Southampton Cruise Railway Terminals - When were they last used?

[Gostav]

From Google Maps and Railway Track Digrams Southern & TfL I noticed that both cruise terminals in Southampton - P&O Terminal and QEII Terminal have rail connections but l never hear any boat trains serviced to them in recent years. When were they last used (I can found the last boat train video on Youtube was 2012) and what does a train ticket look like?

Edited: I think there are two standard to define "used": A. Real boat train, the passengers were all cruise passengers; B. Tour train but named Boat Train, the passengers were rail fans and not actually for boarding cruise.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Well, I was certainly on a proper boat train working on 1st September 2002 to connect with the Queen Elizabeth 2 and I'm sure it was done a number of times after that.

 

[DelW]

From Google Maps and Railway Track Digrams Southern & TfL I noticed that both cruise terminals in Southampton - P&O Terminal and QEII Terminal have rail connections but l never hear any boat trains serviced to them in recent years. When were they last used (I can found the last boat train video on Youtube was 2012) and what does a train ticket look like?

Edited: I think there are two standard to define "used": A. Real boat train, the passengers were all cruise passengers; B. Tour train but named Boat Train, the passengers were rail fans and not actually for boarding cruise.

In category B, UK Railtours (operating as Hertfordshire Rail Tours) ran the "Andover Fist" charter tour into the QE2 terminal on 8th April 2017. That was a rerun from the original date of 5th November 2016, when the tour had to be curtailed after the train derailed a bogie of one of the leading coaches near Canute Road level crossing on the way into the docks.

Not long before that there had been trains in category A, worked by DBS or DRS, carrying cruise passengers from Scotland and northern England on behalf of several cruise organisers, however I think that those had been suspended by the time of the charter.

The "Andover Fist" name was a pun based on the tour traversing the Ludgershall branch near Andover later in the day. It was hauled top and tail by 66005 and 66165.

 

[Bread & cheese]

In category B, UK Railtours (operating as Hertfordshire Rail Tours) ran the "Andover Fist" charter tour into the QE2 terminal on 8th April 2017. That was a rerun from the original date of 5th November 2016, when the tour had to be curtailed after the train derailed a bogie of one of the leading coaches near Canute Road level crossing on the way into the docks.

Not long before that there had been trains in category A, worked by DBS or DRS, carrying cruise passengers from Scotland and northern England on behalf of several cruise organisers, however I think that those had been suspended by the time of the charter.

The "Andover Fist" name was a pun based on the tour traversing the Ludgershall branch near Andover later in the day. It was hauled top and tail by 66005 and 66165.

Two photos from that tour.
We couldn't alight at the terminal, because railings had been installed along the platform edge (after an accident with a forklift truck, I think?).
(Both pictures show the view from a Mark 1 carriage. The first picture shows a sign reading "Queen Elizabeth II Cruise Terminal", standing on a quay at which the stern of one ship and the bow of another can be seen. The second picture shows Canute Road open level crossing, with cars waiting for the train to pass.)

 

[swt_passenger]

A YouTube search for “Cruise Saver services Southampton” brought up a “last run” from 2012, but that seems earlier than I thought. But maybe they might have had another short lived attempt a few years later?

Didn’t wash its face financially, I believe.

 

[Meerkat]

To be honest I’m not sure I would trust a one off train to get me to a ship departure with high consequences to being late!

 

[Dunfanaghy Rd]

There was a change in the way the shipping companies sold their product. They cut out the travel agents in favour of online booking. The knock-on was that the agencies no longer offered the boat train as an add-on. Since then the car traffic in the East Docks, and box traffic in the Western Docks, has used up all the time / space available.
Pat

 

[12LDA28C]

A YouTube search for “Cruise Saver services Southampton” brought up a “last run” from 2012, but that seems earlier than I thought. But maybe they might have had another short lived attempt a few years later?

Didn’t wash its face financially, I believe.

The Cruise Saver finished in late 2012 I believe, there was no later attempt to run the train as it wasn't financially viable. Both Eastern and Western Docks were visited by the train which generally ran with pairs of DRS 47s.

To be honest I’m not sure I would trust a one off train to get me to a ship departure with high consequences to being late!

I believe there was at least one occasion where the train missed the boat...

 

[Falcon1200]

Given that cruise ships are not exactly a time-critical means of transport would the ship not simply wait for the train?!!

 

[12LDA28C]

Given that cruise ships are not exactly a time-critical means of transport would the ship not simply wait for the train?!!

I would say it rather depends on what percentage of ship passengers are arriving on the train and what the itinerary of the boat was - maybe the first voyage was a short one and a specific docking time had to be achieved at destination.

 

[Falcon1200]

maybe the first voyage was a short one and a specific docking time had to be achieved at destination.

Fair point. But how annoying must it have been, to be booked on a cruise liner special train only to miss the boat (and its all-you-can eat buffet...)

 

[Carbean]

Given that cruise ships are not exactly a time-critical means of transport would the ship not simply wait for the train?!!

Also ships have to pay whist they are berthed in harbour (and I am told they get an heavy penalty should they overstay their booked departure), have to travel faster and use more fuel to make up lost time. Also the pilot is probably on board to guide the ship out and if he is late going to pilot another ship the port has to pay compensation to any ships delayed.

 

[Snow1964]

The tracks to QE2 terminal (berth 38) stop bit short of actual building now (used it in May for short cruise)

Here is a photo took from another cruise ship at Mayflower terminal (berth 106) in June 2023, as can be seen lot of the tracks are still there outside, even part of the large scissors crossovers between the sheds. The end of building still has old Southern Railway 106. There are still tracks in front (landward side) of this terminal, but appear to be out of use and now used as access to car park.

 

[Dougal2345]

A couple of pictures of the platform from the 'Andover Fist' tour.