ABELLIO SIGNALLING AWARD:
In January 1972, the branch to the popular seaside town of Swanage was controversially closed.
The heritage railway company set up a few years later has always aimed at restoring through regular running to Wareham, the junction station on the main Southern Railway line from Bournemouth through to Weymouth.
Over the next four decades trains got closer, and the Swanage Railway gained a strong reputation in the Awards for installing very competent signalling arrangements along the line.
BR and then Network Rail had retained a portion of the branch to serve the oil and clay terminals at Furzebrook. This was worked under One Train Working with Train Staff Regulations (and with a 20mph speed limit) as a goods line.
But while this was satisfactory for occasional workings from the Swanage Railway (and it instituted similar arrangements from Corfe Castle accordingly), it was not going to be convenient for regular passenger trains through, to or from Wareham… and indeed beyond.
So, the Swanage Railway used its own people to design and implement the Norden Token Block Signalling Scheme, to provide integration of the Swanage Railway signalling with Network Rail’s at Worgret Junction (the actual junction with the main line).
An expanding programme of through running has been achieved with wider opportunities planned, earning the Swanage Railway the Abellio Signalling Award for 2019. As befits a heritage railway the visible structures (signal cabin and token platforms), although new, mirror traditional Southern Railway style.