THE Branch Line Society (BLS) has released details of a railtour that will help visitors get to the Swanage Railway diesel gala and also back home again when the event concludes.
The ‘Jurassic Crompton’ will help move Class 33 No. 33012 Lt Jenny Lewis RN – owned by the 71A Locomotive Group – to Swanage so it can participate in the gala weekend. Rolling stock will be a Class 438 4-TC set owned by London Underground, with GB Railfreight the train operator.
A one-way outbound ‘around the houses’ working is planned for May 11, starting at Eastleigh (11.12), then calling at Guildford, Reading, Southampton, Brockenhurst and Bournemouth (photo stop), with an estimated arrival in Swanage at 18.41. The fare is £65.15 (which is the loco’s BR number, D6515), and there’s no surcharge for non-BLS members, however, accompanied under-18s benefit from a £32.57 reduction.
To transport visitors after the gala and move the loco back to its Eastleigh Works base, the ‘Return of the Jurassic Crompton’ will operate on May 14, leaving Swanage at 15.15. There’ll be a set-down at Southampton before the train runs via Redbridge and the Laverstock Curve for another set-down at Andover, then Basingstoke before running through to London Waterloo. The loco and TC set then retraces its journey back to Southampton, where the train terminates.