The Portland Branch railway refers to a group of lines on the Isle of Portland in the English county of Dorset. The first was the Portland Railway, a tramway with a counterbalanced rope-worked incline. It opened in 1826. It was followed by the Weymouth and Portland Railway, which connected to the main line of the Great Western Railway at Weymouth. It opened in 1865. From the late 1840s until 1872, Portland Breakwater was built, a prodigious construction task that created a very large safe harbour. It was decided to provide a railway connection to the breakwater, which was used as a pier for bunkering ships. This was constructed by the LSWR and the GWR jointly and opened in 1876. The fourth line was the Easton and Church Hope Railway. This line was conceived as a simple descent to bring stone down from quarries to a new jetty at Church Ope, but after their line was authorised in 1867, the Company delayed useful construction, and a change of plan followed, with several acts of Parliament authorising modifications to the route and extension of time. It finally opened in 1900.
The Weymouth and Portland Railway and the Easton and Church Hope Railway were operated jointly by the Great Western Railway and the LSWR. As far as Portland, the line was well used, but the onward section to Easton was disappointing commercially, and the E&CHR company, which owned the infrastructure, fell into receivership. The entire line closed to passengers in 1952 and completely in 1965. There is no railway activity on the former route now.
Portland Railway: an early tramway
The Isle of Portland is rich in excellent-quality limestone, that was considered ideal for the construction of public buildings. It was desirable because it was durable, easy to work, and pleasing in colour. In the early nineteenth century, transport to cities where it was required was by coastal shipping.
Much of the actual quarrying took place at high points on the Island, and getting the heavy material down to a quayside was a considerable task. In the early 1820s, this led to a tramway being promoted by interested parties, and the Portland Railway was incorporated by an act of Parliament, the (6 Geo. 4. c. cxxi) of 10 June 1825.Donald J Grant, Directory of the Railway Companies of Great Britain, Matador, Kibworth Beauchamp, 2017, , pages 454 and 455J H Lucking, Dorset Railways, The Dovecote Press, Wimborne, 1982, , page 49 It was also known informally as the Merchants' Railway or the Freeman's Incline.Martin Smith, Railways of the Isle of Portland, Irwell Press, Clophill, 1997, , page 1 It consisted of a horse-drawn tramway from what is now Priory Corner and a counterbalanced incline 586 yards (536m) in length descending to sea level near Portland Castle. From there, a further horse-worked section led to Castletown Pier.The railway always referred to the location as Castleton, without the w. It had a track gauge of 4ft 6in (1,372mm), and it opened in October 1826.B L Jackson, Isle of Portland Railways: volume 1: the Admiralty and Quarry Railways, Oakwood Press, Usk, 1999, , page 19
As it was paid for by the quarry operators who used it, its income was rather haphazard, although the public may have been allowed to use it. Maintenance was not carried out diligently on the track and the cable system, and stoppages due to breakdowns were common. Notwithstanding continual difficulties, the line continued into the twentieth century. Traffic then declined, and the First World War effectively stopped the demand for the stone, and the line ceased operation on 17 June 1917.Jackson, Portland, volume 1, pages 57 and 58 It reopened on 12 January 1920, and business was rather buoyant once again, but the outbreak of World War II indicated the end of operation, and the line closed again, this time permanently, on 11 October 1939.Smith, page 2
Weymouth and Portland Railway Main lines at Weymouth By the middle decades of the nineteenth century, Weymouth developed considerably as a seaside holiday resort. The broad gauge Great Western Railway had taken over the incomplete Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway and opened a line from near Chippenham to Weymouth on 20 January 1857.E T MacDermot, History of the Great Western Railway; Volume I; 1833 to 1863, published by the Great Western Railway, London, 1927, page 143 The London and South Western Railway had reached Dorchester with the aid of the Southampton and Dorchester Railway, and an act of Parliament had given it running powers from Dorchester to Weymouth over the GWR line. As a broad gauge line, the GWR had been compelled to lay mixed gauge track from Dorchester, where the two routes converged, for the convenience of the LSWR.B L Jackson, Castleman's Corkscrew: volume 1: the Nineteenth Century, Oakwood Press, Usk, 2007, , page 83
Construction
Because of the quarrying activity, a railway into Portland was agreed to be desirable, although there was some opposition, but the Weymouth and Portland Railway got an authorising act of Parliament, the (25 & 26 Vict. c. lxxi) on 30 June 1862. It was to be made on the mixed gauge, from a junction with the GWR line a short distance north of Weymouth station, to a terminus at Portland. The extent of line authorised was 4m 17ch (6.6km) for the main line, 34 chains (274m) for a tramway at Portland, and 1 mile 4 chains (1.93km) for a tramway "to the harbour", which referred to Weymouth Harbour. Authorised share capital was £75,000.Smith, page 5W E Edwards, The Weymouth and Portland Railway, in the Railway Magazine, September 1909, page 179Grant, page 607B L Jackson, Isle of Portland Railways: volume 2: the Weymouth and Portland Railway, the Easton and Church Hope Railway, Oakwood Press, Usk, 2000, , page 17
Work progressed and when the line was thought to be ready for opening, Col. Yolland made the Board of Trade inspection on 19 May 1864. In his report he stated that the track was of Vignoles (flat-bottom) rails spiked directly to transverse sleepers. There were two multiple-span viaducts, Backwater and Fleet, and Yolland said:
The viaducts are entirely of wood with openings mostly from 20 to 22 feet [6.1 to 6.7m] and they are both very unsatisfactory structures... The calculated breaking weight of one of these beams is about 11.5 tons but it is very uncertain what weight one of the half baulks would carry. It is quite certain that they are much too weak, that the workmanship is not good; and sufficient care not being exercised defective pieces of timber have been made use of. It is very doubtful whether these viaducts will not require to be entirely reconstructed and it is not clear whether the piles will not give under the weight of an engine.Col. Yolland report, 20 May 1864, quoted in Smith, pages 5 and 6
He went on
A Joint Committee [of the GWR and LSWR] is to be appointed to regulate the working... over the line but this has not yet been done so that it is uncertain in what manner it is proposed to work the traffic. The junction with the Wilts Somerset and Weymouth is made nearly a quarter of a mile (402m) north of the Weymouth station while on the deposited plans the distance does not exceed 200 yards (183m). Every train arriving at or departing from the Weymouth station for Portland will therefore require to be shunted over the long distance. This is an objectionable and dangerous practice... [There was no proper signalbox at Weymouth Junction, so] The signals at the junction with the Wilts Somerset and Weymouth railway require to be brought together on a properly covered-in stage at the junction – the signals to have the locking apparatus.
Some of the work was attended to and Yolland paid another visit on 6 August 1864. He found that although some strengthening of the viaducts had been attempted, little else had been rectified, and no solution had been proposed to the dangerous reversal of trains from Weymouth Junction to the station.Smith, page 7Jackson, Portland, volume 2, pages 25 to 27
As time went on with no progress, it became plain that the local company expected the Great Western Railway to assent to the use of the Weymouth station without payment. This had never been negotiated, nor suggested at the time of getting the act of Parliament. The LSWR objected to the arrangement as well, fearing that there would be insufficient accommodation for their own trains at Weymouth station. A request by the Weymouth and Portland company that its line might be operated by GWR broad gauge trains only was objected to by the Board of Trade: the line was authorised as a mixed gauge operation.
The issue was now put to arbitration under Captain Galton. He adjudicated that the Weymouth & Portland company could use Weymouth GWR station and pay them £2,600 for the accommodation provided, and £3,175 for land and works arranged by the GWR at the junction.
Open to traffic In September 1865 an agreement was finally settled, and early in October the Board of Trade approved the working arrangements. So far as the propelling from Weymouth was concerned, the resolution appears to have been that the train engine ran round at Weymouth Junction, hauling its train to and from that point. Goods traffic started working on 9 October, and on 16 October 1865 passenger trains started running.Edwards, page 182 The first day's receipts amounted to £26.Weymouth Telegram (newspaper), 19 October 1865, quoted in Edwards, page 183
Eleven trains ran each way except Sundays when four operated. After a few weeks this was reduced to eight and three respectively. The passenger service was run entirely by the LSWR at first, and this continued for some considerable time. The GWR worked the goods traffic, although occasionally narrow (standard) gauge goods wagons were attached to LSWR passenger trains.Edwards, page 183Smith, page 8 A new station at Rodwell was opened on 1 June 1870.Jackson, Portland, volume 2, pages 27 and 29 The signals at Portland were of the Stevens Patent lattice type, but at Weymouth Junction they were of the GWR disc and crossbar type.Edwards, page 184
The Great Western Railway route at Weymouth was converted to narrow (standard) gauge between 18 and 22 June 1874, of course affecting the Portland line also.Jackson, Portland, volume 2, page 32
Portland harbour breakwater and Admiralty line
In the 1840s, it was desired to provide a harbour of refuge at Portland. There was no other suitable place between Portsmouth and Plymouth. On 11 May 1847, the Portland Breakwater Act 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c. 24) was passed; the Commissioners of Woods and Forests could acquire land necessary to build a breakwater.Jackson, volume 1, page 63 Construction of the breakwater was a prodigious task involving very large quantities of stone and gravel, and it was not completed until 1872. Even then, much further defensive and marine work was continuing.Jackson, Portland, volume1, pages 83 to 89
During the construction of the breakwater, several temporary tramways had been laid. In 1870, it was decided that a more permanent railway connection was required, and the Great Western Railway (Additional Powers) Act 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. clxxxiii) and the South Western Railway Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. clxvi) of 19 July 1875 authorised the construction of a railway miles (2.5km) long between the Admiralty Breakwater and the Weymouth and Portland Railway. The line was to be known as the Admiralty Line.Smith, page 11