Swanage Railway Diesel Gala & Beer Festival

Swanage Railway Diesel Gala & Beer Festival May 2022

The Swanage Railway is delighted to announce the return for 2022 of our ever-popular Diesel Gala and Beer Festival.

The event will run from the 6th – 8th of May, along with a “themed preview day” on the 5th.

The ever-popular Beer Festival will return to Corfe Castle Station yard, this year organised by Purbeck Kitchens. Swanage Station will play host to a number of trade stands and Smiths’ Butchers BBQ.

Update for this year’s Diesel Gala and Beer Festival 2022

Eight heritage diesel locomotives – that help to tell the fascinating story of Britain’s railways during the transition from steam to diesel trains in the 1960s – are to feature in the Swanage Railway’s eagerly awaited first Diesel Gala and Beer Festival since 2019.

One of the locomotives appearing, Class 33 diesel-electric locomotive No. D6515, hauled the last train through Broadstone to Wimborne when it cleared Wimborne’s station yard of wagons after British Rail closed the line to freight trains in May, 1977.

Now in its fifteenth year, and featuring an intensive three-train service, the Diesel Gala and Dorset Beer Festival takes place from Friday to Sunday, 6 to 8 May, 2022, inclusive, with the beer festival being organised and operated by Purbeck Kitchens at Corfe Castle station.

From the Friday to the Sunday, inclusive, the diesel trains will be operating along the entire length of the nine-mile Swanage Railway – past Norden station and beyond Furzebrook to the River Frome within sight of Wareham and half a mile short of the London to Weymouth main line.

On Thursday, 5 May, 2022, there will be a special ‘Thirty Seven Thursday’ preview event with a day of diesel and steam trains between Norden, Corfe Castle and Swanage featuring Class 37 diesel locomotive No. 37 703.

This year’s Diesel Gala and Dorset Beer Festival features evening ‘Beerex’ diesel trains on the Friday and the Saturday – Class 46 No. D182 performing the honours on the Friday and Class 50 No. 50 026 ‘Indomitable’ on the Saturday.