Swanage Railway

The Swanage Railway is a highly successful 5 mile railway in Dorset running from the seaside at Swanage to a Park & Ride facility inland at Norden. The railway have aspirations to reopen the rest of their branch line to the national network connection at Wareham, which is already possible for occasional rail tours.

The line sees plenty of DMU running all year round. DMUs are used on both off peak services when steam isn’t viable and during busier times as a second train. During the summer they also operate Friday/Saturday night evening shuttles which run until 11pm.

Although briefly the home of a Class 100 set, the line mainly used Class 108 vehicles, initially acquiring two sets in the 1990’s (later reduced to one). From the mid 2000's, the 108 set was supported by several Class 117 and Class 121 vehicles.

In 2012, a Class 101 arrived as a source of spares for the fleet, and was eventually scrapped three years later.

In 2019, the railway (short of space) decided to sell on the Class 108 set and concentrate on the suburban vehicles, which were registered for use on Network Rail metals to work services to Wareham. The 2019/20 period also saw the railway'sClass 117 and Class 121 sets return from a very protracted and expensive overhaul programme to mainline standards at Eastleigh Works.

The level of traffic ensures that there is plenty of work for operating sets, and they can often be seen both in multiple and re-formed as maintenance dictates.