Swanage rail enthusiast returns as driver on restored line

Peter Frost said rebuilding the axed line had at one point seemed an impossible challenge

A railway enthusiast has returned to drive trains on a restored passenger service 51 years after it was axed.

Peter Frost was 13 years old when he travelled on the original line between Swanage and Wareham in Dorset in 1972.

He was one of the first volunteers to help rebuild the line and will now be working as a driver-conductor on a trial service to reconnect the Isle of Purbeck stations with the mainline.

Upgraded 1950s heritage diesel trains will operate the 11-mile route.

Mr Frost can be seen second from the right on the last day the service was operated by British Rail in 1972

Mr Frost, from Swanage, said: "It will be a great moment when our 1950s heritage diesel train runs into Wareham for the first time and then out 10 minutes later bound for Corfe Castle and Swanage - something that several generations of dedicated and determined Swanage Railway volunteers have worked towards since 1972.

"As a 13-year-old, I rode on the last British Rail train from Swanage to Wareham on that cold night in January 1972, and watched the depressing sight of the track ripped up for scrap during that hot summer when it seemed the Swanage branch line would never come back.

"Rebuilding the line and returning trains to Wareham seemed impossible.

"I remember the first day of restoration work at a disused and boarded up Swanage station in February 1976, when most people thought we were mad."

The route is picturesque, passing by the ruins of Corfe Castle

Swanage Railway Trust director Peter Sills, who also rode on the last passenger train on the route on Saturday January 1, 1972, has kept his ticket from that journey.

The 65-year-old from Wareham said: "Riding on the first train from Wareham in the Swanage Railway's heritage diesel train with my son - 51 years after riding on the last British Rail train from Wareham to Swanage in 1972 with my late father - will be a very special piece of history and rather poignant.

"It will be like turning back the clock."

Gavin Johns, the volunteer chairman of the Swanage Railway Trust, said £5.5m had been invested from government, community and business partners to re-connect Swanage and Corfe Castle with the mainline at Wareham, as well as to restore and upgrade the 1950s diesel trains.

The Wareham service trial operates on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays until 10 September.