pdeaves
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I am not aware that such experiments actually happened 'on the ground' (as opposed to talk, studies, theorising, etc.). They certainly happened in Bristol harbour.
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End of the Line for Weymouth Quay branch - March 2020
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Western Sunset
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Anyone local to Weymouth? Has track lifting actually begun at the quay end?
swt_passenger
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pdeaves
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Well, that's pretty indisputable! Thanks.
AFAIK only generally once or twice per day for the Waterloo-Weymouth Quay boat trains (does anyone have any timings for them?), although I believe that for a short time in the early to mid 1980s (1984 and 1985 according to http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/w/weymouth_quay/) there was a regular Bristol-Weymouth Quay DMU service at least in the main summer holiday season. Not sure how many times a day that ran, though.
Ironically the five shuttles that ran between Weymouth Town and Weymouth Quay on 30th December 1989 to celebrate the line's centenary, and the four shuttles that ran on 3rd April 1993, in both cases after the end of regular boat trains in 1987, may well have been the most intensive service ever to have operated on the branch in any one day.
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According to this blog ferries haven't run from Weymouth since 2011:
http://worthingwanderer.blogspot.com/2012/10/weymouth-harbour-tramway.html
Admittedly that was written in 2012, though, so I guess they may have returned briefly at some point between 2012 and 2015. AFAIK since the 1990s the ferries that have run from Weymouth have mainly been catamaran/FastCat type vessels, and unlike in the days of conventional ferries and boat trains (i.e. up until 1987) they probably wouldn't have carried anywhere near enough foot passengers to justify running dedicated boat trains.
DerekC
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What a period piece! Our old friend John Parry, indefatigably coming up with ideas that never quite take off. I didn't realise he started that early. As far as I can work out, he is still trying!!
swt_passenger
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Even though purely a trial machine, that thing must still have taken a pretty large dose of ugly pills...
The sources I've seen indicate there were services in 2015. Although the cats aren't big, they're as long as anything that worked Weymouth in the old days- just much more focused on the internal volume being taken up with car decks, as with most modern day ferries.
Ashley Hill
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Does this Heath Robinson contraption still exist? Wouldn't it be lovely to use a PPM for one last trip over the branch before it's gone forever!
CaptainHaddock
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Yes, the blog is wrong as my partner and I enjoyed a day trip from Weymouth to Guernsey back in June 2014.
nlogax
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Yep. The final ferry service from Weymouth left five years ago this week.
swt_passenger
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A blog is a historic snapshot on the day, it’s not “wrong” as such, it’s just been overtaken by events...
The pattern of boat train workings over the years varied as the smaller ships were replaced by the Caesarea and Sarnia in the early 60s (they weren't built as ro-ro BTW; the first such to the Islands was the Caledonian Princess around 1975).
Services were transferred from Paddington to Waterloo in 1960, and at that time there was:
8.27 Waterloo - Quay 12.00 and 3.45 return for the day boats
7.45pm FO and 9.20pm SO returning at 5.55pm SO and 7.0am Sun.
I've ignored reliefs; there were no Sunday boats and no daily night boat. The Saturday day boats also had a Birmingham connection - WR stock of course, about 5 coaches (the Carriage Working Notice is confusing!).
Edit: I hadn't realised that a night boat from Southampton continued into the early 60s (9.15pm Waterloo); this returned as a day service, the boat train leaving the Docks at 5.35pm.
Once this ship was withdrawn, Caesarea and Sarnia worked day and night services from Weymouth, so the service via Weymouth actually improved.
From 1967 the workings (from memory) were:
0937 Waterloo for the 1330 boat, returning 1550 and forming
2008 Waterloo for the night boat, due back into Waterloo about 1007 except on Saturdays when it ran much earlier so the stock could form the 0937 out and release the second set for Exeter line duties.
The Bristol DMU ran at this time (not sure of exactly which years), alternatively a Southern National bus was used from and to Town for Bristol passengers (photos online - I googled Lodekka Weymouth Quay).
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I used to holiday in Weymouth as a kid and though I never saw the line in use, having this odd railway that runs through the town was always a novel concept for me and always one of the memorable oddities of Weymouth, so from a nostalgic sense it’s a shame but the history geek in me also feels a stretch should be saved because it is a relevant part of the towns history and once removed it’s a blast from the past which is erased from sight and consigned only to memories, books and YouTube videos. I think a small stretch, maybe 30 to 50 metres should be kept somewhere on that route for the sake of keeping a bit of the towns history visible.
I lived in Weymouth in the 1980s and one of my 'party tricks' was to take friends, visiting Weymouth, down to the Badger Brewery pub on the quay. I think it was around 10:30pm when the police would come into the pub to round up volunteers to bounce cars out of the way for the late train to proceed to the quay station for the night ferry.
That and Jumping Jimmy Thunder are my two abiding memories of my time in Weymouth.
That and Jumping Jimmy Thunder are my two abiding memories of my time in Weymouth.
Mikey C
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Looking back it seems odd that they didn't just ban parking on the offending road, if trains were still regularly passing down it!
That would have been too easy! Let’s face it government run agencies aren’t the most logical thinkers
As for the fastcats/Condor, yes they left Weymouth iirc twice, once in the late 90's and for approximately one year in the 2010's due to damages to the harbour wall at Weymouth (really should have properly beefed up the mooring/harbour at that point preparing for the chance that condor purchase of a larger/more powerful vessel (which of course they did, and as no money to help pay for the harbour upgrades was forthcoming (thanks Mr. Drax 
), they had no choice but to leave when the express/vitesse were sold).
), they had no choice but to leave when the express/vitesse were sold).The road was marked with yellow hatching and lots of warning signs. People just ignored the signs. I think many must have assumed that the line was no longer used. It must have come as a surprise to them to return to their cars, to find they had been roughly bumped out of the way and a ticket on their windscreen (from memory the fines were quite significant).
I think we have to remember that the reason-for-being of the line in the 50s was the freight from the Channel Islands and France with the passenger connection more of a 'nice to have'. When the freight was lost there was little justification any longer for the tramway for a couple of trains per day.As for the fastcats/Condor, yes they left Weymouth iirc twice, once in the late 90's and for approximately one year in the 2010's due to damages to the harbour wall at Weymouth (really should have properly beefed up the mooring/harbour at that point preparing for the chance that condor purchase of a larger/more powerful vessel (which of course they did, and as no money to help pay for the harbour upgrades was forthcoming (thanks Mr. Drax
Yes, and probably even less so once most people preferred to fly to the Channel Islands rather than go by ferry and with the decline in the popularity of the Channel Islands as a holiday destination - I think they are still quite popular today but nowhere near as much so as they once were.
Were there ever dedicated boat trains for the Weymouth-Cherbourg ferries, or only for the Channel Islands ferries?
The Cherbourg ferry service was a rather on-and-off affair, though lasting well over a century. It couldn't really compete with the LSW/SR routes from Southampton - indeed, I believe it was freight-only at times, as HowardGWR suggests. Can't find a decent summary online, sorry.
johnnychips
Established Member
The first time I ever went abroad was the ferry to Cherbourg in summer 1977. It left about ten at night; we were dropped off by car, but I’m sure I’d remember if a train came, which it didn’t.
Update from Dorset CC:
https://news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/2020/07/29/track-removal-project-moves-forward/
https://news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/2020/07/29/track-removal-project-moves-forward/
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track lifting begins 5 October
theironroad
Established Member
Seem like BBC south today is about to run a piece on the lifting starting today.
1.30pm bbc1 in the south.
If outside the region you can still watch it live on iPlayer by changing your region setting in the settings. The local news for all regions is also available to watch later up to 24hrs.
1.30pm bbc1 in the south.
If outside the region you can still watch it live on iPlayer by changing your region setting in the settings. The local news for all regions is also available to watch later up to 24hrs.
Wychwood93
Member
Managed to catch that - may well be repeated on the 18.30 edition. Paul Clifton the presenter - a clip of 4TC 422 being pushed along by a 33 (112 I think it was). Some 'car bouncing' to move one out of the way. Of interest to other folk apart from the likes of us.
Dstock7080
Established Member
nlogax
Established Member
'Wiped out without goodbye'? They've had 21 years..
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