Wednesday 19th February 2025
Recently the Swanage Railway Sygnets enjoyed a fascinating visit to South Western Railway’s Bournemouth maintenance depot, gaining an invaluable insight into modern railway operations. Seeing first-hand how today’s trains are maintained gave their young volunteers a deeper appreciation of the industry’s skills, technology, and challenges faced.
With Railway 200 this year, celebrating 200 years since the first passenger railway, this visit was a perfect way to connect past, present and future railway generations. Bournemouth Depot has a long railway history, including being originally situated on the mainline approach to Bournemouth West railway station, and stabling its steam locomotives and their coaches before evolving into a vital hub of modern train maintenance.
The Purbeck CRP was happy to support this trip and a big thanks goes to our secretary for initiating this with our colleagues at SWR. We are keen to highlight careers, opportunities and Routes into Rail in the Industry in this celebratory Railway 200 year.
The group were guided round the depot by Dan and Sam, full-time maintenance engineers at Bournemouth Depot and dedicated Swanage Railway volunteers. Both started as young heritage railway volunteers whilst building careers in the modern rail industry.
Since 1997, the Sygnets youth group programme has given 13-18-year-olds the opportunity to learn, volunteer, and develop skills in railway operations. Visits like this not only deepen their knowledge but also highlight how heritage railways can lead to careers in the wider industry.
A huge thanks to South Western Railway for hosting us and giving our young volunteers an unforgettable experience!
Interested in getting involved? Get in touch – we’d love to hear from you!
Swanage Railway | Family Railway Attraction in Dorset. Homepage
Photos credited to Sam Smith and Dan Bennett.
