In association with
CHARITY PAGES
This month’s charity:
Keeping The Days Of Steam Alive The Swanage Railway
The 80104 Corfe Castle on Thursday 25 March 2021 Image: © Andrew PM Wright
The Coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on the Swanage Railway and, like many businesses, it was forced to suspend all of its services a year ago when the first lockdown came into effect. Following Government requirements to keep the public safe, we were subsequently able to operate some services during the peak of last summer and in to the autumn, although social distancing regulations significantly reduced capacity on trains. December 2020 saw the
introduction of a new attraction to the Swanage Railway and the Isle of Purbeck - a Covid-safe train of steam and lights which was extremely popular. So popular that it is planned to offer these festive trains again in December 2021. Following Government guidelines to keep the public safe, the fund-raising gift shop at Swanage station remained open while the steam trains were running but, sadly, it has been closed since the end of December. Income was very badly affected by the Covid pandemic and had it not been for a successful Save Our Service appeal for donations, support arising from the Government’s Job Retention Scheme and a fund-raising team that successfully bid for a
number of grants, the picture could have been very different. It had been hoped to resume services between Swanage and Wareham in 2020 but this was not possible and, indeed, this is unlikely to be possible until 2022. Despite the on-going difficulties of living with coronavirus – and following Government requirements and guidelines to keep people safe – volunteers and other staff have not been idle during the winter and have been carrying out essential maintenance work; work that can’t be carried out when trains are running. Major repairs were undertaken at the New Barn bridge – two miles from Swanage – which involved repairs to the structure and the track. The Swanage
