34028 ‘Eddystone’ debuts on the ‘Swanage Belle’ | 10/09/25

After 61 years, West County Class No 34028 ‘Eddystone’ finally returns to the mainline and would haul her first passenger carrying train in that same timeframe . ‘Eddystone’ is owned by the Southern Locomotives Ltd (SLL) and she was first lovingly brought back to steam in 2003 after being saved from the Woodhams Scrapyard. She’d serve well on the purpeck based branchline until being withdrawn from service to be overhauled once again, reappearing back onto Swanage metals in 2019. Fast forward a few years and the next chapter in Eddystone’s life is now here, a return to the mainline. She’d last turn wheel on Britain’s big railway in April 1964 by British Railway’s and was the first rebuilt Bullied Pacific to be taken out of service. Now, she joins fellow West Country Class No 34046 “Braunton” on the mainline. We start the video with a rather tame shot of her coasting out of Virgina Water, unfortunately Eddy was running a few minutes late here so she caught up with a nearby service train and thus getting signal checked. But a more powerful run would follow at Potbridge as we overtook the train whilst on its water stop at Winchfield. Another chase would ensue here to Ashurst New Forest where we very nearly got bowled but a quality performance from Eddy either way. Making use of yet another water stop at Brockenhurst, we over take the tour again onto Swanage metals where Eddy would tackle the steep gradients on the extension at Creech Bottom. We rolled the dice and gambled whether we could beat her to Harmans Cross and we got lucky as she’ll get stopped outside the station, opening up and slipping through the station. She’d eventually reach Swanage and would be put on shed, this allowed the cameras a quick glimpse into the workings of operating a railtour. Back onto the extension now as we get the 47 laying down the power before overtaking the tour again to Test Lane where Eddystone would take over the train once again. A quick 20 minute drive followed catching Eddystone at Overton absolutely gunning it through the station on the accent towards Basingstoke. And finally the elephant in the room: she did fail at Basingstoke. The crew heard a knocking sound in the cab and wanted to do a full examination of the engine, the decision was taken to terminate the tour here and have the loco and set shunted down into the loop outside the station. Busy aside from that little hiccup, her first tour went incredibly well and this video stands as a testament to all the hard work the SLL and Swanage volunteers has taken to get Eddystone to this position. Thank you to ‪@TheSouthernerYTChannel‬ for providing a clean photo of Eddystone at Overton as my angle had a few people in the shot. Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chaileystow... Timestamps: 0:00 - Virgina Water 2:00 - Potbridge 3:52 -Ashurst New Forest 4:32 - Creech Bottom 6:08 - Harmans Cross 8:34 - On shed at Swanage 9:22 - Arland House Campsite Crossing 10:43 - Test Lane 11:48 - Overton