WAT-WEY South Western Railway – 1st Class

Operator: South Western Railway

Headcode: 1W57

Route:    PBO-WEY DCH

Class:    1^st Class

Seat:     ??

Date:     Saturday 24^th August 2024

The August Bank Holiday weekend saw me without any firm plans and, wanting to do a trip somewhere but not wanting to pay the peak air fares, I decided to visit some friends in Sussex, whilst building in some rail days of the south coast whilst I was down there. Having previously ticked off the majority of the line between Brighton and Portsmouth, Dorset and the Solent were my targets and so on the Bank Holiday Saturday, my trip started at London Waterloo with a South Western Railway (SWR) service to Weymouth.

With a journey time of just under three hours I had decided to pay a bit extra and get a first-class ticket for the journey, hoping for some extra comfort and a bit of peace and quiet for the trip to the coast. Unfortunately, SWR doesn’t have any first-class lounges and so my wait for the train was on the main concourse at Waterloo, although fortunately I didn’t have too long to wait with the platform being announced around 15 minutes prior to departure. Heading to platform 7, I headed towards the front of a train and, after a slightly embarrassing moment where I walked straight passed where I was aiming for, was soon settling into a seat for the journey to Weymouth.

Formed of two five-car class 444s, the service I was on (1W57) would run as a ten car train as far as Bournemouth, where the rear portion would detach and form a slower service to Poole, with the front portion running fast to Poole and then calling at all stations to Weymouth. In total on the three hour journey to Weymouth there would be a total of 17 intermediate stations, including Clapham Junction (which was officially to pick up passengers only, however the guard announced it as a set down point aswell), Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton Airport Parkway, Southampton Central and Brockenhurst before then the vast majority of the stations along the Dorset coast.

Unlike first-class on the majority of train operators in the UK, the first-class seating on SWR, including on their class 44s is laid out in a 2-2 configuration. Essentially the same seats as in standard class but with a bit more padding (which was welcome for the 3 hour journey), SWR sees itself as a commuter operator rather than an inter-city operator and as such even on its longest distance services, the layout is styled for commuter operators. There are a few other add-ons in first, including tables, plug sockets (although these are ergonomically placed in the knee space of the window seats), curtains and reading lights. There’s also no catering onboard SWR’s services (other than on the West of England line) and so certainly no food or drink included with a first-class ticket, meaning you need to stock up before boarding if you’re making a long journey.

Departing Waterloo on time at 0805, the first stage of the journey to Clapham Junction was pretty much entirely filled with announcements, both automated and by the guard. The stop at Clapham Junction passed quickly and as we departed, I was able to see into Clapham Yard which was full of SWR’s new class 701 ‘Arterios’ patiently waiting to fully enter service, some five years after their intended introduction. The fast run between Clapham and Basingstoke also saw us passing Wimbledon Park depot, home to a large portion of SWR’s suburban fleet, and Woking Yard, used as a base for a number of Network Rail’s maintenance trains. With this section of the journey fairly familiar to me, with previous journeys to Basingstoke, Portsmouth and Southampton, I spent the first part of the journey finishing my Tampere blog post (read that here) and playing a game on my laptop.

Throughout the journey the weather was pretty miserable, as would be expected for a Bank Holiday weekend in England, however this didn’t stop people heading for the coast. An hour and 15 minutes after leaving Waterloo we stopped at Southampton Central, the fifth stop of the journey, and it was here I was glad I’d paid extra for the peace of first-class as lots of people boarded heading for a weekend on the coast. After departing passed the entrances to the Western Docks and Maritime terminal, with plenty of Freightliner wagons and locos in the latter ready to form Intermodal services to destinations across the country.

After Southampton Central, there were four more intermediate stops before the train split at Bournemouth with these being Brockenhurst (where the Lymington branch splits from the mainline), New Milton, Christchurch and Pokesdown. This section of the line runs somewhat inland and so, rather than views of the south coast, you’re treated to the scenery of the New Forest National Park. In fact, other than the section of the line between Bournemouth and Holton Heath, you see very little of the Dorset coast, with the line passing through a mix of the New Forest, Towns and some bits of Industry.

With the rear half of the train detached at Bournemouth there was just under an hour left of the journey to Weymouth and on departure, the service ran fast to Poole, passing Bournemouth Depot hidden in the trees to the south of the mainline. Stops at Hamworthy, Holton Heath and Wareham passed without anything to note, although as we approached the next stop, Wool, I did notice some disused sidings with a vehicle boarding ramp to the east of the station. With the Army’s Bovington Camp nearby, regimental headquarters of the Royal Tank Regiment, I can only imagine these sidings were once used to load armoured vehicles onto railway wagons for transport across the country.

After Wool there were just three more intermediate stops before Weymouth, Moreton, Dorchester South and Upwey, I decided to change my plan slightly and bail on this service at Dorchester South. With a full rail day ahead of me and a tightly worked out plan to tick off the stations we’d skipped on the way back to Southampton, I only had a one-minute connection at Weymouth and expected that in reality, the signal would clear for my next service as soon as this one was in clear. I’d also previously ticked off Upwey and Weymouth on a previous rail day from Bristol and with alighting at Dorchester South, had time to get a much-needed coffee before my next train.

Overall, this journey with SWR was ok, although nothing special for their longest service. First-class was worth the extra on this occasion just for the peace and quiet compared to standard, and the extra padding on the seats was appreciated, however on most occasions its probably not really worth it, certainly if you’re making a shorter journey. What did surprise we was that SWR don’t have a trolley service on these longer services as I would imagine there’d be the demand for those making the longer journeys, however clearly its not worth the effort for them. All in all not a bad journey but not one that’ll stand out in the future either.

Lounge              0*

Seat/Facilities     3*

Food                0*

Service             5*

Punctuality         5*

Overall Rating      13/25 (read about my rating system here!)