| Wolverhampton-Bournemouth | Arrive | Depart |
| Wolverhampton | 06:02 | |
| Birmingham New Street | 06:19 | 06:33 |
| Winchester | 08:58 | 09:05 |
| Bournemouth | 10:00 |
The first 'leg' to Birmingham was by a 2-coach Diesel Multiple Unit operated by Transport for Wales, reporting number 1G28. At Birmingham New Street, the train stopped at the south end of the platform (before continuing to Birmingham International) so I had a fair walk to the escalators towards the north end of the platform which allowed me to cross to platform 9 (without the 'faff' of using the ticket barriers).
There was a Cross Country 'Voyager' displaying the destination as 'Manchester' in the north end of platform 9. As I watched, another 'Voyager', comprising two 'sets', slowly arrived in platform 9 from the south - clearly an empty stock working from the Bombardier Depot at Central Rivers (near Burton-upon-Trent). The new arrival stopped a few yards short of the Manchester train, following handsignals from a driver waiting on the platform who was presumably about to take over one of the trains. After a short delay, the new arrival eased forward a few feet and I realised that it had been uncoupled from the rearmost set. So there were now three departures in platform 9, one behind the other, bound for Manchester, Painton and Southampton.
I boarded the Southampton service, reporting number 1O80, and we left on time, turning right at Proof House Junction to reach St. Andrews Junction where we first joined the former Midland Railway Camp Hill line before diverging left at Bordesley Junction to next join the former Great Western route to London Paddington.
Our first calling point was Leamington Spa, where the original layout of two main lines flanked by platform loops remains although the station is much changed from steam days. Immediately south of the station, only parts of the viaduct remain which formerly brought the L&NWR line to a second station Leamington (Milverton). The comprehensive WarwickshireRailways.com site has more information about the history of both stations - the GWR station is described here, the L&NWR station here.
Further south, Fenny Compton is the junction for the MOD Depot at Kineton. There's an excellent history of Kineton MOD and its railways in Roger Farnworth's blog here. At Fenny Compton, there are goods loops in both directions and a Freightliner train was waiting in the Down Loop. During the journey, I was using Railcam.UK intermittently on my mobile phone, so I quickly identified the freight as 4M62 from Southampton to Lawley Street. There's an introduction to using Railcam.UK in my post here.
My train was 'right time' for its next stop at Banbury, then we passed under the flyover at Aynho Junction where the Princes Risborough Line diverges. The 'cut-off' through Princes Risborough gave the Great Western a faster route from Birmingham to London Paddington than the original route through Oxford and Didcot but, following British Rail's decision to electrify the former L&NWR, the route became less important. The line from Aynho Junction to Princes Risborough was singled and a number of intermediate stations lost their through main lines, retaining what had been platform loops. This, of course, was in the name of reducing ongoing maintenance costs but, with passenger traffic increases generated by the innovative Train Operating Company Chiltern Trains and their services between Birmingham and London Marylebone, the line from Aynho to Princes Risborough has been restored to double track.
Oxford station appeared completely modernised with comprehensive signalling and track improvements including high-speed turnouts. We arrived at 07:40 and left, on time, at 07:42. Railcam.UK showed me that we were being followed by 4O18, a Lawley Street to Southampton Freightliner train. At Didcot we used the Didcot avoiding line, catching brief views of the Great Western Society's facilities and numerous steam locomotives before joining the now-electrified Up Relief line of the Great Western Main Line which took us to our next stop at Reading.
The modernisation in the Reading area was even more spectacular that at Oxford (but I believe did cost around 400 million pounds!). We ducked under the 'new' flyover carrying the Up and Down Main lines which was opened, I think, in 2015 and stopped in the west end of platform 7. My train would reverse here, so as to reach the line to Basingstoke. The container train following us would have no need to enter the station at all. Passing under the flyover to gain the Reading West Curve, it would join the Basingstoke line at Oxford Road Junction without hampering traffic on the Main lines at all. We arrived at 08:05 and were not due out until 08:22, giving me time to tale a few pictures of the station. It's impressive from an engineering point of view but, for me, bereft of any aesthetic appeal. There's more information about the station on Wikipedia here.
Bournemouth by Train: Reading, view from overbridge looking west showing the amazing tangle of Overhead Line Equipment and a Class 800 approaching.
Bournemouth by Train: Reading, view of platform 7 looking west, showing my 'Voyager' waiting to leave with the Southampton service.
Departure was on time and my train headed south for about fifteen miles so as to join the main line from Waterloo just east of Basingstoke station.
The line we had joined opened in 1840 as the London and Southampton Railway, only ten years after the opening of the pioneering Liverpool and Manchester Railway. When the London and Southampton Railway opened a branch from Eastleigh to Gosport, creating the first railway to serve Portsmouth via a ferry across Portsmouth Harbour, it tactfully changed its name to the London and South Western Railway, since Portsmouth regarded Southampton as rather an 'upstart'.
The main line through Basingstoke has four tracks, paired by direction (Down Slow, Down Fast, Up Fast, Up Slow). This arrangement had applied from Wimbledon, with intermediate stations provided only with flanking platforms on the slow lines but Basingstoke has platforms on all four lines. The station buildings are elderly but attractive of red brick construction with extensive canopies over the platforms.
Bournemouth by Train: Basingstoke Station Buildings.
We arrived at Basingstoke at 08:39 (1 minute early), leaving at 08:44 and accelerating towards Worting Junction where the direct line to Salisbury diverged to our right. This line had opened in the 1850s and ultimately led to Exeter and Plymouth, inciting fierce rivalry with the Great Western Railway for traffic, best known for the competition for the 'Ocean Mails' traffic from Plymouth. At Worting Junction, crossovers allow the traffic to 'sort itself out' and then what were the Fast Lines become the Up and Down Exeter and what had been the Slow Lines become the Up and Down Southampton. Battledown Flyover, opened in 1897, allows Up Southampton trains to avoid conflicts with trains on the Exeter line, as clarified in the Wikipedia article here.
Bournemouth by Train: Battledown Flyover, viewed from down Southampton train.
When booking my ticket on the internet, the recommendation was to change at Winchester so I had a few minutes to take pictures of the simple layout: just two platforms flanking the main lines.
Bournemouth by Train: Winchester platform 2, looking towards Eastleigh, with 'Voyager' departing for Southampton.
On the Down side to the north of the station, there is a single refuge siding, called the Baltic Siding, apparently usable by trains in either direction.
Bournemouth by Train: View from Winchester platform 2, looking towards London, showing overbridge and signals EH144 and EH252 for Up direction movements. The turnout to the right is for the Baltic Siding.
Whilst I waited, an Up container train rattled through from Southampton but I didn't identify the destination. My connection arrived on time; a Class 444 EMU formed from two 5-car units, reporting number 1W57, which had left London Waterloo at 08:05 and taken just one hour for the 66 miles. We reeled off the seven miles to Eastleigh, passing the extensive yards at speed on the Down Fast before braking for our stop at Southampton Airport. Soon on our way again, we passed the 4-platform junction at St. Denys, where the line from Fareham converges and had views on the left of the River Itchen which sinuously makes its way to the sea.
Bournemouth by Train: View of River Itchen approaching Southampton.
From St. Denys there are four running lines, paired by direction past the modern Northam Traincare Depot on our left. At Northam Junction the line to Southampton Eastern Docks, now single, continues ahead. The branch is just over a mile long so there were no views of the 'Old Dock', although St. Mary's Stadium, home of Southampton's Premier League Football Club - the "Saints" was very apparent.
Beyond Northam Junction, the double track main line executes an almost 90-degree turn to the right before entering Southampton Central station via a tunnel 528 yards long. I found the present reinforced concrete 4-platform station dating from the 1930s and refurbished in 2011 unappealing, I'm afraid. There were aspirations to build a completely new 10-platform station but I don't know how that's progressing.
West of the station there are four running lines flanked by two loops. The six lines are 'grouped by direction' but, unusually, in the order Down Loop, Down Fast, Down Slow, Up Slow, Up Fast, Up Loop. This seems to be because the next station, Millbrook, just under a mile from Southampton Central has only one island platform placed between what have become the present Slow lines. Re-signalling has transformed the area since my early visits, during which the four Loop and Fast sines have been arranged for reversible working. As I passed, I could see that signalling alterations were continuing in the area - there were a number of uncommissioned new colour light signals with the signal heads shrouded in a custom-made bag carrying the white cross symbol indicating uncommissioned equipment. Speed was quite low through this area.
I didn't really see Millbrook Freightliner Terminal on the north side of the line, because my attention was focused on the tantalising views across the fence on the south side as we passed first the Western Docks and then the more modern container berths operated by DP World.
I knew that Southampton had a berth large enough to handle the super-size 'Post-Panamax' container ships and I took the picture below not sure whether the vessel was a 'Post Panamax' design - from a few hundred yards away on the train, it was hard to determine the size. A little research back home confirmed the vessel was the 'Post-Panamax' vessel 'MOL TRIUMPH' with a capacity of over 20,000 twenty-foot containers or equivalent!
Bournemouth by Train: View of DP World berth DP5 at Southampton after passing Millbrook station. The ship is MOL TRIUMPH.
We passed Maritime Freightliner Terminal, next to container berths DP1 to DP4 and then under the long concrete bridge carrying road traffic to the container berths. A couple of 'Freightliner' locomotives stood in the sidings near the repair shop where freightliner wagons are serviced.
Bournemouth by Train: View of DP World container cranes at berths DP1 to 4 at Southampton with Freightliner container crane in foreground.
Bournemouth by Train: View of DP World container cranes at berths DP1 to 4 at Southampton, Freightliner locomotives and bridge carrying First Avenue to Dock Gate 20 on left, Freightliner repair shop on right.
As we crossed the River Test on the Totton Causeway, there were final views of Southampton docks before we headed towards the New Forest and our next stop at Brockenhurst.
Bournemouth by Train: River Test with DP World container terminals in the distance.
At Brockenhurst, a Class 450 EMU forming the shuttle service to Lymington was waiting on the opposite face of the Down island platform. Railcam.UK informed me that the reporting number of the Lymington train was 1J15. Some years ago I used the Brockenhurst - Lymington Pier service when slam-door stock was still in use. I think the 'diagram' then involved seven round trips on the line. There's an article about the branch on Wikipedia here.
The final 15 miles to Bournemouth took us just 21 minutes, including three brief stops - at New Milton, Christchurch and Pokesdown, giving us a 'right time' arrival. The leading driving cab of my train had stopped near a pillar supporting the umbrella roof and I'd noticed the bucket of water with two mops leaning on the pillar. But I'd not realised the intention until the driver left the cab and used one of the mops to liberally douse the front cab window with water. The wet patch on the platform testified to the technique being common practice. I concluded that the built-in window washing feature on these EMU is not as effective as it might be.
Bournemouth: Class 444 which I'd caught at Winchester about to head to Weymouth.
Platform announcements indicated that the two sets divided at Bournemouth, the front set continuing to Weymouth, the rear set terminating, I think. Although the two cental roads between the Up and Down platforms have been elimited, Bournemouth is still laid out to facilitate trains being divided or joined. There are two middle sidings between the Down and Up lines just west of the train shed, provided with a servicing platform and lighting and these see regular use. The Down platform (number 3) extends west outside the train shed for some distance, forming the now-disused platform 4.
Bournemouth: View from footbridge looking west with platform 3 and disused platform 4 beyond. The concrete road bridge carries dual-carriageway Wessex Way.
The real joy for me was the train shed itself which had become very shabby but, following extensive refurbishment in 2000 with brickwork and stonework cleaned, roof trusses repainted, roof reglazed and replacement of the glazed end screens, natural light floods onto the platforms. Wikipedia has an article on Bournemouth station here.
Bournemouth: View looking towards London from footbridge showing station buildings on platform 2 and Train Shed roof.
Bournemouth: View looking towards London on platform 3 showing station buildings and Train Shed roof.
Bournemouth Station: View from approach road on south side.
However, I only spared a few minutes taking pictures before boarding a taxi to Littledown Park to attend the 2019 'Lionsmeet' (described here).
Book References
[1] 'Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Vol. 11, Thames and Severn' by Rex Christiansen (ISBN: 0715380044).
[2] 'The London & South Western Railway' O.S. Nock, published by Ian Allen.
[3] 'The South Western Railway' by Hamilton Ellis, published 1956 by George Allen and Unwin.
[4] 'History of the Southern Railway' by C. F. Dendy Marshall, revised by R. W. Kidner reprinted 1982 by Ian Allen (ISBN 0 7110 0059 X).
[5] 'Southampton's Railways' by Bert Moody, Waterfront Publications (ISBN 0 946184 63 1).
Related articles on other sites
London and South Western Railway (Wikipedia).
Lymington branch line (Wikipedia).
Bournemouth railway station (Wikipedia).
Related articles on this site
Origins of the Southern Railway: Part 1 - L.S.W.R. 17-Nov-2015
Lionsmeet 2019.
Watching The Trains Go By.
My pictures
Where necessary, clicking on an image above will display an 'uncropped' view or, alternately, pictures may be selected, viewed or downloaded, in various sizes, from the albums below:-
West Midland Railways (pictures on earlier journeys).
Bournemouth by Train.
Apologies for the poor quality of pictures taken on board modern trains.
