Swanage Railway is working in partnership to bring the trial service to people making their way to the Isle of Purbeck with the Government’s Coastal Communities Fund, the Department for Transport, the former Purbeck District Council, Dorset Council, British Petroleum, Perenco, Network Rail and South Western Railway.

The project aims to encourage people to leave their cars at home and take a train to the heart of the Dorset peninsula.

The service will operate from April to September this year, with tickets available to buy via mainline operator South Western Railway enabling passengers to include travel for Corfe Castle and Swanage to mainline tickets.

The landmark trial will mark the first mainline ticketing facility for travel to Swanage in 51 years, since the last British Rail passenger service made its way between Wareham, Corfe Castle and Swanage on the 1st of January 1972, prior to the line’s controversial closure.

The well-loved heritage railway will also be using its restored and upgraded 1950s heritage diesel trains, which were originally used on the British Rail network up to the 1990s.

The trains will run the service, which is an eleven-mile journey, including one mile on Network Rail mainline from Worgret Junction to Wareham station.

The trail will be available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and will start on the 4th of April, continuing each week until the 10th of September.

The first train departure will be at 11.19am at Wareham and the last train will leave Swanage heading to Wareham at 4.20pm, which provides visitors a good four hours to enjoy Swanage and Corfe Castle. On special events days, the timetable will be subject to change.

Gavin Johns, the volunteer chairman of the Swanage Railway Trust, said:

“This trial train service is the result of working in partnership with the Government’s Coastal Communities Fund, the Department of Transport, the former Purbeck District Council, Dorset Council, British Petroleum, Perenco, Network Rail and South Western Railway.

“I would like to thank our valued stakeholders for their far-sighted investment of £5.5 million to re-connect Swanage and Corfe Castle with the main line at Wareham which included £1.8 million from the Government’s Coastal Communities Fund so we could restore and upgrade our 1950s heritage diesel trains for running on the main line directly into Wareham station,” added Gavin who is also a volunteer Swanage Railway signalman.

South Western Railway’s regional development manager, Andrew Ardley, said:

“SWR is proud to support the Swanage Railway by giving customers the ability to buy tickets through to Corfe Castle and Swanage from any one of the 189 stations on our network. This is a historic moment for the Swanage Railway and we look forward to seeing the results of this highly anticipated trial.”

The trains will be operated and staffed by West Coast Railways for Swanage Railway as one of the countries leading mainline charter and special train operators.

Four services will operate each day out of Wareham each day and will be made up of a three-carriage heritage Class 117 diesel multiple unit which can also have a one-carriage heritage Class 121 diesel multiple unit added when capacity requires, providing 292 seats.

Swanage Railway has used specialist contractors to restore and upgrade both of the heritage units and has seen the fitting of technical, signalling and safety equipment as fitted on all other trains operating on the national rail network.

Trevor Parsons – the volunteer chairman of the Swanage Railway Company, which operates trains for the Swanage Railway Trust, said:

“I would like to say a big thank you to our valued stakeholders for their invaluable help and patience with a complicated and detailed project that has been as ambitious as it has been challenging.

“This trial train service would not be possible without the former Purbeck District Council committing £3.2million from housing developers’ transport improvement contributions for re-signalling improvements between Wareham, Worgret Junction and the Swanage Railway as part of Network Rail’s Poole to Wool re-signalling scheme in 2013,”

Trevor is also a volunteer with Swanage Railway taking up the position of signalman and train guard alongside his duties as Swanage Railway Trust director.

Mike Whitwam, chairman of the Purbeck Community Rail Partnership said:

“This trial train service to Wareham marks an important opportunity to return to a fully-functioning and sustainable rail service that meets the needs of local communities, visitors and businesses.

“The trial service holds the prospect of Isle of Purbeck residents travelling anywhere possible by rail, leaving their cars at home and taking traffic off the congested A351 road,” added Mike who is a Swanage Railway Trust trustee and Swanage Town councillor.

Summer 2017 saw Swanage Railway operate a 60-selected day trial train service from Wareham using diesel locomotives and carriages which were hired in, operated and staffed by West Coast Railways. It was hoped that the summer of 2018 would see a 90-day trial undertaken. However, this was delayed and further planned trials were caught up in challenges created by the pandemic.

Tickets will be available to buy from Monday the 13th of March via Swanage Railways website.