Can heritage railways give us main line services?
There has been much talk of heritage railways providing rail services.
As Professor Paul Salveson suggests (Analysis, RAIL 964), there is certainly a place for private/ volunteer-run ‘extras’ such as station food shops and travel agencies, or for railway tickets to be sold through external local businesses such as shops and Post Offices.
But I have to conclude that the concept of volunteers providing ‘useful’ rail services is a total failure.
Most heritage projects were launched on bold visions of locals being served by volunteer-run trains, with through tickets, early and late running, and all the other benefits of the fully integrated railway. How many of these magical trains have we seen?
Swanage is a case in point. Like most heritage railways, it is doing good business providing leisure rides for tourists visiting the Isle of
Purbeck, and to some extent providing a park-and-ride connection from the Norden car park near Corfe Castle to the towns of Corfe and Swanage, which are short of parking.
A great deal of public money was spent bringing the disused line from Norden to Wareham up to standard and integrating the heritage and national signalling systems. But apart from some through trains provided by South Western Railway, and a handful of visiting enthusiast trains, there has been little else.
The excuses are many and varied, from special wheel-sets being made overseas (why?) to ‘uncertainty’ following COVID.
Will we see any trains in 2023? I very much doubt it. And if trains do run, they will likely be mindnumbingly slow, tickets will be at expensive ‘tourist’ rates with no through booking, and they will run from 1100-1600 July and August only.
I experienced the British Rail-run Swanage branch line several times, and I travelled on the last train in 1972. It always seemed odd (to one child at least) that a train taking 20 minutes for ten miles should be replaced with a bus taking 45 minutes that (still) doesn’t connect well with main line services or provide through tickets.
I was a child when the excellent nationally operated services were withdrawn. I’m an old man now and sadly reconciled to the fact that I will never see anything of the kind again.
Swanage Railway: prove me wrong!