New tourist train service between Weymouth and Corfe Castle

Passengers will be able to take the train direct to Corfe Castle station on the steam railway branch line. They will then have the option to hop on a steam train down to Swanage.

It’s thanks to a partnership between Weymouth-Waterloo operator South Western Railway (SWR) and the Swanage Railway which will help relieve congested roads by enabling visitors to travel to Purbeck by train. It will also connect Corfe to the national rail network.

There will be six trains each Saturday during the summer, starting tomorrow and running until September 8.

The diesel unit trains will run from Salisbury via Gillingham, Sherborne, Yeovil, down the Great Western line to Weymouth. They will then go to Corfe via Dorchester South and Wareham.

SWR is not running the trains to Swanage as they would interfere with the Swanage Railway’s steam train service on the single line.

SWR says Weymouth, Dorchester, Moreton and Wool passengers will pay £5 for a day return to Corfe and passengers from Salisbury, Tisbury, Gillingham, Templecombe, Sherborne, Yeovil and Maiden Newton will pay £10.

DOWN THE LINE: SWR train near Corfe Castle  Picture: ANDREW P.M. WRIGHT

Head of Service Strategy at South Western Railway Chris Loder said: “This partnership will help to encourage visitors from all over the UK to visit Corfe Castle and Swanage, whilst at the same time offer local residents a useful and regular rail connection.”

South Dorset MP Richard Drax added: “This train service will really help connect the community, as well as offering transport to Wareham, Poole and Bournemouth that will be faster than being stuck in traffic. This is a really good initiative and I hope it is a great success.”

Cllr Bill Trite, Dorset County and Purbeck district councillor and Chairman of the Purbeck Community Rail Partnership (PCRP) said: "The PCRP is all about promoting a regular rail link between Swanage, Corfe Castle and the main line railway network, so this enterprising arrangement for the summer is a great step towards that objective, building on the hard work of many people to get us to this point."

Trevor Parsons, Chairman of Swanage Railway Company, said: “We are delighted that this partnership with South Western Railway will enable a regular train service on summer Saturdays to Corfe Castle.

"This will give everyone the opportunity of visiting the historic Corfe Castle and join us on board our steam trains to Swanage”.

Explaining why the service cannot run down to Swanage a SWR spokesman said: "The Swanage Railway is running a full heritage steam service on the line between Norden and Swanage during the summer.

"This means that it is impossible to run the six SWR trains between Wareham and Swanage within the time available. This is why we are running six trains between Wareham and Corfe Castle and connecting with the steam trains to Swanage.

"We want to bring as many people as possible by train to Purbeck so that they can avoid the heavily congested roads in the summer and this offers the most trains possible."

* The Swanage Railway will also have a discounted return steam train ticket at £10 for all passengers travelling into Corfe Castle on one of the new SWR trains and wishing to travel to Swanage. The child return fare will be £5.

It is stressed this service does not affect the Swanage Railway’s plan to run train diesel train services to Wareham during 2019.

Swanage Railway’s Project Wareham director Mark Woolley said: “We already welcome a number of charter train operators to the Swanage Railway each year and this will continue.

“In addition to running our award-winning heritage steam train services between Swanage and Norden, we remain committed to operating a 90-day trial diesel train service to Wareham during 2019 and hope to do so beyond then."

“All trains operated by an external train operating company on the Swanage Railway will be by formal agreement with us and will need to be consistent with our operational and commercial requirements.”