Upwey railway station (England)

Upwey railway station serves the urban areas of Broadwey, Upwey and Littlemoor which are northern suburbs of Weymouth, Dorset, England. The station is situated on the South Western Main Line, 140 miles 31 chains (225.9 km) from London Waterloo, and on the Heart of Wessex Line.

Upwey
Location	Upwey, Borough of Weymouth and Portland England
Coordinates	50.648°N 2.466°W
Grid reference	SY671832
Managed by	South Western Railway
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	UPW
Classification	DfT category F2
History
Original company	Great Western Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
19 April 1886	Opened as Upwey Junction
1952	Abbotsbury branch closed
1 December 1952	Renamed Upwey & Broadwey
12 May 1980	Renamed Upwey
Passengers
2015/16	44,042
2016/17	49,688
2017/18	49,964
2018/19	43,080
2019/20	42,706
Interchange	31,286
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The first station near this location, simply named Upwey, was opened in 1871 by the Great Western Railway (GWR).[1] 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. On the closure of the branch Upwey Junction was renamed Upwey and Broadwey on 1 December 1952,[1] and took its current name, Upwey, on 12 May 1980.[1]

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,[2] 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.[3]

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Broadwey		Great Western Railway Abbotsbury Branch		Radipole
Upwey Wishing Well Halt		Great Western Railway London Paddington-Weymouth
		London and South Western Railway London Waterloo-Weymouth

Services

A South West Trains' service to London Waterloo

South Western Railway operate half-hourly services between London Waterloo and Weymouth via Southampton Central.[4] South Western Railway run an additional service running once to twice on a Saturday between Weymouth and London Waterloo via Yeovil operating from late May to early September each year.

Great Western Railway operate services between Gloucester and Weymouth via Westbury and Bristol Temple Meads (8 per day Mon–Sat, 3–5 on Sundays depending on the time of year).[5]

References

1. Butt 1995, p. 238.
2. Hardy, Thomas. "At the Railway Station, Upway". Read Books Online. Retrieved 21 January 2009.
3. "Weymouth rail services delayed by fire under train". BBC News Online. 24 January 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
4. Table 158 National Rail timetable, May 2016
5. Table 123 National Rail timetable, May 2016

• J.H. Lucking (1968). Railways of Dorset. Railway Correspondence and travel Society.
• Brian L. Jackson (1989). The Abbotsbury Branch. Wild Swan Publications Ltd. ISBN 0-906867-80-0.
• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.