It may be a tramway only in name as throughout its history it has been an extension of the mainline railway but the history of the Weymouth Harbour Tramway is about to come to an end with more than £1 million worth of funding in place to remove the long disused tracks.
Opened as long ago as 1865 the tramway runs through the streets of Weymouth to the Quay to connect with the Channel Island ferries which once set sail from Weymouth. Regular passenger services continued to operate until 1987 and after some experimental use of a flywheel powered vehicle in 1997 it was used for one last time by a mainline charter on 30th May 1999.
In the intervening almost 21 years it has remained disused and despite campaigns by locals to preserve the line and even to reopen it is a heritage line to help boost tourism the decision was made that for safety reasons it would be removed. It is said that the condition of the tracks precludes any further use.
The complete project to remove the 1.25m line is expected to cost £1.5 million with £1.1 million having been awarded from the Department for Transport and further cash coming from Dorset County Council and Network Rail.
A short 50 metre section of track in the Pavilion Car Park- which is next to the old station terminus – will be removed this month to help the project team learn how best to remove the remainder of the line.
Harbour/Dock/Industrial tramways seem to be the least documented tram lines, probably because they were primarily for freight and usually operated by mainline railway companies. They were rarely connected to passenger tramways because of gauge incompatibility between railway and tramway wheel profiles. Glasgow and Portsmouth did have connections and used a 4 feet 7 and three-quarters inch gauge trams so wagons could operate over the street lines. The Fairfield Shipyard trains in Govan, Glasgow, operated after the trams were discontinued, using trolleybus wires for power. Dublin had a broad gage street tramway section out of the Guinness Brewery. All gone now.
What a loss ! As a young boy, I was educated at Melcombe Regis Prinary School in Weymouth which backed onto the street tramway. It always caused some concern when the boat train from London Paddington passed by en route to the harbour as when the combined pannier tank locomotive and 6-7 coaches passed the school, it literally shook it to its foundations. Yes, this news brings back memories when Weymouth was a major Channel Islands departure port.
Thank you for reminding me about the Parry People Mover. I had a ride on it in Weymouth, also on the harbour railway in Bristol and of course Stourbridge. Weymouth has an excellent beer festival at the Pavilion in October and it was quite a long walk to the Pavilion from the railway station. I would prefer to travel there on the harbour tramway. It is a shame that the main line rail service to Weymouth is so unreliable.