Were there not a couple of Haslemere starters in the morning peak which started from platform 3? There certainly were in the 'seventies when I was commuting regularly on the PDL. They were formed 12-CIG and ran emptiy from Fratton depot in the early hours.
There was just one Haslemere starter in this period: the 0930 Haslemere-Waterloo fast (Guildford and Woking only) formed variously of 8VEP+2HAP or 12VEP, depending on the year. Came empty from Waterloo off a morning peak service and served as a relief for the 0936 (part of the regular hourly pattern; the '81' fast from Portsmouth) which was the first off-peak service and would otherwise have been very crowded. This service has some significance personally as it was what I used to first visit London by train, and therefore my first experience of Waterloo (summer 1983). It was favoured by Haslemere daytrippers to London as it started there and was thus relatively quiet - as well as being the first off-peak train.
This however ran from P2, if I remember right.
1977 appeared to be a fairly major revision on the Direct, which I guess you remember.
The 1967 CWN (which I have) includes these Haslemere starters:
0724 formed 12COR/BUF/COR
0810 formed 12BIL
0839 formed 8COR
The first two still existed in 1974, whereas the 0839 still existed but started at Portsmouth. Presumably the ones you remember were these two, but they went over to CIGs.
Interestingly an 0724-ish from Haslemere, calling all stations to Guildford, was, from what I remember, a near constancy from 1967 right through to 2019, surviving several major timetable revisions.
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