Swanage Railway
| Swanage Railway | |
|---|---|
| The Purbeck Line | |
 |
|
| 56XX Tank No.6695 on the Swanage Railway viewed from Corfe Castle | |
| Terminus |
Norden Swanage |
| Commercial operations | |
| Built by | Swanage Railway Company |
| Original gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Preserved operations | |
| Stations | 5 |
| Length | 6 miles (9.7 km) |
| Preserved gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Commercial history | |
| Opened | 20 May 1885 |
| Closed | 1 January 1972 |
| Preservation history | |
| 1979 | Line re-opened at/alongside King George's playing fields |
| 1980 | Steam returns to the Swanage Line, officially |
| 1982 | Swanage station re-opens officially |
| 1984 | Herston Halt opens to the public |
| 1988 | Swanage Line extends to Harman's Cross |
| 1989 | Harman's Cross opened officially |
| 1993 | Corfe Castle and Norden Park and Ride extension completed |
| 2009 | Swanage Line sees first public through passenger service between London Victoria via Wareham and Swanage since closure |
| 2014 | Lease signed for entire line from Swanage to Worgret Junction |
| Headquarters | Swanage |
The Swanage Railway is a railway branch line from near Wareham, Dorset to Swanage, Dorset, England, opened in 1885 and now operated as a heritage railway.
The independent company which built it was amalgamated with the larger London and South Western Railway in 1886. The passenger service was withdrawn in 1972, leaving a residual freight service over part of the line handling mineral traffic.
After the passenger closure, a heritage railway group revived part of the line; it too used the name Swanage Railway and now operates a 6-mile (9.7 km) line which follows the route of the former line from Norden, via Corfe Castle, Harman's Cross and Herston Halt to Swanage.
The Isle of Purbeck had extensive quarrying and ball clay activities before Victorian times; some of the clay was processed locally, but much of the mineral output was transported away for use elsewhere. Movement of heavy minerals was chiefly by coastal shipping, and in some cases simple tramways were built for movement within the quarries and to the various loading points situated within the natural Poole Harbour.
The Southampton and Dorchester Railway opened its main line through Wareham in 1847; it was worked by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), and amalgamated with the LSWR in 1848. The new line gave the area a through railway connection to London, but it did not come close enough to influence the mineral traffic, which for the time being was mostly conveyed by coastal shipping, as before.
The building of the main line railway through Wareham encouraged several schemes to connect Swanage or the mineral workings in Purbeck, but they failed to gain the support they needed.
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Wikipedia