Weymouth - station, facilities, improvements, events and incidents - merged posts

[whole diary]

[Surrey 455]

I didn't see the underground toilets. These are the ones I used (minus the green fence). It's good to see a local council improving or increasing toilet facilities when many others have chosen to close them.

https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/18618576.weymouth-esplanades-new-toilet-beach-office-will-open/

[WSW Frome]

Weymouth station and immediate area have actually been upgraded in recent months. The front of the station has been remodelled with a new public space and history boards. The car parking has been reorganised and the platform canopies have been repainted and ?reglazed where required. A cafe also operates in the station which last year was a much newer innovation. The former quay branch nearby was made into a linear park (although not to the original glamorous plan!). This mostly involved Dorset Council funding although NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) probably contributed. The final change has been erection of a new fence and gate on the car park side to prevent access out of hours. I always found it surprising that open access prevailed until now when trains were parked overnight. 

The toilets do seem to be permanently shut now which is disappointing but due to the anti-social behaviour experienced in the past. Although I have not visited the station very late in the evening (recently) I do believe it is staffed until close of play (ie after midnight)  but you need to seek out the staff in their little office to the left of the ticket office area when viewed from the platform. A sign indicates "customer help etc."

I have not visited the station for a few weeks so it is possible that some of the above is not accurate but I have been a regular visitor over many years.

 

 

[grahame]

Weymouth station and immediate area have actually been upgraded in recent months ...

You're right.  The old tramways track has been gentrified into a walkway with interpretation signs.  The frontage of the station has indeed been redone.  But that's not much help when the station building is closed from (?) mid afternoon on a sunny summer Saturday, with passenger for trains having to find their way around the side of the building to the back gate.

Yes, there *is* a shiney new high fence with gates around the back, and no doubt they are closed after the final train.   Staff member? - yes, you are correct that there's a train dispatcher (if not his official title, the role he has playing) in the office off to one side of the station building.  It was not obvious to me that he was available to help people and the office has no windows through which you can see someone inside. And when the main building is closed, the only way to see the departure board is to squint road to see it.

Yes, things have been done.  It could be so vastly improved by having a departure screen displaying next trains as passengers enter through the (!) back gate, and having the member of staff spend his time between dispatching obviously available and approachable to customers.

[grahame]

Not exactly top of my list of disruptions but

15:28 Weymouth to Gloucester due 19:03

Facilities on the 15:28 Weymouth to Gloucester due 19:03.
Disabled toilet facilities are not available.

Looks like a personal accident waiting to happen for someone who needs an accessible loo. Up-thread advice to people wanting to use the loo at Weymouth Station has been "use the toilets on the train" ... Oops.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Police have asked people to leave Weymouth Beach

About 400 protestors from opposing sides are gathered on Weymouth seafront chanting at each other.

On one side, the crowd is chanting "Weymouth and Portland welcome refugees" with placards saying "Nazis go home".

The other group are chanting "Tommy Robinson", waving Union Jack flags and holding signs that read "I [love] my country".

Officers have moved people off the beach because some anti-immigration protesters pushed through the police line and ran up the seafront.

Protesters from opposing sides are gradually getting closer to each other.

Shocking! 

[grahame]

Letter from the Dorset Echo by Sally Puplampu

I WAS blessed to be born and bred in Weymouth, the most beautiful of seaside resorts. Now no longer living in Weymouth I visit as frequently as possible using the railway.

Arriving at Weymouth Railway Station is not welcoming but the issue which most concerns me is the lack of public toilets at the station despite two cubicles still remaining from years gone by.

Lack of access to public toilets is a health problem for fit able bodied people but for the elderly, disabled, those with children, underlying health conditions or mobility issues this situation is very difficult.

A notice at the railway station directs people to public toilets on the Esplanade or to the car park in the back water (Swannery).

Quite long walks, dangerous roads to negotiate and sometimes challenging weather conditions to cope with.

I am sure that making the railway station and surrounding area more welcoming would help to increase the number of rail visitors to Weymouth and help to promote Weymouth as a very desirable destination resort.

Loads of comments too - almost all in support of Sally's view that the lack of available public toilets at the station is not clever, and some widening on to the view that the station in general is pretty unwelcoming in spite of expenditure on "improvements" in the last year or so.

[IndustryInsider]

I think the trouble with Weymouth is that despite it being one of our nicer seaside towns, the area round the station is not very nice at all. 

Every time I’ve been there I’ve always felt there was a threatening atmosphere and if you provide toilets at the station they will be routinely vandalised unless you spend a disproportional amount on security to keep out the undesirables.

The best approach would be to improve the general area first, which isn’t within the scope of the railway of course.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Every time I’ve been there I’ve always felt there was a threatening atmosphere and if you provide toilets at the station they will be routinely vandalised unless you spend a disproportional amount on security to keep out the undesirables.

Oh, that can be done:



 

[IndustryInsider]

Oh, that can be done:

Good social distancing.  Did that Ice Cream shack ever open for them? 

[Trowres]

I think the trouble with Weymouth is that despite it being one of our nicer seaside towns, the area round the station is not very nice at all. 

Every time I’ve been there I’ve always felt there was a threatening atmosphere and if you provide toilets at the station they will be routinely vandalised unless you spend a disproportional amount on security to keep out the undesirables.

The best approach would be to improve the general area first, which isn’t within the scope of the railway of course.

What do you consider is responsible for the threatening atmosphere? You mention "undesirables", but what attracts these people to this one, small, area of Weymouth?