Romsey to Salisbury - South Western Railway.

[PeterY]

I have this bad habit of picking up timetables on my travels.

I've been looking at the South Western Railway timetable No 25 Romsey to Salisbury.

The trains start at Romsey and do a full loop via Chandler's Ford, EastLeigh, Southampton, Millbrook, Romsey and finish at Salisbury. I may be totally wrong but should someone get on at Romsey, wanting to go to Salisbury, could they in theory, travel via Southamton because it's only one train with the destination Salisbury.

 

[bb21]

They are not advertised at Romsey at the start of the journey as going to Salisbury on the boards.

Nothing stopping them doing so but the guard would probably think they were bonkers. (Well, they would be.)

 

[Muzer]

I have this bad habit of picking up timetables on my travels.

I've been looking at the South Western Railway timetable No 25 Romsey to Salisbury.

The trains start at Romsey and do a full loop via Chandler's Ford, EastLeigh, Southampton, Millbrook, Romsey and finish at Salisbury. I may be totally wrong but should someone get on at Romsey, wanting to go to Salisbury, could they in theory, travel via Southamton because it's only one train with the destination Salisbury.

Yes, this is definitely possible. At Romsey the Salisbury via Southampton services are advertised as Redbridge, the Salisbury direct services are advertised as Salisbury (duh), and the Romsey via Southampton services are advertised as Chandler's Ford. It's worth pointing out that this is then pretty counter-intuitive if you want to go to Redbridge or Chandler's Ford, as you should be getting on the other train if you don't want an all stations journey via Southampton (Though I suppose come to think of it that's quite common, the train with your station displayed as the destination not being the fastest way to get there!)

 

[yorkie]

Here's what I said in 2014:

A train with a calling pattern like this:-

Romsey [ROM]
Chandlers Ford [CFR]
Eastleigh [ESL]
Southampton Airpt Parkway [SOA]
Swaythling [SWG]
St Denys [SDN]
Southampton Central [SOU]
Millbrook (Hampshire) [MBK]
Redbridge [RDB]
Romsey [ROM]
Mottisfont & Dunbridge [DBG]
Dean [DEN]
Salisbury [SAL]
​

In my opinion you could use the outward portion of a Romsey to Salisbury ticket on such a train, as it is a through train from Romsey to Salisbury. Of course, the Guard would think you're crazy! (An excuse of 'I'm an enthusiast just trying to cover the line' could get either a positive or negative response!)

I also do not believe it would be permitted to break your journey en-route, though I am aware some people disagree with me. I say that because if you alight from the train you're no longer on a through train from origin to destination, which is the only reason the ticket would be considered valid.

On the return, your ticket would obviously expire at Romsey (the first time).

I am minded to be of the same view today as I was then.

The only thing I would add is that I would buy online from a website that will offer the itinerary you want. If you stick to the itinerary then your ticket has to be accepted under contract and consumer laws (irrespective of whether or not it is considered 'valid').