Portsmouth to Cardiff - General Information

[whole diary]

[Phil]

Portsmouth, Fareham, Southampton and Romsey to Salisbury; to and from Warminster and stations to Freshford, via Westbury, Bath, Bristol and on to Cardiff

Description of line

Portsmouth Harbour, Portsmouth and Southsea and Fratton ... Cosham and Fareham to Southampton alon g the Hampshire coastline. Then Inland via Romsey, Mottisfont / Dunbridge and Dean to Salisbury in Wiltshire.

Double track from Salisbury to Westbury and on to Freshford.

Most of the ststions in the Wylye Valley were closed in the Beeching era, so there's a long run from Salisbury to Warminster. Even Wilton station - and Wilton was the old capital of Wessex - is gone.

North of Warminster, it gets a little better with stations at Dilton Marsh, Westbury, Trowbridge, Bradford-on-Avon, Avoncliff and Freshford ... but the stations into Bath, once again, are all closed.

Major railway junction at Westbury, Swindon line leaves just north of Trowbridge, and the line joins the main London to Bristol line just before Bath.


Service offered

Hourly Portsmouth to Cardiff service throughout the day, and this is a popular moneyspinner.

Extra hourly "stopper" service from Westbury to Bath and Bristol making, overall, a half hourly train. Some of these extended to Frome, Yeovil and Weymouth.

In 2007 (ONLY) an extra shuttle service from Westbury via Salisbury to Southampton, approx every 3 hours.

2 extra trains per day Westbury - Trowbridge (and on to Swindon).


Peak flows

To Bath and Britol in the morning peak, return in the evening


Known issues

Overcrowding at peak times from Wesbury to Bristol



Overcrowding on almost all trains Portsmouth - Cardiff, espcially when they run with just 2 coaches. (April 2007 - 2 car seems to be the norm! now!)

Inadequate service will be provided to Dilton Marsh once the shuttle is withdrawn, and Warminster too will see a major drop in services.

Commuter traffic from West Wilts stations and Frome to Swindon is no longer catered for by the inadequate service of 2 trains a day left on this line; changing at Bath is an inconvenient option on already-overcrowded services.



 

[grahame]

Updating - January 2021 ... could members check the following and comment with corrections please.  I will then start a fresh, sticky topic.

- Hourly services - Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour, semifast
- Using class 165 and 166 "Thames Turbo" trains
- In theory 5 car trains (written during pandemic), up from 3 car 158s within recent times
- A great deal of intermediate traffic; few passengers from Cardiff all the way to Portsmouth Harbour

* Cardiff Central
* Newport
Severn Tunnel Junction
Pilning
Patchway
* Filton Abbey Wood
Stapleton Road
Lawrence Hill
* Bristol Temple Meads
Keynsham
Oldfield Park
* Bath Spa
Freshford
Avoncliff
* Bradford-on-Avon
* Trowbridge
* Westbury
Dilton Marsh
* Warminster
* Salisbury
Dean
Mottisfont and Dunbridge
* Romsey
Redbridge
Millbrook
* Southampton Central
St Denys
Bitterne
Woolston
Sholing
Netley
Hamble
Burlesdon
Swanwick
* Fareham
Porchester
+ Cosham
Hilsea
* Fratton
* Portsmouth and Southsea
* Portsmouth Harbour

* - All services call
+ - No evening service
Peak or other services call occasionally at some other stations listed

One service a day in each direction diverts between St Denys and Fareham:
* Southampton Central
St Denys
Swaythling
* Southampton Airport Parkway
* Eastleigh
Hedge End
Botley
* Fareham

Other trains sharing the route
- Cross Country and Transport for Wales - Cardiff as far as Severn Tunnel Junction
- GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Wales to London services - Cardiff as far as Patchway
- GWR services Cardiff to Taunton and beyond - Cardiff to Bristol Temple Meads
- GWR services Weston-super-mare etc to London - Bristol Temple Meads to Bath Spa
- SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) services Bristol to Waterloo - Bristol Temple Meads to Salisbury
- GWR 'local' services - core Bristol to Westbury; some from Filton Abbey Wood and onwards as far as Cosham. Services may originate as far back as Great Malvern and carry on as far as Brighton and Weymouth.
- GWR TransWilts (Swindon - Westbury) - Trowbridge to Westbury
- GWR local services Westbury to Warminster with some on to Southampton Central
- SWR "Romsey Rocket" - Salisbury to St Denys
- SWR main line - Redbridge to St Denys
- SWR local service - Southampton Central to Portsmouth
- SWR London to Portsmouth servive - Fareham to Portsmouth
- Southern Southampton to London Victoria service - Southampton Central to Cosham

[grahame]

Adding ... new / re-opened station ideas that I've come across from official sources or which have some "feet" and look a bit sensible include ... Newport Road; Cardiff Parkway; Newport West; Newport East; Llanwern; Magor; Pilning Westgate; Aztec West; Horfield; Ashley Hill; St Annes; Saltford; Bathampton; Staverton; Ashton Park; Wyle Parkway; Wilton; Nursling. Difficult to know with such a list at what point to mention something.   Does anyone know of any proposals to the east of Southampton - I think I saw a cutoff tunnel under the Itchen suggested ...

[grahame]

And adding pictures ...







































































All Illustrations from within the last 18 months (last half of 2019 and 2020). Note that many images show travel pre coronavirus; at present, travel only for essential reasons, wear masks, socially distance. This is not as shown on many images.

[CyclingSid]

Your list of other services on the route could include Cross-County (?), but only stops at Southampton Central.

I like the photo of the Gents toilet. I thought we were supposed to be trying to reduce the size of cisterns to save water!

[grahame]

Your list of other services on the route could include Cross-County (?), but only stops at Southampton Central.

I like the photo of the Gents toilet. I thought we were supposed to be trying to reduce the size of cisterns to save water!

I made that very comment about the big cistern to Lisa!

The "service list" was limited to services that call at multiple stations along the line, hence provide alternative journeys.  So no mention of Cross Country from Bristol Temple Meads to Filton Abbey Wood.  SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) main line St Denys to Redbridge may also be questionable, as the only trains calling many be the Romsey Rocket which has its own entry.   And I need to list the Severn Beach service from Temple Meads to Stapleton Road perhaps ...

[stuving]

I like the photo of the Gents toilet. I thought we were supposed to be trying to reduce the size of cisterns to save water!

Isn't it capacity - could be a lot of bricks in there?

[paul7575]

The canopy at Redbridge over a 4 seat bench (the next photo after Romsey water tank).

Could that be the most over engineered small canopy anywhere?

Paul