Weymouth Quay line last rites

[swt_passenger]

...and about time too.

Council to discuss lifting of tracks, according to BBC here:

A disused train line, set in to the road in a Dorset town centre, is set to be removed.

Heritage campaigners want the 1.25 mile (2km) line linking Weymouth station and the quayside to be reopened to boost tourism.

But council officers insist the tracks are unsafe for cyclists and are recommending support for Network Rail's closure plans.

The council said there was "no potential plan of use" for the line.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-35457924

 

[Cliveblackpool]

Never realised there has been a spate of accidents involving Weymouth cyclists. Never heard of a problem in Manchester!

 

[edwin_m]

Never realized there has been a spate of accidents involving Weymouth cyclists. Never heard of a problem in Manchester!

The rail gaps in Weymouth will be to full heavy rail standards, much larger than those on Metrolink.

 

[The Planner]

What do they need to visualise though? This one has been done to death.

 

[Muzer]

Wow! Complete lack of vision.
Weymouth Council after short term gain? Land grabbers.
Never realized there has been a spate of accidents involving Weymouth cyclists. Never heard of a problem in Manchester!

Yeah, if you had visited the line, you'd realise it's a completely lost cause and there's absolutely no chance of doing anything with it. It heads down the MIDDLE of several VERY busy roads, thereby blocking off access to the whole length of the road in both directions given the size of today's cars. At someone who often obsesses over preservation of railway routes even when there is no logical use for them, this one should definitely go. It'll be a shame, but there's no reason for it any more.

 

[Rapidash]

The rails offered nothing of use for anyone going to Weymouth Quay, the ferries are gone, and there wasn't any demand before they left.

 

[HowardGWR]

Never realized there has been a spate of accidents involving Weymouth cyclists. Never heard of a problem in Manchester!

There have been a few sprained ankles, maybe a broken one, over the decades.

 

[Cliveblackpool]

Closure of the tramway will release land for development, whoever actually owns it! I believe some of it is owned by Network rail at the station end.
It would have been nice to see it used again giving Weymouth, a tourist town, some unique heritage for the future. Once closed, which looks very likely, it can never reopen. Yes, it has been 'mothballed' so far for 15 years!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

If there was a good use for it, it would still be used. There isn't, so it isn't. Once it's closed and dug up it means no more money wasted on inspections etc., or on compensating the occasional fallen cyclist. That money saved could be put towards something useful (upgrading the power supply to allow more/longer trains to run to Weymouth for example). Of course it's a shame that there's no longer a use for it but we are where we are, and the railway is a means of transporting people and goods to and from places they're needed. Weymouth Quay doesn't need anything or anyone bringing there, certainly not at the volume that trains provide.

 

[HowardGWR]

Think there is some confusion over 'ownership. The right of way is for all traffic and a tramway runs over it (so really open for all traffic ). Dorset County Council is the Highway Authority so should, I think, be assumed to be the owner. WBC can make representations to DCC but that's all, AIUI.

 

[Sox]

There have been a few sprained ankles, maybe a broken one, over the decades.

Could they just not look where they're going or is that too much to ask?

 

[AndrewE]

Could they just not look where they're going or is that too much to ask?

It's not that simple, on a bike you cross railway lines at as close to a right angle as possible, but that means veering out into the traffic if the rail is converging with the kerb. That's when a motorist giving you no space knocks you off. The alternative is that a shallow angle approach means the rail/groove traps & diverts your front wheel and pulls your bike out from under you anyway, which is why the Highway code says:

You should take particular care when crossing the rails at shallow angles, on bends and at junctions. It is safest to cross the tracks directly at right angles. Other road users should be aware that cyclists and motorcyclists may need more space to cross the tracks safely.

.

 

[swt_passenger]

Closure of the tramway will release land for development, whoever actually owns it! I believe some of it is owned by Network rail at the station end.

The land released (other than that in the roads) surely isn't a practical size for development on its own. The section alongside and between Kwik-Fit and B&Q would clearly be redundant, but is only a few metres in width. It may allow some redevelopment in conjunction with the adjacent plots which are basically given over to retail sheds of one form or another.

AIUI though, the section between the main line and the first level crossing is still in operational use as a siding. (The Sectional Appendix shows the operational boundary is at 168m 52ch ('Melcombe Regis open crossing' in Quail) until May 2016). So that first section might well be outside the limits of the Network Change Notice that declares the 'tramway' out of use, and not subject to the current council discussion at all...

 

[mwmbwls]

http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/14...ne_for_the_disused_Weymouth_Tramway_/?ref=rss

IT could be the end of the line for the disused Weymouth Tramway following proposals to remove the 'hazardous' tracks.
Councillors are set to discuss the future of the Weymouth Harbour Branch Line at a Weymouth amd Portland Council Management Committee Meeting tomorrow.
No regular services have run on the line since 1990, and the last movements on the line were special trains on April 1 1995 and May 2 1999.
The line was classified as ‘temporarily out of use’ until 2015 under Network Rail’s ‘Network Change’ process, an extension to a previous
temporary out-of-use status that ran out in 2013.
Network Rail is currently reviewing this situation and proposes to begin the process of taking the tramway to a permanently out-of-use status.
The preparation of the Weymouth Town Centre Masterplan included exploring the potential to bring the line back into use. However, the final Weymouth Town Centre Masterplan does not propose this and highlights it as a "constraint on development".
The report said removal of the rails would have a highway safety benefit, in keeping with the Local Transport Plan’s emphasis on highway safety, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists.
Chair of the Management Committee, Ian Bruce, described the disused tramway as a "hazard".
He said: "We have a lot of rail enthusiasts getting in contact with us about restoring the tramway. We've had suggestions of a hand driven carriage, this would cost thousands to get the track in any sort of state to be used and I am pretty certain it would no longer comply with our safety standards.
"When we last have special trains on the line, the removal of cars that were parked there just so we could run it was horrendous. We have had a change to the road traffic system since then - we would have to close Kings Street, the system is just not designed to do it.
"We want to work with rail enthusiasts and I would love them to work with
the Swanage Railway."
More than 2,200 campaigners have signed a petition to revamp the disused Weymouth Tramway into a unique heritage railway and attraction.
Campaigners argue that maintaining a heritage branch in Weymouth would bring many visitors to the town and would be a fantastic tourist attraction given its uniqueness.
The harbour tramway has been the centre of a lot of controversy and has been blamed for causing multiple accidents – including a horrendous crash which critically injured policewoman Alison Palmer and left her with life-changing injuries.
The mother of triplets was left with severe brain damage after her patrol car slid on wet railway lines in Commercial Road and hit a wall. Mrs Palmer was in a coma for more than seven weeks.
Motorcyclists have also blamed the rails for accidents and argued that the redundant line should be scrapped as it poses a danger to road users.

If there is neither a realistic commercial case for reinstating the link with the mainline nor a viable case for conversion into a modern light rail application, is the case for an isolated stub preserved line viable? Would it be better to recognize this line as an anachronism? Would the money spent on preserving the line be better deployed elsewhere? On a wider point have we reached the point where the country’s appetite for new preserved railways has been satiated?

 

[Mikey C]

http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/14...ne_for_the_disused_Weymouth_Tramway_/?ref=rss

If there is neither a realistic commercial case for reinstating the link with the mainline nor a viable case for conversion into a modern light rail application, is the case for an isolated stub preserved line viable? Would it be better to recognize this line as an anachronism? Would the money spent on preserving the line be better deployed elsewhere? On a wider point have we reached the point where the country’s appetite for new preserved railways has been satiated?

If this was a largely segregated line then it might be worth preserving, but as it is, it's a mainline railway that runs right through the town, along ordinary, and in some cases, narrow roads.

As a once a year event, it would be a fun event for the town, but I can understand the issues the tracks cause, when the tracks go nowhere useful.

 

[DarloRich]

would you even be able/allowed to operate services along such a line in today's world?

 

[NSEFAN]

If the line had been kept in regular operation then it may have had grandfather rights, given the locals would be used to seeing trains running and be relatively aware of how to deal with that. If you tried to run trains along the line now there would be chaos, as nobody expects a train to be there. I expect that any operation now would require similar procedures to the North-Norfolk Railway's crossing at Sheringham, which I'm sure would be far too much of a pain to make it worthwhile. It's a shame, but that's how things have gone.

Here's some pictures of the line taken last summer. Anyone who wants to get pictures should head there fairly soon, it would seem!

 

[MarkRedon]

The line is now a useless anachronism and should be closed and lifted. The one time I ever used it – I was brought up in Guernsey – was on a rare occasion when I was not accompanied by my petrolhead father. Recall that at that time, the late 1960s, the only shipping link between the Channel Islands and England was the Sealink (British Rail) ferry between Weymouth, Guernsey and onwards to Jersey (and even St-Malo, although that had gone by the late 1960s – replaced by hydrofoil services). The ferries built in 1961 (Sarnia and Caesarea) only carried cars that were craned on and off the vessel - ro-ro came much later. There was therefore a much more concentrated flow of mainly footborne passengers and the rail connection made some sense. The situation is rather different today. There is now once again only one operator – Condor Ferries who run fast ferries from Poole to the Channel Islands and a conventional ship from Portsmouth. Their new, large and rather unpopular high-speed ferry is too large to operate from Weymouth without expensive modifications to the port. The huge majority of passengers drive on and off in their own cars. In summary, the market has gone and will not return.

 

[341o2]

I thought a railway had to be officially closed. Unless things have changed, the Ffestiniog had a long running battle with the CEGB, who assumed trains would never run again and flooded part of the line by the creation of a resevoir.

When I visited the line in the early 80's, several cars had to be moved. With other entusiasts, I advised against parking on the tracks, as soon as one was shifted, another took its place. One guy argued that his disabled badge gave him right to park there

 

[Mikey C]

If the line had been kept in regular operation then it may have had grandfather rights, given the locals would be used to seeing trains running and be relatively aware of how to deal with that. If you tried to run trains along the line now there would be chaos, as nobody expects a train to be there. I expect that any operation now would require similar procedures to the North-Norfolk Railway's crossing at Sheringham, which I'm sure would be far too much of a pain to make it worthwhile. It's a shame, but that's how things have gone.

Here's some pictures of the line taken last summer. Anyone who wants to get pictures should head there fairly soon, it would seem!

The NNR doesn't run along roads, the link with the National Rail line and station is just an occasional level crossing, which is far less disruptive. The trains themselves run along separate and segregated railway track!

 

[Townsend Hook]

There's no need to spend a fortune ripping up the track and then relaying the road just to make it safer for cyclists. Fill up the flangeways with tarmac: costs next to nothing, gives a flat surface for cyclists and the rails are still visible as part of Weymouth's history

 

[Ash Bridge]

There's no need to spend a fortune ripping up the track and then relaying the road just to make it safer for cyclists. Fill up the flangeways with tarmac: costs next to nothing, gives a flat surface for cyclists and the rails are still visible as part of Weymouth's history

That sounds the perfect solution to me, sadly though I would imagine that there will still be complaints that in wet conditions the rail head surface is dangerously slippy for cyclists and motor vehicles.

 

[JoeGJ1984]

I'd like to think there's tourist potential for this tramway given that it's there. Get a class 101 (say) in and run it up and down the line. It's a touristy seaside town, so I think a ride through the streets on a heritage DMU would be popular with families on a day out/holiday.

 

[jopsuk]

digging it up and relaying the road will make the road easier to maintain in general. I'd hope they'd take the opportunity to replace services along the way. The road surface is pretty damn poor . Long term it'll save money compared to filling in the gaps.

 

[Lockwood]

There are sections of tramway in Portsmouth preserved.
The flangeways are filled, and I've heard no complaints about that.

 

[The Ham]

There are sections of tramway in Portsmouth preserved.
The flangeways are filled, and I've heard no complaints about that.

Likewise Swanage on the quay, however there needs to be a tourist value to such schemes. Much as there some who would like that, I doubt that Weymouth will benefit much from a few enthusiasts a year. It would be better to have a photographic exhibition of the trains that they can wheel out from time to time.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

I can't ever see any trains using the tramway again, the roads it runs along are just way to busy. Converting it to a tram line (for modern trams) and extending it along the promenade, if there was ever the demand would probably cost way too much

 

[BestWestern]

Likewise Swanage on the quay, however there needs to be a tourist value to such schemes. Much as there some who would like that, I doubt that Weymouth will benefit much from a few enthusiasts a year. It would be better to have a photographic exhibition of the trains that they can wheel out from time to time.

There is no tourist element to some of the Portsmouth tramlines, they are however on a cobbled road surface which may go some way to mitigating the hazards posed by the rails themselves.

 

[HowardGWR]

I can't ever see any trains using the tramway again, the roads it runs along are just way to busy. Converting it to a tram line (for modern trams) and extending it along the promenade, if there was ever the demand would probably cost way too much

Actually, it would be a good idea if the whole trajectory, or most of it, would be non-car only and calmed, post resurfacing, but I think there is a parking garage halfway along, IIRC, for which the owners would require compensation.

Poole has dealt with the ex-tramway in that way and it makes visiting the harbour so much more pleasant. The problem in Weymouth is that both the County and District councils are too car-orientated.

 

[Cliveblackpool]

I'd like to think there's tourist potential for this tramway given that it's there. Get a class 101 (say) in and run it up and down the line. It's a touristy seaside town, so I think a ride through the streets on a heritage DMU would be popular with families on a day out/holiday.

There are a lot of tourists around the harbour area, as well as the marinas and the Pavillion.
Maybe vehicle based on a Parry People mover, (don't know a lot about them) or a train based on a battery powered mine train might fit the bill. Haven't been to Weymouth station for over 20 yrs, there may be a possibility of extending a mile or so North of the station?
When I arrived on Sealink in the 70's, BR ran a bus to the station. The ferry was an hour late, and the nice bus driver announced for people not to panick - the train was being held until he reached the station! Certainly a different era.