Dorset‘s Swanage Railway’s annual Diesel Gala will feature nine classic diesel locomotives, helping to tell the story of the transition of Britain’s railways from steam to diesel in the 1960s.

During the gala, Purbeck Kitchens will run the beer festival at Corfe Castle station.

The Diesel Gala and Beer Festival is now in its seventeenth year, and last year also featured nine locomotives. Railway enthusiasts from across the country travel to the gala at Swanage Railway.

During the gala, an intensive three-train service will operate, with most trains running the entire nine miles of the Swanage Railway. The route takes passengers past Norden station and beyond Furzebrook to the River Frome, which is within sight of Wareham.

Featured locos

Seven of the locomotives will travel to the heritage line from the national railway network, among them Class 52 ‘Western’ No. D1015 ‘Western Champion’ , visiting for the first time since 2007.

This is the first time that a Class 52 ‘Western’ diesel-hydraulic locomotive has visited Swanage Railway since 2011. The full list of visitors, subject to availability, is

• Class 69 No. 69 007 ‘Richard Trevithick’ courtesy of GB Railfreight.
• Class 24 No. D5054 ‘Phil Southern’ courtesy of the East Lancashire Railway.
• Class 52 No. D1015 ‘Western Champion’ courtesy of the Diesel Traction Group.
• Class 37 No. 37 219 courtesy of Colas Rail.
• Class 20 No. 20 302 courtesy of the Harry Needle Railroad Company.
• Class 20 No. 20 311 courtesy of the Harry Needle Railroad Company.
• Class 50 No. 50 021 ‘Rodney’.

Another first will be a Class 69 diesel locomotive – rebuilt in the last ten years from a 1970s Class 56 diesel locomotive – hauling trains on the heritage line.

The event will also feature a nostalgic 1966 ‘push-pull’ 4TC four-carriage set, which London Transport is providing, and which operated between London and Swanage from 1967 until 1969.

It also ran on the main line between London and Weymouth from 1967 until 1988, when the Bournemouth-to-Weymouth line was electrified.

Swanage Railway-based Class 33 No. 33 111 will also be appearing. It hauled the last 4TC ‘push-pull’ carriage set to Corfe Castle in September 1971 on a Poole Grammar School railway society enthusiasts’ charter train .

Also based at Swanage Railway and featuring at the gala Class 33 diesel-electric No. D6515 ‘Lt Jenny Lewis RN’, which hauled the last train through Broadstone to Wimborne after British Rail closed the line to freight trains in May 1977.

Beer festival

The beer festival will include 34 local ales and seven ciders, and hot food will be available from midday until late during all three days of the event.

Admission to the beer festival, which takes place next to the Victorian goods shed at Corfe Castle station, will be free, and a token system will operate for buying drinks.

Jurassic journey to and from the gala

As like last year, pre-booked ‘Jurassic Crompton’ rail tours operated by the Branch Line Society and the main line train operating company GB Railfreight will carry passengers to the event.

The Friday ‘Jurassic Crompton’ will run from Eastleigh to Swanage via Guildford and London Waterloo, and the Sunday ‘Jurassic Crompton’ will return from Swanage to Eastleigh via London Waterloo. They will be hauled by ‘Lt Jenny Lewis RN’ and a GB Railfreight Class 69 diesel locomotive, .

The Class 33 diesel-electric locomotives were known as ‘Cromptons’ because their electrical equipment was manufactured by the Leeds-based Crompton Parkinson company.

Thursday preview

On Thursday 9 May, a special Diesel Gala and Beer Festival preview event will take place. It will feature diesel and steam trains running between Norden, Corfe Castle and Swanage, featuring Class 52 No. D1015 ‘Western Champion’ and Class 33 No. 33 111 operating in ‘push-pull’ mode for two round trips with the 1966 London Transport 4TC ‘push-pull’ carriage set.

The event also features evening ‘Beerex’ diesel trains on the Friday and Saturday. Class 50 No. 50 026 ‘Indomitable’ will haul on the Friday evening only – its only appearance at the event – with Class 24 No. D5054 hauling the trains on the Saturday evening.

More information

Information about the Diesel Gala and Beer Festival, including timetables and fares, is available from the Swanage Railway’s website. Tickets are available online at a reduced price.

“Class 52 No. D1015 ‘Western Champion’ is the first ‘Western’ locomotive to attend our Diesel Gala and Beer Festival since 2011 when Class 52 No. D1062 visited the Swanage Railway.

“No. D1015 ‘Western Champion’ last visited Swanage in 2007 when it was one of the first diesel locomotives to visit the Swanage Railway via its new connection with the national railway network. No. D1015 ‘Western Champion’ has recently returned to main line service following an extensive overhaul of its engines.

“Our annual diesel gala and beer festival is an important and popular event in the Swanage Railway calendar while there is an ever-growing national following for heritage diesel locomotives, particularly among younger rail enthusiasts.

“Over the past 17 years, our diesel gala and beer festival has grown in popularity to become one of the most highly regarded annual events of its type in the country.

“A lot of detailed organisation by a small team of enthusiastic Swanage Railway volunteers and staff goes into planning the diesel gala with planning beginning four or five months before the event.”

Event organising team member Dan Bennett, who lives in Wareham and has been a Swanage Railway volunteer since he was a teenager