Volunteers who started restoration in 1976 gather for 50th Anniversary Celebration

Photo: Andrew P.M. Wright

Pioneering volunteers who started restoration work at Swanage station when they were teenagers in 1976 have gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic start of the Swanage Railway’s remarkable rebuilding and rebirth.

With those volunteers now aged in their 60s, the nostalgic exchange of memories and stories took place at Corfe Castle station on Saturday, 14 February, 2026, during the heritage railway’s annual Community Weekend that gave the public the opportunity to go behind the scenes of the award-winning heritage line.

It was 50 years to the day - on Saturday, 14 February, 1976 - that the first volunteers gained access to a disused Swanage station to start restoration and rebuilding work after the fledgling Swanage Railway Society was allowed access to the boarded up buildings by the town council.

Among the pioneering veterans at the Corfe Castle station gathering were Peter Frost from Swanage and Jeremy Weller from Poole who are still dedicated Swanage Railway volunteers 50 years on – Peter being a locomotive driver and Jeremy restoring heritage coaches and wagons.

Also present at the gathering was the Swanage Railway’s historic first locomotive – a small 1930s petrol shunting locomotive – that arrived at a trackless Swanage station in June, 1976, with a large sheet on the back on which were painted the words ‘First loco for Swanage Railway’.

Back in 1976, Peter Frost was a teenager living in Corfe Castle – where his parents ran the Greyhound pub – while Jeremy Weller was a teenager who lived in Swanage after his parents moved to the Dorset seaside resort from London.

As a child in the 1960s, Peter played at Corfe Castle station and knew the railwaymen who worked on the ten mile branch line from Wareham to Swanage which was closed in January, 1972, with Peter watching the track being lifted that summer.

Peter remembered the heady days of 1976: “Every weekend was an adventure - restoring buildings and rolling stock at Swanage station, preparing the ground to lay track or planning transport arrangements to get a team of people to retrieve track from redundant sites and regular trips to Barry Island, in south Wales, to select and prepare for transport the locomotives we hoped to purchase and restore for use on the rebuilt Swanage Railway.

“On the morning of Saturday, 14 February, 1976, I hopped on my Honda 250 motor cycle and travelled the five miles to Swanage station when I joined a group of people on the platform where there was an exciting buzz as well as a feeling of expectation and determination.

“We all realised our opportunity had arrived to get involved in resurrecting the beloved Swanage Railway. There were no tracks, the platform had been demolished and the station canopy had been stripped of its lead and glass with the station building boarded up.

“My first job was to clean up the parcels office. Along with a number of others, we swept out all the rubbish and cleaned the walls with sand paper and washed them down before applying a liberal coat of white wash - it was an amazing transformation.

“The feeling among everyone was excitement and determination - there was no doubt, no going back and a commitment to put right the wrong of the closure and demolition of the Swanage branch which I loved.

“Most people thought we were a bunch of train-spotting nutters and that we would never rebuild the railway. Even the railwaymen who worked on the Swanage branch thought that to rebuild the line was impossible,” added Peter.

Jeremy Weller remembered: “My memory of the first day of restoration work at Swanage station was completing envelopes for a campaigning newsletter in the derelict parcels office – where the shop is now – and sweeping the platform.

“Our motivation was that we felt that we were on our way and expectations were high, possibly naively. None of us thought that rebuilding the Swanage Railway would take so long.

“Looking back, I sometimes cannot believe that we, a bunch of keen enthusiasts managed to rebuild a railway - what an experience and an achievement. It certainly gives me a sense of pride when I see a train pull out of Swanage station.

“Then there are all the friendships that have been made along the way, some of them lasting 50 years. It's also sad that so many people from the early days of rebuilding the Swanage Railway – both the campaigners and the re-builders - are no longer with us.

“It's important that people realise the amount of effort and money that has gone into rebuilding the Swanage Railway that so many people enjoy today,” added Jeremy.

Anyone interested in finding out more about volunteering on the Swanage Railway should email iwanttovolunteer@swanagerailway.co.uk while details about volunteering can also be found at swanagerailwaytrust.org/volunteering

Story and photograph by Andrew P.M. Wright,

Swanage Railway official photographer and press officer.