Hello TSW community, SWR450 here, and I am proposing to you a new route. THE ROUTE: stretching from Poole in Dorset up to either basingstoke or reading, with the major stations being Bournemouth and Basingstoke with stopper trains going as far as poole and express trains for SWR going as far as basingstoke, with GWR services from basingstoke to reading and Crosscountry services from Bournemouth to Reading which go to Manchester Piccadilly, as well as the rare few trains a day from Southampton Central - Newcastle, also operated by Cross-country, or XC as we call it down here in the south, with the addition to that it adds a large amount of freight services using the class 66 and class 70, these services include MOD trains from Salisbury Plain down the old waterside branch to matchwood into the military port and container and car services out of the southampton docks at millbrook and the main southampton dockgates, these freight trains would run up to basingstoke, reading and beyond, with a major freight hub at Eastleigh. The line also features the Lymington branch line from brockenhurst, operated modern day by class 450's but used to be operated by 158's. THE DEPOTS: The line features 3 major depots, two for passenger and the other for freight services, these depots are located In southampton and are the Northam TMD, operated by SWR/Siemens to manage the 444/450 stock, and the other being Freightliners Southampton Docks depot, servicing their 66's, 70's and the 2 class 08 gronks located at the sight used for container shunting, as well as Bournemouth TMD which trains enter and exit via Branksome Station, the line also features a numerous amount of sidings for terminating trains, these include Poole sidings, for trains turning around after arriving from London at Poole, Bournemouth sidings, for 10 car trains splitting into 5 car trains from London and to weymouth and the 5 cars entering the sidings and joining the next train, and Class 220 trains turning around for Manchester Piccadilly, Totton Sidings, which is used for network rail track cleaner trains and used to, in 2016 be used for the old services from Fawley Refinery, Rubber and Oil trains heading to Holybourne and Penzance via Eastleigh, Southampton Sidings, used for storing and shunting ECS moves out of Northam TMD and also has the single tracked line down to the docks, Micheldever sidings which is used for aggregate storing and moves. Northam Depot Poole Sidings (Photo of Bournemouth Sidings is unavailable but it is located at the end of Platform 3, same with the TMD) Northam Sidings (I've reached max photo files so let me continue this on a second comment when I need photos THE ROLLING STOCK: The section of line proposed is a large section of line when it comes to what units serve it, first we will cover SWR, They use class 444 and class 450 Siemens Desiro units on the line, with the occasional 442 which could come as a DLC, these trains have top speeds of 90 MPH and are both EMU's, The 444 is a 5 car single door EMU and the 450 is a double door 4 car EMU. Crosscountry Uses both their 220 Voyager's and 221 Super voyagers on the line, however the 221 Is only used for trains to Newcastle from Southampton Central, Both these trains are DMU's and are both single door units, the 220 is a 4 car and 221, 5 car Now finally, GWR, GWR use class 158's on their section between salisbury and Portsmouth, which on this section would only have them stopping at S't Deny's or Eastleigh on certain services, as well as Southampton Central and Airport parkway, airport parkway only being on the trains to Eastleigh, and on occaision they use 166's on the line, a train already in the game however I believe the community would want a 158 as SWR does operate it between Romsey and salisbury, calling at Southampton Central, St Deny's, Swaythling, Southampton Airport Parkway and Eastleigh, And on the section between Basingstoke and reading GWR use 166's, but I have seen the occasional 158 on the section. (continued on the next comment)
Rolling stock photos: 444: Class 450 in new and old livery: class 158/9 In SWR livery: Class 159 in GWR livery:
Class 220: class 70: Class 66: class 08 seen at the Southampton docks depot: THE KEY STATIONS, ROUTE LENGTH, TOTAL STATIONS AND TIME TAKEN TO TRAVEL FULL ROUTE Ahh, finally onto the final section, the key sections on the line where all trains that go via or through there on this line call at, Bournemouth, Southampton Central, Southampton Airport Parkway, Winchester, Basingstoke and Reading, the total station count is 29 stations, the time taken to travel between basingstoke and Poole on an express is around 45 mins, a Stopper, an hour and 21 usually, Crosscountry from reading is around an hour and 10 minutes, from southampton to reading it is 50 minutes, and the Lymington line is 15 minutes, Waterside line 17 minutes and Reading - basingstoke 20 mins usually, and the full route from start to finish is an hour and 45 mins, Thank you for reading, DTG I hope you do consider this suggestion as this route is action packed throughout, and I hope to see it in the future if you like it, thank you and goodbye.
OH FORGOT ONE MORE THING, a video of the route. This takes you from just outside basingstoke to southampton and this from southampton to weymouth and better shows the sidings and depots
