Weymouth quay tramway trackside

[@BibTheBoulderTheOriginalOne]

December 2020; The tracks have now been lifted and the tramway consigned to the history books, KZbin, and memories...a fascinating piece of railway history discarded into the bin of progress.....

[@Paradice4Life]

Such a shame the tram line is not used today. And with The ferry not there. Weymouth been left to rot.

[@dct1]

Fantastic footage. What a fascinating piece of our railway infrastructure.

[@martinevans7090]

Great video! I can remember going on the tramway way back in 1984 when it was still in regular use - we were off on holiday to Guernsey and were fortunate enough to be able to take the train all the way to the ferry terminal. Thanks for sharing!

[@MikeWillSee]

I love how some people don't even seem to notice that there's a train going down the middle of the road lol! Great video!

[@DaveSuperThomas]

If they were locals, living in Weymouth, they'd seen it all before. Many, many times!

[@MikeWillSee]

@@DaveSuperThomas true...

[@risvegliato]

yes! we are more used to tramways again now as so many have been reinstated in birmingham, nottingham, sheffield, manchester, etc. Back then, they had all but disappeared.

[@Simpilotrichy]

The harbour is a shadow of it's former summer glory now. Hundreds of people used to flock here to enjoy social outlet, fish & chips, and of course a chilled pint, as they sat on the harbour wall quayside to watch the world go by. The trains were stopped for health and safety reasons. The railway lines have been removed for health & safety reasons. And now a hideous railing has been installed to prevent people sitting on the harbour wall, again for health & safety reasons. Another fabulous seaside town facing a slow demise by brainwashed Orwellian jobsworths. Great video though, thanks for sharing.

[@vikingwoman1988]

Fantastic piece of history. Thank you for the upload!

[@magicdave93]

I love Weymouth and it’s a shame the Quay Tramway will soon be a thing of the past, thank you very much for posting this fantastic sight. 👍🙂

[@dave1001]

Wow Network Southeast slamdoor stock and a class 73 = heaven

[@DaveSuperThomas]

The little Bo-Bo, working off its auxiliary 600hp Diesel engine, is very much the master of its "Load Eight" consist!

[@dave1001]

and also now adays with Serco Caledonian Sleeper (on lease from GBRf)

[@DaveSuperThomas]

@@dave1001 - With a souped-up 1600hp Diesel engine! Something which they could have done with back in their British Rail days!

[@dave1001]

For sure but BR never had any money

[@caseyjones4849]

Dave E so why have u got a picture of that horrible train then u mug

[@SuperMikado282]

i remember the line in the early1960's.It was quite busy with freight traffic and the Channel Island boat train, quite a heavy train. this was handled by a GWR outside cyl. pannier tank no. 1369. There was also a0-6-0 Drewery diesel shunter hanging around as well.If I remember correctly the ferry boat was called Sarnia

[@Mark_Dyer1]

Fabulous footage. Thank you! 'Elf'n Safety' must have had a fit!

[@richardhunt304]

Great video, brings back many happy memories of Weymouth.

[@spongatejunction]

A sight never to be seen again except in Model form

[@HenrysAdventures]

Brilliant video! Such a same trains don't run to Weymouth Quay anymore.

[@lukevibertuk]

Interestingly I remember watching this as a kid in the early 80’s and being fascinated by it...what I don’t remember is all the flange squeal!

[@risvegliato]

I presume the flange squeal is from the inside check rails on the road running bits?

[@DaveSuperThomas]

Because when the Tramway was used regularly there were Flange Lubricators kept well topped-up with axle grease?

[@gromit3315]

Not a single smartphone in sight! Great times!

[@blue9multimediagroup]

In 1994? Yeah I think not

[@video125com]

Tramway is a general description for a railway sunk in to a public road.

[@alexmarshall4331]

cor class 73 ED loco...actually in Weymouth...what joy was had that day...I remember it well..best laugh we've had before or since!

[@HSMiyamoto]

Watching the police walking in front of the train reminds me that Britain once required a boy to walk with a red flag in front of steam powered road carriages.

[@DaveSuperThomas]

The same law still applies to main line trains which run down the middle of public roads, which is why the two Shunters (with red flags) have to walk in front of the Channel Islands Boat Train as it chugs up and down Weymouth Quay. The locomotive hauling the train must also be fitted with a bell (in addition to its air-operated warning horns) and is limited to 4mph. The British Transport Police are there to assist in the removal of motor cars which have been illegally parked on the Tramway and are obstructing the progress of trains moving along the Quay.

[@aliaslisabeth1031]

@@DaveSuperThomas IC

[@HSMiyamoto]

In the U.S., Amtrak trains run down streets with none of that falderall. For example, in Oakland, CA, trains entering Jack London Square station run down several blocks of city streets, and they just have to follow traffic signals. That's at least a couple dozen trains a day, including the longest train, the Los Angeles-Seattle Amtrak Coast Starlight.

[@beyergarret123]

@@HSMiyamoto This is the UK, we do things differently.

[@fatwalletboy2]

Brilliant footage then right at the end battering through Wool at full chat - clickety clack clickety clack. Love it......

[@mysonner4913]

Ha ha ha clickety clack !

[@I-T-S-M-E]

0:15 the sound of a Sierra drivers side door being opene. Lovely old video.

[@thproductionwensleydale624]

It is nice to see some outtakes looking into how things were done before by either BR in the 1980's/90's should get some more outtakes of other places that haven't been seen like Heart of Wales, Down Fishguard and The Flying Scotsman.

[@paulanderson79]

What's powering the EMU? I don't recall seeing a third rail in Weymouth when I've visited there. Wake up Paul - Class 73 at the back.

[@DaveInBridport]

Lines still there today.

[@JohnnyMotel99]

and they look a mess up near B&Q

[@southwalestrainspotting5090]

@@JohnnyMotel99 true!

[@JohnnyMotel99]

UK Train Spotting it could make a great location for a weekly market....

[@southwalestrainspotting5090]

@@JohnnyMotel99 The line is not yet declared abandoned, but maybe.

[@dct1]

@@JohnnyMotel99 recent video shows it's been cleared.

[@nickandrew1089]

The future of the tramway was set when the Condor Ferry moved to Poole. Weymouth Council should have brought something in to replace the ferry, keeping the tracks in place as a unique feature for tourism. Weymouth was the only place in England to have this feature, and should have kept it for posterity. Now it's been torn up, it's too late and will never be able to be restored. Imagine the benefits for tourism if The Flying Scotsman, and other steam locomotives, were regularly using the Quay tramway.😠😠😠

[@amazoniaamazonia7225]

So true.

[@tonyg1071]

Brilliant video. I used to go to Weymouth every year with my parents and I’m so sorry that I didn’t get any photos or videos.

[@vivek8426]

Went here a couple of weeks ago. Could find the station as it is, but no tram coaches to be found. They could have put one just for the sake of history.

[@vikingwoman1988]

Shame the tracks are being torn up now in 2020.

[@video125com]

So that is that, the end of the Weymouth Quay tramway.

[@vikingwoman1988]

video125co 😖

[@hugebartlett1884]

Why weren't those damned cars shifted before the tram ran? Unfortunately all of our seaside resorts are being clogged up by cars,resulting in the peaceful atmosphere just vanishing more every year. Eventually,visiting the seaside will be a gruelling experience,and the resorts will be deserted,all the local people having moved out,and the visitors no longer able to come.

[@suebradford890]

It's a pity they can't run this tramway, as part of a Dorset tourist special rail journey, a few times in the summer. Like sometimes popular old steam trains are run ie. Flying Scotsman etc. When there's publicity about a journey like that there are hordes of enthusiasts lining the route to see it! We go to Weymouth every year and I'd love to see this event and maybe it would bring in even more tourists in when it's running.

[@AtheistOrphan]

Sue Bradford - They started ripping up the rails in March this year.

[@nationwidecoinhunt1176]

Why was a train on the tram tracks

[@russellgreen3375]

Its not, trams never used this this, was built as a railway line to connect the Quay to the mainline

[@nationwidecoinhunt1176]

Russell Green ah thanks the title confuses me as it said tramway

[@blue9multimediagroup]

Because they use the wrong term in England. It's a tram road, not a tram way.

[@russellgreen3375]

@@nationwidecoinhunt1176 its always been known as the Weymouth Quay tramway even though trams have never used it! Just one of those funny idiosyncrasies

[@30453trains]

Fantastic video. Check out that flange squeal! 👍🏻

[@sanjeevpereira6765]

Great vedio. Keep it up.. from mumbai india

[@mukherjeesuniversum2665]

Why the train is on a tramway? Or is it a railway line on road that looks like tramway line?

[@ianpidgley9720]

in this instance the tramway was an extension to the railway and served the channel ferries, regular trains traveled along this route from the beginning en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weymouth_Harbour_Tramway

[@mukherjeesuniversum2665]

@@ianpidgley9720 Thnx a lot.

[@DaveSuperThomas]

In England, main-line standard-gauge railways which ran along a Public Road were always known as "Tramways". In this case the special excursion train is running down the main street of the Dorset holiday resort of Weymouth - Custom House Quay - to and from the interchange where the ferries to and from the Channel Islands used to arrive and depart. The little Class 73 Electro-Diesel is running off its auxiliary 600hp Diesel engine as (for obvious reasons) the branch line down the side of Weymouth Harbour is not electrified!

[@mukherjeesuniversum2665]

@@DaveSuperThomas Do these class 73 trains use third rail electric to run when it is running on electric? And thank you for your answer.

[@philjones5886]

Yes...A railway line straight to the terminal. It carried much of the soldiers and equipment for the D-Day 1944 invasion of France. It`s all still there (at the minute.2019)

[@1171karl]

'these shots can never be repeated'... yeah when was the last time you saw a Montego, Sierra, Triumph Acclaim etc etc.

[@blue9multimediagroup]

Talking about the train being out of service indefinitely. Pay attention.

[@microbusss]

I'd love to take a 4 wheeled motor railcar or a handcar down these tracks before they get torn out

[@HSMiyamoto]

In the USA, trains have bells specifically to alert pedestrians, even if the people are standing on a station platform. Even modern railcars play recorded bells just to comply with laws and alert the public. They are operated constantly on some lines, like the Coaster commuter trains in San Diego.

[@suburbia2050]

lol

[@stevelomas4119]

Trains on the tramway used to have bells, used to see them in the 70's.

[@aliaslisabeth1031]

@@stevelomas4119 That's interesting. I like the sound of bells on trains. Nostalgic yet practical.

[@stevelomas4119]

@@aliaslisabeth1031 Unfortunately they replaced it with a siren and flashing light late 70's early 80's...progress huh ?

[@dodgydruid]

Cor that is a sight seeing a 4CEP down the quay, facelift CEP too :) They had the best traction motors back in the day of the SR's EMU being of the same rating as the ol' Hampshire lines express COR and GRI's and the Bournemouth line REP and BEPs. Best combo was the Victoria to Dover Western Docks boat train, 3xCEP and a 489 MLV up front which had one of the spare GRI traction motors stuffed into its single frame meaning you had 16 car power but 13 car load making them extremely potent and by the time you hit St Mary's Cray you could feel the motors giving it some and positively thundering down toward the snarl at Strood, then once past Rainham the driver would notch it up and flying down the coast there. The CEP's replaced the awesome Hastings Diesels and were all facelifted "jaffa's" and til the end were much liked esp as they shaved off a lot of time for the London commuters. I remember in 1994 a lot of the old EPB's started appearing in Bournemouth West yard, talking to one of the shunters there and he was scratching his head saying there is nothing wrong with these trains, running like they were brand new and he thought the world mad getting rid of perfectly good trains for crappy plastic ones lol

[@Admre]

That’s a class 73!

[@stevelomas4119]

No shit.

[@voidjavelin23]

​@@stevelomas4119 it is a class 73 you knobhead, you can tell it has a 3 front window cab

[@dereklund2321]

Reminds me of the mid 90s when we sailed back from Sark, Channel Isles, and tied up somewhere alongside Commercial Rd and then piled out into the showers and nearest pub. Sadly the country that existed then exists no longer; we knew who we were and whose side we were on. There was no Shamima Begum, no Ed Davey, we were blissfully ignorant of the sinister overtones of the Maastricht Treaty and there were 48,000 fewer illegal immigrants holed up in expensive hotels. Wish I could wind the clock back.

[@BibTheBoulderTheOriginalOne]

You're not alone in this sentiment....

[@jamesbraithwaite478]

Can it be rescued & put into preservation running at all?

[@glenjarnold]

James Braithwaite Sadly, the tracks look far too corroded now to be able to allow safe operation.

[@TheBazza1701]

There’s a video of this very train journey from the cab of the train on here.

[@petrolhead1077]

Were CEPs being used as un-powered coaching stock quite common?

[@jsma9999]

Thank you for putting this up.

[@nigelkthomas9501]

Last time I was in Weymouth (2010) I didn’t think this line was useable. Is this still the case?

[@conniexo2036]

Nigel K yes, although I believe people are trying to get it back in use, don’t quote me on that though.

[@marcgardner868]

Used to visit Weymouth as a kid in the early 90's remember seeing the line but never a train on it. Such a shame. Also a shame there isn't a ferry to the Channel Islands anymore. Great childhood memories of our Weymouth trip. My uncle used to own a guest house/hotel in Weymouth.

[@themaestrosfolly]

There’s no ferries from Weymouth anymore so there’s no real need....

[@AtheistOrphan]

Nigel K Thomas - No. No trains have run on it since the 1990’s. They started ripping up the rails in March this year.

[@nigelkthomas9501]

Atheist Orphan Sad waste! Seeing a train trundling down the street was a novelty no other town or city could boast!

[@florencegomer7937]

6:38 ... it's behind you ...

[@Grdn594]

Is it still like this now?

[@30453trains]

The tracks are still embedded in the roadway, but no trains have ran on it since the 1990s and the trackwork is in poor condition. There’s a heritage organisation trying to preserve and maintain the Weymouth Quay tramway, but there’s a lot of pressure on the council from drivers and cyclists (the latter especially) to just dig it up. It’s difficult to see it ever being a viable railway service ever again- boat trains just aren’t needed anymore, and the Weymouth boat was a particular pain to operate- you can just see in the video that BR staff had to walk alongside the train with warning flags and to warn other road users, and badly parked cars had to be manhandled out the way. Furthermore I believe the Condor Ferries terminal (seen at 4:10) is actually closed now, having survived the withdrawal of trains to the Quay by over a decade.

[@robertbarker5981]

Very good picture for the time

[@porno6361]

Ross 30453 was down there last weekend,the ferry terminal has got a demolition order on it,saw the notices on the windows,sad

[@lukevibertuk]

Just re watched this... anyone know why the loco has its name covered up? Wasn’t 73109 ‘Battle of Britain’ named in 1990?

[@russouk]

Remember that...saw them going past when on our hols in weymoth,we were fishing on the jetty when one came pasy...my mum was shocked ,she thought it had come off the tracks lol

[@dodgydruid]

Interesting the conductor shoes were taped up on the REP and the CEP, was there a drag risk at the quay end as have heard before the frogs were a little high on the inlaid points? I bet the guard was on the tannoy almost continuously between mainline and quay and back "PLEASE do NOT use the lavatory!!!" and the horror and screams if someone did and ended up getting "cessed" which is what gave the trackside area its name meaning if you stood outside the cess, you didn't get a facefull of human waste at speed :D

[@arthurmatthews9321]

A 73 dragging a 421 and a 411.

[@toastie7275]

Sorry to be 'that' person but the 411 is actualy a 412 BEP, only difference is the 412 has a Buffet car.

[@jess.hawkins]

@@toastie7275 Thanks, I was wondering what class the 1st-gen EMU being pulled by the 73 was -they appear to be working in multiple at the end of the video! :O

[@thproductionwensleydale624]

I'd love to see the DEV 001 and see how much has changed on the Settle and Carlisle even without narration.

[@video125com]

We did try digitising the original S&C but sadly the technical quality is just not good enough.

[@scopex2749]

They should USE THIS BRANCH and keep it active make it a tourist attraction! I can never understand this country why they are always in such a rush to tear up our heritage and build poxy SHOPS AND FLATS on track bed?👿👿👿

[@DaveInBridport]

Too late. Council tore up track 2021

[@chrismccartney8668]

Parking in weymouth is abused perhaps this run daily would go some way to marking drivers obay parking regs. . .

[@danwhite6183]

Their use to be a lot of inconsiderate drivers Shame the trains didn't just smash into their cars. They wouldn't park their again. Car drivers all about them ME ME ME

[@annother3350]

@@danwhite6183 Warning -- Cyclists above

[@anthonywilliams1909]

Awesome sight , why did they close it ? Councils ruin everything

[@davidevans5627]

No foresight.

[@alstorer]

The branch existed to serve the port. Long before ferries stopped serving Weymouth entirely foot passenger traffic had massively dwindled due to air travel, so not enough people using the boat trains. For most of the town the main station is as or more convenient than the harbour one was- so rather than run slowly through to the harbour, running the trains into the main station instead made more sense for most passengers. Freight too had dwindled with a combination of the type of freight that came by train no longer going by boat and the freighters being too too big for the quay. Trundling down the tramway was slow, required extra people (extra cost) and had little benefit. Add in that the full electrification of the line to Weymouth saw all the passenger trains go to EMU operation, which would have meant you would need a loco sat there essentially to be a shunter for the tramway- another expensive operational resource. It was the railway operations that abandoned the tramway, not the council forcing it. That they (sensibly) would like to remove the redundant tracks from their roads is a different matter. (What subsequently happened to the ferry terminal is separate)

[@amazoniaamazonia7225]

Not a big money spinner, but certainly doable.

[@BranchLineFrog]

I was under the impression that the law stated all engines that run along an unfenced railway in towns or roadsides need to have cow catchers. That's why the old class 04 drewry shunters at Wisbech and Yarmouth had cow catchers? The famous inspiration for Mavis?

[@video125com]

I imagine that at a crawl and with guys walking in front with red flags it is extremely unlikely that anything would be run over....

[@BranchLineFrog]

@@video125com yes that's common sense but we all know the law doesn't always align with common sense

[@Crewecabking]

Ooh nice network southeast class 73

[@fiddley]

8:20 - drafting!

[@oludotunjohnshowemimo434]

Didnt think that trains could use tram grooved rails

[@suburbia2050]

It was built for trains not trams en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weymouth_Harbour_Tramway

[@hoppinonabronzeleg9477]

We should have had the green flag act in this country. ''All trains must be preceeded by train staff at walking pace carrying green flags!' - Actually you can see what a nightmare this was for them 25 years ago. British Transport police on th estreet, trains at walking pace, guards in every van doors open looking for problems! Imagine this now post 9/11 post Lee Rigby, post Arianne Grande, post London Bridge. Joy riders, chavs, milennials etc Just not gonna happen when you can just get a few wagon drivers to do it, rip up the line and make the wagon drivers liability insurance cover it. Much cheaper - job done!

[@amazoniaamazonia7225]

That’s one way of looking at it. 😅

[@shaunwakefield9793]

It really looks too much trouble, cars in the way etc, no wonder it stopped running.

[@hans2406]

It stopped running because the ferries went somewhere else.

[@djpeekay25]

Shame they got rid of this line

[@christopherlawley1842]

Needs a people-catcher

[@R-Ws308]

The Wool scene looks a bit speeded up..

[@djflintstone2816]

I'm seeing things lol