Operation

Prototypical operation of Swanage would largely consist of pushpulls moving back and forth up the branch with, at most, two goods trains a day, trains to Eastleigh and Salisbury and the odd excursion.

I plan to add more variety by creating a sequence which moves on in period as well as time. So, for instance, the first branch train of the day might use the Beattie Well Tank, the next a Radial and so on. This plan needs some careful development to try to keep the stock in Swanage station matching a particular period at any given time. This is my excuse for collecting such a wide variety of flat kits!

The periods represented will need to take into account:

- availability of kits

- livery changes

- changes in stock used on the branch

At the moment I am thinking in terms of the following:

Early 1885 - Beattie Well Tank

Later LSWR - Adams Radial

Early Southern - T1

Mid-Southern 1932-38 - M7

Later Southern 1939 - M7

Goods - T1

Early BR - 1949-57 liveries

M7 (lion & wheel)

LSWR pushpull - BR red?

Ironclad pushpull conversions (1949-62) - livery?

Goods - M7, 700, T9

Later BR (steam) 1960-May 64

M7 post 1957 livery

Maunsell pushpull conversions (1960, BR green)

Goods - Q, BR Std 4 2-6-0

Later BR (various)

Ivatt 2-6-2T

BR Std 3 2-6-2T

BR Std 4 2-6-4T

Hampshire DEMU

Clearly that plan needs much more work on stock and liveries. I also need to work on the scheduled passenger trains to Eastleigh and Salisbury. Then there are through coaches to Waterloo with complete trains on Saturdays and I plan to

produce at least one excursion for each period.