Video 125 mounted a minicam on the front of a class 73 electro-diesel in June 1994, for a ride in the cab on one of the last EVER trains to run through the streets on the so-called Weymouth tramway.
I can remember being in Weymouth on holiday and seeing the train run through the street. Must have been early 90's. Also, a retired signalman that once lived near me said that a couple of times he had had the job of walking in front of the train with the flag.
Thanks for the great video. So sad to see how what once was a thriving station with goods yard and carriage sidings and this unique spur leading round to the harbour. First went to Weymouth In 1965 as a 5 year old and remember it being mostly steam hauled although shunting round to Quay with the boat train was mainly done by class 03 which then gave way to class 33 in the early 70's. There are some good videos on youtube of the last days of steam at weymouth for which I am most grateful as it is a distant memory now! They were great times!
I enjoyed that, thanks. 1965 I think it was, might have been 1964. Steam hauled from London to Weymouth, stopped outside Weymouth station, diesel shunter hauled to the quay. On the return, we left Weymouth with a banker for the climb out. Magnificent.
They really should bring this tramway back into use. Probably not with trains like the one featured here, but with trams like the ones you get in Manchester, Sheffield and Nottingham.
All those cars will probably be washing machines and fridge freezers by now. Someones pride and joy kept well serviced, MOT'd and valeted now populating washing lines with damp laundry. Or perhaps just iron filings in some chemistry lab. As for the train?
As a kid back in the early 1970's, I remember riding my pushbike and grabbing a free ride holding on to the rear carriage. Mind you, it was quicker to just ride past the train but that was no fun! I'd get lynched for that today.
Nice Video, I just can't believe that they had signalmen "walking" the train through the city. In Switzerland we still have trains running straight through the city, without having signalmen walking in front of the train.
The EU were going to put a policy through on tax avoidance, we can't have the rich paying their taxes so they bought out the Conservative party and here we are...the sheep will vote as necessary if they feel under threat
Wow! Thanks for the memory - back in 1974 I went to visit a friend in Weymouth and as 'a special treat' he took me to a quayside pub one evening. Special? A pub? Oh well ... I was stunned when a train came down the quay, no prior warning from my friend and the word which escaped from my lips was "Eeeek", very low level. I hadn't realized before how small humans are compared to a train running up the road next to us. At least now, I know where it was going.
I remember seeing a bit of the departure from the quay, we were down on holiday. Saw the crowds and came up from the beach with my dad just as the train moved off. Shame the tracks have gone now.
Thanks for sharing, reminds me of a time when I travelled on this branch/tramway in June 1975 behind an 08 shunter on my way to catch the ferry to Guernsey. I don't remember any special precautions being taken as I suppose then it would have been a fairly mundane every day happening.
It's is not called a 'tramway' by Weymouth folk. It's the 'boat-train railway line'. It was part of the main line railway network which carried passengers and freight to and from Weymouth docks. The ferry to the Channel Islands docked at Weymouth. In the late 1940s and 50s, when few people had cars, factories in the midlands shut for a week at a time and the 'boat-trains' with hundreds of people from them went to the Channel Islands for their holiday via Weymouth and it's boat-train railway line.
I recall being one of the leaders with a troop of Boy Scouts heading for summer camp on Guernsey in 1965, I think. The nearest I'd gotten to this was at a level crossing situated adjacent to a nearby station. However going ALONG the road instead of crossing it was awesome - and weird, especially when one of my fellow leaders kept up a conversation with a gentleman who happened to be going towards the harbour. I'd forgotten about that until viewing this. As Bob Hope used to sing in his theme song - 'Thanks for the memory'.
I vaguely remember getting on a train from Waterloo i think to Weymouth on the so called boat train, i believe the year was 1981. It was just after the Falklands war and i was on a school holiday to Guernsey. We got the St Christopher ferry then brand new owned by Sealink which was part of British Rail. I would have been 12 years old and found the trip very exciting.
12:28 - Vauxhall bring you the carrot. Can’t remember ever hearing about that model? 😆 Great vid! This was before my time but I always wonder what my family were doing when I watch videos like these. Although not caught on camera - the whole world is going about it’s business in the background!
What a unique piece of railway infrastructure, boat trains running through the streets of Weymouth to the Quayside. My Dad used to tell me that he associated holidays to the Channel Islands with the Weymouth Quay Branch. I believe there's still a colour light signal that used to control access from the branch that permanently displays a red aspect
It didn't, the 73 is running on diesel and the coaches behind it are a 4TC unit, basicly a 4CIG without any on-board power, nor third-rail connections.
Pascal Farful I know there was no third rail on the tramway, and the ED was powering the TC etc on diesel, but towards the end when it leaves the tramway at about 20:56 you can see the third rail (or something like it!) I had thought only the third rail only came on much further up.
To clarify, firstly I think someone was joking about having a third rail through the streets.....Anyway, the train was an electric multiple unit with its electric shoes raised. When it got back onto railway property, the shoes were lowered and the ensemble was able to continue under electric power. Not quite sure about the loco. Whether it controlled the EMU or what, and whether both loco and emu were taking power.
The line from London was only electrified as far as Bournemouth in the late 1960s. Trains to Weymouth were the unpowered TC units worked by 33/1s, which also had a socket for a flashing light for the tramway. In the late 1980s the third rail was extended to Weymouth. HTH!
Great video, sad that this no longer happens, but I think the ferries to the channel islands which were what these trains met have stopped as well now(?)
A TV crew of many bods I was working with were so annoyed by a parked car blocking our entrance to an outside rehearsal studio, that after we moved it and left we picked it up and placed it sideways between the two stone pillars at the entrance. I'd love to know how they got out of that, there was only an inch or two to spare either end....LOL
I was on holiday there in the 60's when I was 10 (funny, I was just watching Endeavor, I come from Oxon) and saw the train going to the ferry. 4 blokes walked in front & moved several cars like that. But more 'efficiently'.
I wonder how many people down the years have returned to there cars, only to find 3 or 4 railwaymen trying to bounce it out the way of an oncoming mainline train
Wonderful. This is how trains started with a man with a red flag walking in front of it. Great true visualization. Also this video is relatively good quality seeing its age and the simple camera. Even some recently uploaded videos were pretty poor, much worse than this. So well done!
@@paulkennedy8701 Well now, interestingly, the 'Red Flag' act was officially 'The Locomotive Act 1865'. This required 'all road locomotives, which included automobiles, to travel at a maximum of 4 mph (6.4 km/h) in the country and 2 mph (3.2 km/h) in the city, as well as requiring a man carrying a red flag to walk in front of road vehicles hauling multiple wagons'. The subsequent amendment in 1896 increasing the speed limit to 14 mph and abolishing the red flag requirement is what is celebrated by the annual London-to-Brighton veteran car run.
Just as an aside, I was walking along that's part of the harbour a few months ago, just a few days before they tore up to the lines, and saw some poor girl come a nasty cropper on her bike. Nothing too serious, but maybe a sprained wrist... I pointed out that he was probably the last person that that would ever happen to... Even she said that was a bit of a shame.
Unfortunately this will soon be just a memory as Dorset council and Network rail have received funding to remove the rails, work was allegedly to commence at the beginning of this March 2020
Brilliant vid and record of what once an everyday occurrence..the usual bouncing a car out of the path...by people who can`t park correctly..did it not say on the road "beware of trains",with white lines around it?..I used this train a few times, always a unique experience,sitting in a compartment, going through the streets.
@@trevordance5181 And besides, it would probably be just as quick to walk to the main station, given that the train could only go at walking pace anyway!
WHY THE COUNCIL DIDNT EXTEND THE TRAM WAY ALL THE WAY ALONG THE BEACH FRONT AN MAKE A TOWN LOOP WITH A PARK AND RIDE ??? THE AREA HOSTED THE OLYMPICS WHAT A LEGACY IT COULD HAVE LEFT .......... SO NOW NO FERRIES ...... TRAINS......DELAPIDATED .......QUAY .....THEATRE AREA
The train itself was the Channel Islands boat train which ran from and to London Waterloo. It was only the last mile through the town that was at walking pace. Try researching before making a stupid comment.
@aswclassics iow I just hate these people that watch youtube videos, and then make stupid comments without bothering to find out about what they are actually watching. Made that trip twice in the 70’s on the boat train, heading to Jersey on the ferry Earl Godwin. Surreal to be passing people’s houses at walking pace behind a class 33.
@aswclassics iow (Chris Topdeck Travel) It was a cool journey to make. The train was made up of a class 33 and rake of Mk 1's, and would run fast from London Waterloo to Southampton Central, Bournmouth and Poole before stopping on the avoiding line next to Weymouth Town station. Then, with a warning toot on the horn, we would make our way to Weymouth Quay at walking pace as seen in the video, while hanging out of the window and looking down at pedestrians watching the train pass. I don't remember the train stopping while they bumped cars out of the way so I think Weymouth residents were more used to a train passing through their town on a daily basis (in the summer months). We'd arrive at Weymouth Quay and then board the British Rail ferry Earl Godwin for the seven hour sailing to Jersey via St Peter Port, Guernsey. Earl Godwin in later years got sold to an Italian company called Moby Ferries and was renamed Moby Baby. I was hoping to have one more voyage on her but she got scrapped about three years ago in Greece or Turkey. There are youtube videos if you google Moby Baby or Earl Godwin. Yep, you missed a unique service with the Channel Islands boat train through Weymouth.
Yeah, boy, that was really interesting. A whole video of cops walking down the street where the tracks run. Much more compelling than seeing an actual train. Thanks for the exciting clickbait.
