Upwey railway station (England) explained

Upwey
Symbol Location:gb
Symbol:rail
Borough:Upwey, Borough of Weymouth and Portland
Country:England
Coordinates:50.648°N -2.466°W
Grid Name:Grid reference
Manager:South Western Railway
Platforms:2
Code:UPW
Classification:DfT category F2
Original:Great Western Railway
Pregroup:Great Western Railway
Postgroup:Great Western Railway
Events:Opened as Upwey Junction
Years1:1952
Events1:Abbotsbury branch closed
Years2:1 December 1952
Events2:Renamed Upwey & Broadwey
Years3:12 May 1980
Events3:Renamed Upwey
Footnotes:Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Upwey railway station serves the Broadwey, Upwey and Littlemoor suburbs of Weymouth in Dorset, England. The station is situated on the South West Main Line, 140chain31chain from and on the Heart of Wessex Line, 166chain30chain from .[1]

History

The first station near this location, simply named Upwey, was opened in 1871 by the Great Western Railway (GWR). On 19 April 1886 that station was replaced by the current station, then named Upwey Junction, a railway junction that opened south of the original station to provide access to the single track Abbotsbury branch. The branch was absorbed into the GWR and survived for 66 years before closure under British Railways in 1952.[2] On the closure of the branch Upwey Junction was renamed Upwey and Broadwey on 1 December 1952, and took its current name, Upwey, on 12 May 1980.

During the Network SouthEast era, the station was refurbished with the trademark red lighting poles, station benches and monitor screens for train arrivals. Rubble from the rebuilt Weymouth station was used to fill in the former Abbotsbury platform for use as a car park. This was done in time for the extension of electrification from Bournemouth to Weymouth in 1988.

Two further stations had Upwey in their name. To the north of Upwey Junction existed a halt called Upwey Wishing Well Halt, while around the bend on the Abbotsbury branch was a station which had originally been called Broadwey. However its name was changed to Upwey as it kept being confused with Broadway, Worcestershire, also on the Great Western Railway.

Thomas Hardy wrote a poem At the Railway Station, Upway,[3] about waiting for a train at a country station. In the days of steam, a favourite excursion was from Weymouth to Upwey, and then on to tea at the Upwey Wishing Well by charabanc.

Accidents and incidents

On 24 January 2013, a passenger train caught fire at Upwey.[4]

Services

Services are provided by two train operating companies:

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Book: Jacobs, Gerald . Railway Track Diagrams, Book 3: Western . Trackmaps . 2005 . Bradford-on-Avon . 18A.
  2. Web site: Disused Stations: Upwey Junction Station . 2022-03-25 . www.disused-stations.org.uk.
  3. Web site: Hardy. Thomas. Thomas Hardy. At the Railway Station, Upway. Read Books Online. 2009-01-21.
  4. Web site: Weymouth rail services delayed by fire under train . BBC News Online . 24 January 2013 . 21 March 2017.
  5. Web site: Timetables . South Western Railway . 2 June 2024 . 3 August 2024 .
  6. Web site: Train Times . Great Western Railway . 2 June 2024 . 3 August 2024 .