Heart of Wessex Line

Heart of Wessex Line
Overview
Type	Suburban rail, Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Wiltshire Dorset South West England
Operation
Owner	Network Rail
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge

Heart of Wessex Line
Legend
Bristol to Exeter Line Bristol Temple Meads Cross Country Route St Anne's Park Keynsham Saltford Twerton-on-Avon Oldfield Park Westmoreland Road goods yard Bath Spa Hampton Row Halt Bathampton Bathampton Junction Great Western Main Line Bristol & North Somerset Rly (Camerton branch) Limpley Stoke Freshford Avoncliff Bradford-on-Avon Bradford Junction to Chippenham Trowbridge Reading to Taunton Line Westbury Wessex Main Line to Salisbury Bristol and North Somerset Railway Radstock West 1875 1959 Mells Road 1887 1959 Frome 1851   Whatley Quarry Witham 1856 1966 East Somerset Railway to Wells Strap Lane Halt Bruton 1856   Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway Castle Cary 1856   Reading to Taunton Line Sparkford 1856 1966 Marston Magna 1856 1966 Yeovil to Taunton Line Yeovil Pen Mill Yeovil Town 1967 rationalisation link West of England Main Line to Exeter Yeovil Junction Clifton Maybank goods West of England Main Line to Salisbury Thornford 1936   Yetminster 1857   Chetnole Evershot Tunnel Evershot Cattistock Bridport branch Maiden Newton 1857   Grimstone Viaduct Grimstone and Frampton 1857 1966 Bradford Peverell & & Stratton Halt 1933 1966 Poundbury Tunnel Dorchester West 1857   Dorchester Junction South Western Main Line Monkton and Came Halt 1905 1957 Bincombe Tunnel Upwey Wishing Well Halt 1905 1957 Upwey(original station) Abbotsbury branch 1885 1952 Upwey 1886   Radipole Halt 1905 1984 Portland Branch Railway Weymouth Weymouth Harbour Tramway Weymouth Quay

The Heart of Wessex Line, also known as the Bristol to Weymouth Line, is a railway line that runs from Bristol Temple Meads to Westbury to Weymouth in England. It shares the Wessex Main Line as far as Westbury and then follows the course of the Reading to Taunton Line as far as Castle Cary.

History

Places served

The cities, towns and villages served by this route are listed below:^[1]

• Bristol
• Keynsham
• Bath
• Freshford
• Avoncliff
• Bradford on Avon
• Trowbridge
• Westbury
• Frome
• Bruton
• Castle Cary
• Yeovil
• Thornford
• Yetminster
• Chetnole
• Maiden Newton
• Dorchester
• Upwey
• Weymouth

Operator

Passenger services are currently operated by Great Western Railway and South West Trains.

• Most Great Western services originate from Bristol Temple Meads or from Westbury. However some services originate from towns and cities beyond Bristol such as Gloucester, Cheltenham and Great Malvern.^[1]
• South West Trains operates a limited service between Yeovil Junction and Salisbury or London Waterloo

Rolling stock

Services are provided on Sprinter diesel multiple unit trains built during the late 1980s and 1990s, typically of 2 or 3 coach Class 150, with some Class 158 trains. During the summers of 2008 - 2010 an additional southbound morning and northbound evening train were added to the Saturday timetable to cope with demand between the cities and the seaside resort of Weymouth. This consists of five British Railways Mark 2 coaches hauled by a modern Class 67 (or, on special occasions, 1960s Class 37) diesel locomotive.

Community rail

A Bristol to Weymouth Rail Partnership was created in 1998 so that local authoriites could support the line. In 2003 this was rebanded as the Heart of Wessex partnership and line.^[2] It is designated a Community rail Line.^[3]

References

1. "Brighton, Portsmouth and Weymouth - Bristol, Cardiff, Gloucester and Great Malvern" (PDF). National Rail Timetable. Network Rail. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
2. "Route Prospectus, Bristol to Weymouth Line" (PDF). GOV.UK. Department for Transport. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
3. "Community rail lines". GOV. UK. Department for Transport. Retrieved 2016-01-20.

Bibliography

• R.V.J.Butt, (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1
• Robert Adley, (1988). Covering My Tracks. Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 0-85059-882-6
• J.H. Lucking,. Railways of Dorset. Railway Correspondence and Travel Society 1968. ISBN(no ISBN)

External links

• Heart of Wessex line.