Upwey railway station, Dorset

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Upwey
Upwey railway station in 2008
Location
Place	Upwey
Local authority	Weymouth and Portland
Coordinates	50°38′53″N 2°27′58″W / 50.648°N 2.466°W / 50.648; -2.466Coordinates: 50°38′53″N 2°27′58″W / 50.648°N 2.466°W / 50.648; -2.466
Operations
Station code	UPW
Managed by	South West Trains
Platforms in use	2
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail
Annual rail passenger usage
2002/03 *	30,936
2004/05 *	27,882
2005/06 *	27,909
2006/07 *	33,744
2007/08 *	35,089
History
Original company	LSWR and GWR
Post-grouping	SR and GWR
1886	Opened
1952	Abbotsbury branch closed
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Upwey from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
UK Railways Portal

Upwey railway station is a railway station serving the villages of Broadwey and Upwey in Dorset, now a northern suburb of Weymouth. The station is situated on both the London Waterloo-Weymouth and the Bristol-Weymouth routes and is often used by passengers to change between the two.

[edit] History

The first station near this location, simply named Upwey, opened in 1871. 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 sixty-six years before closure under British Railways in 1952. On the closure of the branch Upwey Junction was renamed Upwey and Broadwey, and took its current name, Upwey, in 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 the Bournemouth electrification 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,^[1] 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.

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Upwey (formerly Broadwey)		Great Western Railway Abbotsbury branch railway		Radipole
Upwey Wishing Well Halt		Great Western Railway Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway		Radipole

[edit] Services

South West Trains operate services between London Waterloo station and Weymouth via Basingstoke, Southampton, Bournemouth and Poole. Services are operated almost exclusively by the Desiro units.

First Great Western operate services between Bristol Temple Meads and Weymouth via Bath Spa, Westbury and Yeovil Pen Mill. Some services originate from Westbury, with passengers having to change to reach Bristol. Services are operated by Class 150, Class 153 or Class 158 diesel multiple units. In past years on summer Saturdays, Class 31 locomotives and Mk.2 coaching stock have been hired from FM Rail to cater for extra passengers and holiday makers, but the demise of the charter company has seen this operation cease, at least for the time being.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Dorchester South		South West Trains London Waterloo-Weymouth		Weymouth
Dorchester West		First Great Western Bristol-Weymouth		Weymouth

[edit] References

• J.H. Lucking. Railways of Dorset. Railway Correspondence and travel Society 1968.  ISBN(no ISBN)
• Brian L. Jackson. The Abbotsbury Branch. Wild Swan Publications Ltd. 1989.  ISBN 0 906867 80 0
• R.V.J.Butt, (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Patrick Stephens Ltd.  ISBN 1 85260 508 1