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 \u00a31 million worth of funding in place to remove the long disused tracks.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The complete project to remove the 1.25m line is expected to cost \u00a31.5 million with \u00a31.1 million having been awarded from the Department for Transport and further cash coming from Dorset County Council and Network Rail.<\/p>\n
A short 50 metre section of track in the Pavilion Car Park- which is next to the old station terminus \u2013 will be removed this month to help the project team learn how best to remove the remainder of the line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 \u00a31 … Continue reading