Today, I'm going off on a train tangent for this post - it may happen from time to time. I'm not a train spotter or photographer, but as previously discussed on the blog, I do like the railways. Thursday's snow gave the oppurtunity for a few odd workings. Southern were still snowbound, so not operational. First Great Western were using a variety of 150s and 158s to Portsmouth, and South West Trains were using Salisbury's Class 158s and 159s on the Southampton-Portsmouth route...
First up is South West Trains 444016 pictured heading arriving at Portchester on Thursday morning. South West Trains' 444s were on a shorterned Portsmouth Harbour - Eastleigh all stopper route, with no through workings to Basingstoke and London Waterloo. I do like these trains - they give a lovely smooth ride and are very quiet. I do enjoy my trip down to Weymouth or up to London on one of these, and its nice to see them so close to home - even if it is for the snow!
As I previously said, SWT were using Salisbury's Class 158 and 159 DMUs on the Southampton Central to Portsmouth Harbour route. I'm not sure if these extended at Soton Central to Salisbury - a modified timetable was in use. Pictured to the right are 158884 (head) and 158885 together at Cosham station heading for Portsmouth Harbour. Two 159s were also out on the line, one being 159102 and I think the other was 159022.
Finally, First Great Western were also down operating the entire Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour route. Here is 158955 pictured at Cosham heading for Portsmouth Harbour also on Thursday.That's it for trains - tomorrow I'll post my Cosham photos and then we'll return to normal posts, until it snows again.....
444's are used quite regularly between Eastleigh and Portsmouth, as part of the London to Portsmouth via Eastleigh route.
ReplyDeleteAgreed that the 444s give a quiet smooth ride but I find the seating less comfortable than their predecessors - the much missed 442 "plastic pigs"
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info - I'd seen some of the 444s on the Portsmouth - London via Basingstoke route but I wasn't sure how common they were.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have much experience of the plastic pigs, but I can kind of guess the seats were better. Everything these days on public transport seems to be getting more uncomfortable!
The Wessex Electrics (442s) had similar seating to the 158s and 159s, so were indeed very comfortable.
ReplyDeleteApparently a couple of the early morning Southern services from Southampton are to be scheduled for their recently acquired (but rather ancient) class 313s from next week.
I've just had a look on various Southern railway forums - apparently the 313s will be introduced to add capacity to the existing early morning peak Southampton - Brighton services - presently operated by 3-car 377s. This sounds like a sensible move - unless you need a toilet anywhere along that line....
ReplyDelete(I could get quite good at this train malarky!)