A special six-car diesel passenger train from London used the newly restored bay platform at Swanage for the first time since 1966.
SouthWest Trains supplied train and crew for the UK Railtours excursion special. The ‘Purbeck Adventurer’ used two three-coach Class 159 diesel units coupled together. To accommodate the six-coach ‘Purbeck Adventurer’, the Swanage Railway fully restored and brought back into use its secondary bay platform No. 1 at Swanage station – a platform that will be used for a two-year trial train service to the main line at Wareham from 2015.
Says Swanage Railway Company chairman Peter Sills,‘It was a very successful day and hopefully the first of many with 370 passengers being brought into the Isle of Purbeck to enjoy the delights of Corfe Castle and Swanage – thereby giving a boost to local businesses. The Swanage Railway contributes in excess of £10 million a year to the Purbeck economy.’
