Station code WEY DfT category C1 Opened 1986 | Grid reference SY679797 Managed by South West Trains 2011/12 0.799 million Number of platforms 3 | |
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Similar Yeovil Pen Mill railway station, Dorchester West railway st, Yeovil Junction railway st, Castle Cary railway st, Bournemouth railway station | ||
Weymouth railway station is the main railway station serving the town of Weymouth, Dorset, England (the other station being Upwey railway station which is located north of the town centre). The station is the terminus of both the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo and the Heart of Wessex Line from Bristol Temple Meads and Gloucester.
Contents
History
The Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway, which was authorised in 1845, was built in stages (during which the company was absorbed in 1850 by the Great Western Railway). Two of the last sections, from Yeovil Pen Mill to Weymouth and a connecting curve from that line to the Dorchester station of the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), were opened on 20 January 1857. The LSWR was granted running powers from Dorchester to Weymouth, where some of the platforms were dedicated for LSWR use; these powers were exercised from the opening day. The station was named Weymouth, although some timetables showed it as Weymouth Town. Branches to Portland and Weymouth Quay (both opened in 1865) ran from Weymouth Junction, just north of the station.
The original station buildings were designed by TH Bertram and constructed in timber with a glazed overall roof across the tracks; this was removed after WW2. By the turn of the century the station area comprised five platforms, a large goods yard, and a small LSWR engine shed; the GWR had a larger shed situated north of the station. Nearby, Melcombe Regis served Portland passenger trains until 1952 and provided an overflow platform for excursion trains on busy summer weekends until 1959.
After the Second World War, the station saw rapid growth in holiday and Channel Islands traffic. As a result, the station underwent a major expansion in the late 1950s, gaining two lengthy excursion platforms (which now serve today's station), additional sidings adjacent to Jubilee Gardens, and a new signal box to replace two older boxes. However traffic soon declined and the station was progressively rationalised after the end of steam-hauled operations in 1967 with the goods yard closing in 1972 and the signal box and most of the remaining sidings being taken out of use in 1987. Although the current station is a mere shadow of its former self, the extension of third-rail electrification from Bournemouth in 1988 has given the station much improved services to London.
The current station building was formally opened on 3 July 1986; in its final years, the old Weymouth station was far too big for the traffic it was handling.
Accidents and incidents
Services
South West Trains operates a twice-hourly service to London Waterloo via Basingstoke. Great Western Railway operate services every two hours via Westbury to Bristol Temple Meads and points north (e.g. Bristol Parkway and Gloucester). There is an additional service running once or twice on a Saturday to London Waterloo via Salisbury operating from late May to early September each year.
On Sundays there is an hourly service to Waterloo and a limited service (three all year plus an extra pair in summer) to Bristol.
Weymouth Quay
Weymouth Quay railway station is a disused terminus in the town. Its passenger station was used solely for trains connecting with cross-channel ferries, which have not run since 1987, though the line remains part of the network and the station, in theory, still open. Its use had been suggested as part of the transport infrastructure for the 2012 Olympic sailing events to take place on the Isle of Portland, though since it is accessed via the Weymouth Harbour Branch, which runs along public streets, this posed difficulties. Previously, the branch saw both freight and passenger traffic, most recently fuel-oil trains.