“It's not an ‘obby, it's a lifestyle!” October 2019.
Day 19. 27th October 2019
This was a bit different. A 7AM alarm on a Sunday! (Eww...)
The concept of trains before 9AM is fairly alien to us Oop Nowf, even when they turn up! So boarding a train at 07:57 was a bit of a shock to the system! Especially when it not only actually turned up, but had 12 carriages! At that point in the journey, 450562+450106+450547 were overkill for the demand however I suspect after Woking (especially given the Staines diverts giving a reduced service) it may not have been. I was bailing at the first required shack on the line, Rowlands Castle. I had a linear +60 at this small shack which passed quite quickly. A sign that winter is coming, I had to dry the morning dew off the bench before sitting on it.
The next service was only running as far as Woking, it seemed the smaller stations only had 1tp2h through to London today. Not that it made any difference to me, I was only travelling as far as Farncombe. That said, I was a bit surprised to see 450568 roll in on it's own having just been on a 12 coach service! Again it wasn't busy at all so I easily got a seat. I was talking to the friendly guard, who seemed to have an idea what I was doing. Next stop was Petersfield where I was bailing for a ‘Spoons breakfast! I got the feeling he was a bit of a ‘Spoons fan too as that was what the conversation quickly turned to. I was planning to tick a few ‘Spoons as well as stations today, in fact it was a decent haul for a Sunday really. Petersfield ‘Spoons is worth a visit, an old Tudor building. The pub was quite busy as there was an International Rugby match being shown. Wrong code of Rugby for me, though it was nice to see the Welsh get beat! My (very) large breakfast was devoured before returning to the station.
I only just made the next train, with 450567+450558+450031 doing the honours to Liphook. At least there was a shelter with a decent bench here rather than just a bar seat similar to some of the ones I'd endured in the Highlands back in August. 450568 had returned from Woking to take me back to Liss. The same friendly guard as earlier was keen to know how I'd got on with my breakfast and my next move, he suggested I visited the Spoons in Haslemere later on. I was unaware of said establishment but made a mental note of it with the intention of visiting later on in the day. I only had a short fester at Liss, a station which reminded me of one of the SE stations in the zones (Knockholt?) Before crossing over to board the Waterloo bound service. 450041 rolled in, I took the option of a fairly urgently required PNB onboard and some phone charge before alighting this busy service at Milford.
It had become an unseasonably sunny day, very pleasant indeed for ticking stations. It was a quick crossover here onto a late running 450562+450106+450547, returning from Waterloo. I travelled just one stop to Witley for a +45 or so. Today seemed to be going well, the Portsmouth Direct is a bit awkward to do shacks on and I was making good progress. Just 3 more to do and it was cleared. I attempted to locate the Haslemere Spoons on Google Maps, but was unsuccessful. It seemed there was not a Spoons in Haslemere, I'd been misinformed. Ah well, I'd still get the Godalming establishment. Another fairly pleasant wait over, and I boarded 450088+450118 for the trip to Farncombe. This was as far North as I was going before heading back down towards Fratton. I crossed over to the Southbound platform and took a seat, crossing the shacks I'd done so far off the map. I'd noticed my train had lost a few minutes, then was suddenly cancelled.
Here we go again...! “Where's the pub?” Was my second thought. (The first thought would get me banned.) A quick look online suggested a farce was ensuing. Power supply issues with the third rail in the Haslemere area had blocked the line in the Portsmouth direction. Fantastic(!) Buses had been requested, which I know from experience isn't done lightly and the following service in an hour had also been cancelled. I was advised to go via Woking as I was really heading for the Southampton area, so back onto 450568 I went, still with the same conductor. He was unaware of the farce, so being a Fratton guard seemingly on his last trip, wasn't overly impressed when I told him! I took a seat for the unexpected trip to Woking which, unsurprisingly, became rather busy after Guildford. I now know the reason why the Woking services were single units, they were running in and out of the bay platform.
I was planning to get a pair of 444s down to Eastleigh direct from Woking, however there didn't seem to be any formal ticket acceptance in place. The guard of the stopper was wondering if we'd divert, so I hung around. I once again felt like being at work standing waiting for news. The gen came, and the gen was good. Diverting via Eastleigh, first stop Fratton. Yep, I'm doing that! I re-boarded 450568 along with a few other passengers for destinations such as Haslemere and Portsmouth who had travelled into Woking from Guildford. I was sat near the guard's office (seriously, what was the objection to those on London Midland?? They're a great point of contact for passengers needing to find one of SWT's “Absolute Legends”, something which seems to have continued into the SWR tenure in my admittedly limited experience down here) and he noticed me messing with my power bank when it died. This was an unrefurbished 450, so he kindly let me sit in First Class for some charge.
I naturally, along with someone else in similar circumstances, opted for one of the tables to spread out and settle in. I set up SWR Stream to continue watching a film (the name escapes me now) and kept an eye on Traksy and my once again revised plan. We had a very fast run down the SWML, though pausing briefly outside Winchester due to a Class 1 calling there ahead of us. *giggle* I expected, if this were to go badly, We’d get caught by the single line between Hedge End and Fareham. This didn't happen and we made it into Fratton a couple of minutes early. A very good run indeed, though a bit annoying that I need to return for Godalming and Haslemere. It felt weird being back in Fratton during daylight, though I wasn't heading back to my hotel yet! I had a couple of options to fit the shacks I had left into my plan so took a seat and worked things out. Opting for the non stop run to Fratton had caused me a considerable time penalty and wiped out a possible Spoons move, but I didn't care-it was fun!
158950 was working the next Southampton service, becoming well loaded after Cosham due to no GTR services running. (Something which would come to bite. Twice.) I alighted at Southampton with a few passengers complaining that the train wasn't going to Salisbury and they had to get a bus. Unlucky. It was planned engineering works, check before you travel! It was, naturally, time for me to go round and round once again. A surprise was to come here, 159104 had escaped from Grateley to work the rounders. I was not expecting that! I alighted this service at Redbridge (Spoiler: it doesn't have a red bridge. But it does have a LOT of cars) for a short(ish) fester (isn't late running great at times!) Back onto the same unit for the bus stop move to the delightful station at Millbrook. This was the first day after the clocks had gone back, so I'd made the unintentional mistake of visiting here after dark. Not something I'd particularly recommend.
158881 was the other unit going round and round which I took to Romsey purely as a fill in move before remaining on the same unit to go round to Eastleigh. I had a short fester here and was now heading back towards Fratton. Not just yet though! I boarded 444021 needing to tick off the next 2 shacks. I bailed off at Botley for a supply raid in the local BP Garage before quickly returning to the station for 444045 one stop back to Hedge End. It was rather cold when I alighted here for a reasonably long fester. 444034 eventually arrived running slightly late on the Portsmouth bound service. We were delayed further at Fareham due to an incident on the platform requiring Police attention, though not for long. It was only early evening, though I was already headed back to my hotel. I was tired and needed an early night, for reasons that will become apparent in the next report.
