Upwey railway station, Dorset

Infobox UK station
name = Upwey
code = UPW

---

caption = Upwey railway station in 2008
manager = South West Trains
locale = Upwey
borough = Weymouth and Portland
lowusage0405 = 27,882
lowusage0506 = 27,909
platforms = 2
start = 19 April 1886

Upwey railway station is a railway station serving the village of 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.

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

First Great Western operate services between Bristol and Weymouth via Bath, Westbury and Yeovil. Some services originate from Westbury, with passengers having to change to reach Bristol. Services are operated by Class 150 or Class 153 diesel multiple units. For the past few 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.

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.

History

The first station here, simply named Upwey, opened in 1871. This station closed in 1886, replaced by 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 inevitable 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, Upways", which since most of his work was set in this area of the country, most likely relates to Upwey station.

Namesake

There is an Upwey railway station in Victoria, Australia.

External links

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Reading

* ISBN(no ISBN)
* ISBN 0 906867 80 0
*cite book|author=R.V.J.Butt, |title= The Directory of Railway Stations |publisher=Patrick Stephens Ltd |year=1995 ISBN 1 85260 508 1