Operator: South Western Railway
Headcode: 1P52
Route: PMH-WAT
Class: 1st Class
Seat: ??
Date: Monday 26th August 2024
After a few days on the south coast exploring the railways, visiting friends and crossing the Solent to the Isle of Wight, it was time to head home. On my way down to the coast I’d travelled with South Western Railway (SWR) from London Waterloo to Dorchester South (read about that here) but on the way back I was travelling via the quicker Portsmouth Direct line from Portsmouth Harbour through to London. As such I started my day in Chichester, catching a southern service along the coast to Portsmouth, where I’d start the journey back towards the capital in earnest.
Arriving at Portsmouth Harbour around 25 minutes before my train was due to depart, I was pleased to find it was already waiting in platform 5. I was travelling in 1st class from Portsmouth to London, but unfortunately SWR don’t have any 1st class lounges on their network to wait in, however on this occasion that didn’t really matter as I was able to board the train straight away. 444020 & 444039 were the two class 444 units were forming the 1515 departure to London, and with the way the units were coupled 1st class was at the front and rear of the service.
Compared to the three-hour slog along the coast to Dorchester, the journey back to London from Portsmouth would be a much more pleasant one hour and 39 minutes with nine intermediate stops. After departure from Portsmouth Harbour, there would be two stops on Portsea Island, at Portsmouth & Southsea and Fratton. Havant would be the only along the ‘Coastway West’ before we would start to head inland via the Portsmouth Direct calling at Petersfield, Haslemere, Godalming, Farncombe and Guildford. From there, we’d head up to South Western Mainline and our final stop at Woking, before the final 25-minute run to Waterloo.
SWR’s class 444s have 1st class in a 2-2 configuration the same as standard class with just a bit more padding on the seats and them having leather rather than fabric coverings. There’s also curtains, reading lights and pairs of plug sockets at each group of seats, although the latter are unhelpfully placed under the table in the knee space of the window seats. The curtains ended up coming in handy later in the journey as the sun became a bit blinding as we headed north-ish through Petersfield and Haslemere. With SWR services designed as long distance commuter services, there’s no catering onboard trains across most of the network, including the Portsmouth Direct line, so make sure to stock up before boarding if you think you’re going to need a drink or snack!
The journey towards the capital was pretty uneventful and before I knew it we were pulling into our penultimate stop at Woking. The Surrey town has one of the busiest stations on the SWR network, and is the fifth busiest in the south-east of England (excluding London), with it also being the junction between the South West Mainline and the Portsmouth Direct line. During the off-peak Woking has a train to London Waterloo on average every five minutes, whilst also having direct connections to Alton, Basingstoke, Exeter, Haslemere, Portsmouth and Weymouth. Woking is just 25-minutes from London on a non-stop service, of which my service was one, and so after leaving Woking we were soon on the approaches to the UK’s busiest railway station, London Waterloo.
Arriving into platform 11 at 1656, three minutes late, the journey had taken just over one hour and 40 minutes and has been comfortable throughout. As with the journey to Dorchester, the peace and quiet and extra comfort provided by 1st class was welcome, but in reality for the journey to and from Portsmouth, standard class would be comfortable enough. I think my only slight moan would be that it would be nice if SWR provided some onboard catering, especially on these longer journeys, but I suppose they don’t deem it profitable enough.
Lounge 0*
Seat/Facilities 4*
Food 0*
Service 5*
Punctuality 5*
Overall Rating 13/25 (read about my rating system here!)
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