How to find the Swanage Railway

Travelling to the Swanage Railway by Road:

Please note that due to restricted Car Parking in the Swanage area, by far the best way to plan your visit to the Swanage Railway is to drive to our northern terminus at Norden where there is a large car park providing the option to Park & Ride.

There is a purpose-built visitors' building with disabled toilets and baby-changing facilities, and level footpaths to the Norden station platform.

For reference, the SatNav location info for GPS is as follows:
Norden Park & Ride BH20 5DW
Corfe Castle Station BH20 5EJ
Harman's Cross Station BH19 3EB
Swanage Station BH19 1HB

Swanage is situated on the Dorset coast between Poole Harbour and Weymouth. It is reached via the A351 from Wareham, or via the Sandbanks/Shell Bay Ferry operated by the Bournemouth-Swanage Motor Road and Ferry Company saving over 25 miles on a return journey from Poole to Swanage. Click here to visit their website for full details of ferry operations from Bournemouth. Swanage station is situated in the centre of the town, just a few minutes walk from the beach. Norden Park and Ride station is situated off the A351 on the approach to Corfe Castle from Wareham.

Travelling to the Swanage Railway by Rail:

The nearest National Rail station is Wareham, served by a twice hourly service from London, Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth. See below for details of bus services to connect from Wareham National Rail station to the Swanage Railway.

Travelling to the Swanage Railway by Bus:

Wilts and Dorset buses provide the best link between the main National Rail network and the Swanage Railway. In Swanage all Wilts & Dorset buses run to and from the bus station which is in the railway station forecourt with direct access to the steam trains. There are full timetables for the area on the Wilts and Dorset website by clicking on this link http://www.wdbus.co.uk/index.asp
Bus Service 40 runs from Poole to Swanage via Wareham and Corfe Castle, approximately every hour on Mondays to Saturdays and every two hours on Sundays and Public Holidays but every hour during the Summer Season.
Bus Service 50 runs from Bournemouth to Swanage via the Sandbanks Ferry every hour Monday to Saturday and also on Sundays and Public Holidays during the summer period, but runs less frequently on Sundays and Public holidays during the winter. During the summer OPEN TOP double deck buses are used on the 50 route which crosses the mouth of Poole Harbour on the chain ferry and then climbs through the magnificent Purbeck Hills to Swanage. The 50 bus now terminates at Bournemouth Interchange (ie Bournemouth Rail Station).
The full timetables in Adobe Acrobat format for the 40 and 50 routes can be found on the Wilts and Dorset website, by clicking here.

Where to stay:

Visit the Swanage Railway Accommodation Links page for details of places to stay in and around Swanage.