swanage launches wareham services

The first timetabled public passenger services from Swanage to Wareham for 45 years commenced on June 13. The trains mark the start of a 60-day trial period in which a limited number of diesel-hauled services will run between the Swanage Railway terminus and the branch line’s main line connection. It is planned to have a second trial period next year, extended to 90 days. These were the first public passenger trains over the entire branch line since services were suspended on January 3 1972. The railway had hoped to use the its own three-coach Class 117 DMUs and Class 121 ‘Bubble Car’, but delays in upgrading the vehicles’ wheelsets to main line standards mean that the services will instead be operated by West Coast Railways, with trains top-and-tailed by the main line operator’s Class 33 and 37 diesels.