film of Southern types such as Nos. M7 30053, T9 30120,

Bulleid WC 34072, and the famous duo with 34105 Swanage in 1992.

This programme is full of footage covering the galas and special events over the past 40 years including many charter train arrivals since 2009, visits by Flying Scotsman and Tornado and others too many to mention here!

FULL DETAILS ON INFO SHEET INSIDE!

2 hours 30 minutes duration