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BNPS.co.uk (01202 558833)<br />
Pic: AndrewWright/BNPS<br />
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Relaying track east of Furzebrook, December 2014<br />
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A plucky seaside railway that refused to die is finally rejoing the rail network today after a 45 year fight to reverse the Beeching axe.<br />
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At 10.23 sharp a train will once again leave Swanage in Dorset to rejoin the main network at Wareham, thanks to an army of volunteers who have spent 45 years painstakingly rebuilding their line.   The Victorian town was effectively cut off from the rail network in 1972 after Dr Richard Beeching, a government railway advisor, recommended it be one of hundreds of loss-making rural lines axed.  It took only 4 months to rip up the 87 year old railway in 1972, but 45 years and thousands of man hours by the seaside community to restore the track to meet today's safety standards.

BNPS.co.uk (01202 558833)
Pic: AndrewWright/BNPS

Relaying track east of Furzebrook, December 2014

A plucky seaside railway that refused to die is finally rejoing the rail network today after a 45 year fight to reverse the Beeching axe.

At 10.23 sharp a train will once again leave Swanage in Dorset to rejoin the main network at Wareham, thanks to an army of volunteers who have spent 45 years painstakingly rebuilding their line.   The Victorian town was effectively cut off from the rail network in 1972 after Dr Richard Beeching, a government railway advisor, recommended it be one of hundreds of loss-making rural lines axed.  It took only 4 months to rip up the 87 year old railway in 1972, but 45 years and thousands of man hours by the seaside community to restore the track to meet today's safety standards.