The Story of the Swanage Railway DVD – 2018 Update

Description

The Story of the Swanage Railway – The Updated Story 2018

A revised edition in 2018 of the Swanage Railway with all the developments with the main line connection and locomotives now on the railway including Nos. 30120, 31806, 80104 and all the visiting engines.

Fascinating archive films from the 1960s showing the M7 tanks on auto trains and the final services in 1972 with specials.

Full coverage of the trail service in 2017 to Wareham and much more.

This is the story of Dorset’s only preserved railway which opened in the 1880s and closed in the British Railways run-down period of the early 1970s.

Fortunately, the spirit of local people and enthusiasts alike decided not to let the wholesale track lifting of 1972 see the end of the Swanage line.

From that bleak period in 1972 came the Swanage Railway Trust who began the long and sometimes weary path to re-building the railway all the way back to Corfe Castle in 1995 and beyond to connect with the main line again in 2002.

We hear from a Trust member how the railway operated from the early years up to closure in 1972 and the great variety of locomotive’s used.

We have rare archive films from the 1950s on-wards showing the much lamented M7 class operating with push-pull carriages.

The films illustrate the operation all the way along the ten-mile branch line from Wareham, including the junction at Worgret.

Through these archive films and interviews, we hear of the re-building of the line in the late 1970s through to the 1990s, which required every piece of rail to be laid along the empty trackbed.

With the railway fully open to Corfe and the new station at Norden park and ride, the year 2002 witnessed the re-connecting of the branch with the main line at Motala which began the process of preparing the remaining three mile section to Worgret Junction.

We see all of this process up to 2018 when the main line connection greeted many steam railtours and the trial service train between Swanage and Wareham.

Approx. 120 minutes.

This dvd is being sold on behalf of and with full permission of the copyright owner – Kingfisher Productions.