Route West Coastway 1988-1989: Southampton Central & Eastleigh–portsmouth Harbour & Havant

Before I begin, I want to give a brief explanation as to what I'm doing here.

So the long and short it, I have decided to stop making route suggestion threads on the routes that I covered in that poll thread talking about what routes not in TSW would make great 'Rush Hour' style routes. The reason is firstly because I have had not much time to do them as a result of making pdf timetables for TSW routes, as well as just being generally bored of doing them, especially now that I've basically covered all the more popular ones, I thought doing the ones that ranked towards the bottom of the pile won't be as fun now, especially since it's now coming up to two years since I made that thread, so it's safe to say that thread has long run it's course.

But that doesn't mean I'm not going to make anymore suggestion threads, infact far from it. What I have for you here is the first of two route suggestion threads that I'm going to do over the comings weeks. They are both UK based, but I feel like these are going to be a lot of fun to talk about, and be generally more enjoyable than the 'Rush Hour' ones I was doing before, and hey, maybe these might open the doors to more routes suggestions of these kind, if I can think of any ideas like these of course. So with that said, let's dive into the first suggestion I have for you here, which is the West Coastway Line between Southampton Central & Portsmouth Harbour, along with the sections towards Eastleigh & Havant.

Now I know what your thinking 'Another route with Southern Electrostars? What a bore....'. Well to that I say... No actually. Because this isn't West Coastway: Southampton & Eastleigh-Portsmouth & Havant as it is today, it is West Coastway: Southampton & Eastleigh-Portsmouth & Havant in the late 1980s, specifically around 1988-89 time, during an era of slam-doors and loco-hauled services. Something I feel like could actually make an incredibly fun route.

Now before we go further, allow me to give you a bit of background.

Background

You know, it's been a while since we've had a period UK of this type. I know that we've had a lot of Modern UK content, and we are starting to see steam-era content set in the UK as well, but what I mean is that we haven't seen a UK route set in the 1980's/1990's, during a time of loco-hauled services and slam-doors coaching stock. The last time we had a route like that was Tees Valley back in May 2019. I know we had West Cornwall Local from Rivet Games that was set during the 90's, but I don't really count that as that featured more modern rolling stock with the Class 150/2 with Northern Trans-Pennine adding loco-hauled services on the side (as well as the Class 101 subbing into 150 services).

So when looking into a potential new BR Blue Era UK route, I wanted to find something down south, as that region has the potential to make a great route and is something that hasn't been explored yet in TSW (in the time-era that we are talking about for this route that is). I went through a lot of potential options for this suggestion, such as the line between Reading & Redhill, The Hastings line between Tonbridge & Hastings and even the South Eastern Main Line between Charing Cross & Ashford (Pre HS2 that is), but in the end, a section of the West Coastway Line was always my top option. As for what section, I did consider maybe starting the route out of Brighton, but I eventually decided to have it been set away from Brighton, as we've already been there twice with East Coastway & Brighton Main Line and I thought there was more potential to explore other areas of this line heading west along the coast, which is why I eventually settled on the section between Southampton & Portsmouth, with branches heading towards Eastleigh in the west and Havant in the east.

Now in typical fashion with my suggestions, I have created a map of what the route could look like, so without further ado, here it is.

Map of the Whole Route

Section Around Southampton

Section around Eastleigh

Section around Portsmouth & Fratton


If you want to see the full map, then click on the link here.

Also like what I do with my suggestions, the stats are as follows. The route is in total 47.5 miles long (76.4 km), this includes the main section between Southampton Central & Portsmouth Harbour (25.7 miles or 41.4 km), the branches heading towards Eastleigh (3.6 miles (5.8 km) from St Deny's & 10.7 miles (17.3 km) from Fareham), the branch to Havant (4.2 Miles or 6.7 km in total) and an extra 4.1 miles (6.6 km) of yards and sidings that are located along the route, 3.3 miles (5.3 km) of which would be around the general Eastleigh area alone. The route would also come with 22 stations, 2 depots at Fratton & Eastleigh and 5 freight yards (two around Southampton, one large one at Eastleigh, one at Botley Aggregates and one around Fratton).

Even if the route just over 47 miles long, it is far from a straight-forward A to B route. You have the main portion that would run between Southampton and Portsmouth, but also have the extra portion that goes up to Havant. The later location I've decided to include here as a place for services coming from Brighton & Guildford to start/stop, which include services heading along the top of the route to Southampton, as well as services heading down from Havant to Portsmouth. This would be definitely be preferable to either starting at Cosham from Southampton-bound services, or at most, Hilsea for those bound for Portsmouth (and at that, many of them don't even stop here to begin with). Plus, there's the section up to Eastleigh from St Deny's & Fareham, which the Eastleigh complex could be be classed as route in itself, with various yards, the engine works and so much more which provides plenty of exploration opportunities, even before we put at late 80's setting in top of it. This area also allows up to have the full freight workings on this route as well, as most of the freight operations are Fratton-Eastleigh speed link services, as we will get too.

Now at this point, I should point out that most of you route you here still exists today, which includes all of the stations as well as the depot at Fratton (with the exception of Hedge End on the Eastleigh-Fareham section, which wouldn't open for another year). So you might be wondering 'what would be vastly different about it being set in the late 1980's, compared to what it is today?'. Well, the answer comes in the form of three keys areas of this route.

The first area is the fact that this route would have some large yards. I know that we have Eastleigh, which in turn, a route in itself with it's large yards and works, but what I'm refering to here is that there are also some yards that don't exist today, but did exist back in this routes timeframe, particularly around Fratton. While it does have a traincare depot that is still used today, in those days, the general area trackage-wise, used to be a lot larger, as it was also home to a large freight yard, located just above the depot, that still existed and was being used around this route time setting. This yard no longer exists, and today, that site a large industrial complex, which includes a B&Q. It's also worth mentioning here that, while Northam Depot wouldn't be present in this routes time frame, the area where it would be was a yard in it's time, which actually served a cement works that was located in that area.

The second area in which this route would differ from today is the general vibe. Since we are in the age of slam-door rolling stock, this route would a lot dirtier and grimmer to reflect the rolling stock running on this route at the time, which would actually help bring character and life to this route, compared to if this route was set in the present day.

…and that last points bring me to third area of this route, which is something which I was actually surprised to find out about this route, and what lead me to chose this section for a period West Coastway adaptation...

...it is a diesel-only line.

I know you're probably as surprised as I was when I find this detail out, but here me out on this...

…Yes the route today is fully electrified via third-rail, but believe it or not, there was a time when the section between St Deny's and Cosham, the main portion of the route, hadn't been electrified yet. It wouldn't actually happen until 1990, the year after this route rough setting. This is why I say 1988-1989 as the timeframe for this route, as this would have been in the last years of this route under full-dieselisation before it was electrified. There might even been points along the route that already had the third-rail electrification already in place, even if electric trains weren't using it yet. Having the route be this way would make it a lot more characterful, as well as bring an interesting premise of a late 80's diesel route set in the south of the UK. Plus, it also means a much greater variety of locos compared to either a different section of this route that had been electrified, or when this section was eventually electrified, but more on that when we get to talking about the locos for this route.

One more thing before we move on is that there are two branches on this route that I did think about including here, but ultimately decided to leave them out. The first is the branch down to the Eastern Docks at Southampton. I did put in the yard at Northam that leads towards it, but left out anything else beyond that as I'm not entirely sure how much trackage there was back then compared to now. Plus, I feel like that whole area is a route in it's self.

The other area is one that came very close to being included on the map, and that is the old Gosport branch headings towards the munitions base there. This area was still being used by a few trains heading towards the base, but I wasn't able to get enough material regarding how much track was actually still down there during that time, so I left it out for now, but it is somewhere that I would be curious to see on this route, should it ever happen (for the record, this branch no longer exists, having been torn up long time ago).

So now we've talked about the route for a bit, it's time for some pictures of what the route looked like back then, so without further ado, enjoy.

Pictures of the route in real life

Just a quick disclaimer, some of the images may not be from 1988-1989 exactly. It's just from roughly around the area in time. It's just being able to find what I could online.












Available Locos

Now for the exciting part. Like I said before, this was part of the reason why I chose this section specifically, as it allow for a greater variety of rolling stock compared to choosing another section or even another route set in this part of the country. Furthermore, I feel like these locos could actually be very popular in TSW, and that's not to mention the loco add-ons that could also come to this route in the future, but more on that in a bit.

BR Class 205 'Thumper'

For me, easily the main attraction and biggest selling point of this route. 34 of these units where built in three batches between 1957 & 1962, with the first two batches being built between 1957 & 1958 as two car sets (But the former batched would later to lengthened to three cars in 1958 & 1969 due to increasing passenger numbers) and the later two batches being built 1959 & 1962 primarily as three car sets. They where given the nickname 'Thumpers', along with the relative Class 201 to 207's due to the noise they made while in motion and where a prime sight across many non-electrified routes in the South (including this one) all the way until December 2004, into the days of Connex South Central, As they were eventually replaced by the more modern Class 170/171 Turbostar that operate in their places today.

On this route, they would come in BR Blue & Grey Livery, but they would also have a Network SouthEast logo on them, which is actually prototypical for those times. They would mainly serve the main route between Southampton & Portsmouth, with even a few services going to Eastleigh as well. There might also have a few services going up to Havant, and beyond towards Brighton, but details on that are a bit sketchy, so I need to do more research on that before saying for sure.

BR Class 33/0

To backup the Thumper Unit, we have a loco that I'm surprised hasn't been more often in TSW. A total of 98 of these locos were built between 1960 & 1962 for the southern region. They were based on the Sulzer Type 2 locos (Class 26 & 27's), but had a slightly adjusted cab to fit a two figure route indicator in the centre and more importantly, a more powerful engine. Fitted with a Type 3 1,550 bhp 8-cylinder engine, compared to the 6-cylinder 1,160 bhp Type 2 engine of the Class 26's, they were the most powerful Bo-Bo Diesel Locomotive ever built for BR, which is ideal for the tasks that they would be carrying out across the southern region, ranging from heavy passenger trains in the summer, to freight workings in the winter.

Even though we already have a Class 33 in TSW from as far back as the loco add-on for West Somerset Railway, for this route, it would come in the BR Blue Livery, but more importantly, it wouldn't have a centre headlight, just like they were back then. On this route, just like they were built for, they would undertake a variety of tasks, for passenger workings to a few freight operations and so much more. This I feel would be the loco doing the majority of the work on this route.

BR Class 08

I don't want to go into too much detail here, as this would basically be the same loco from the BR Heavy Freight/Diesel Legends Pack, but the reason this loco is here is mainly the help out with shunting on this route, particularly in two locations. One is in & out of Fratton Depot, helping shunt wagons and set up trains to be taken out by the Class 33, and of course, around the general Eastleigh area.

Alongside the three locos, there would also be a wide variety of rolling stock, which would mainly be used by the aforementioned Class 33 & 08 shunter. This list of stock would include:

BR Mk1 Coaches in BR Blue & Grey Livery (The Variations featured would be the BG, the same one from NTP, and 3 corridor variations, the BSK, SK & CK. As that was apparently what was used on the 5 coach sets that the Class 33/0 operated).

VEA Van Wagon

OAA Open Wagon

HEA Hopper Wagon (Same as the one from Tees Valley Line)

TTA Tank Wagon

Something I should also mention here aswell, is that there was a much greater freight presence back then compared to now, probably as a result of the large freight yard Fratton had at the time, so this would definitely be a big point towards making this a period late 80's route compared to making it more modern.

Additional services from other routes

In this area, this route has huge layering potential, as we have loads of available DLC's had could add a ton of extra services to this route.

The first add-on that comes to mind here is obviously Northern-Trans Pennine. In this area, it would add Cross Country services using the Class 47 & Mk2 coaches available with the route. Starting/stopping at Eastleigh (They probably didn't stop here in real life, but it's just to make sure you get to drive the whole length, rather than awkwardly beginning at Fareham), and then travelling on to Portsmouth from there. On top of that, it would also add express services, running straight through Southampton Central, which would also be drivable from Southampton Parkway (as it was called back then). These services would blast past Eastleigh as AI on there way in/out of the map, since the two station are pretty close to one another.

Along with that, We also have the BR Heavy Freight Pack that was later added to said NTP. That would add a handful of small freight services using the TEA Tankers wagon between Southampton Central and Eastleigh, as these travel to and from either Furzebrook to Fawley, located to the west of this route. It's also worth noting that, while both the Class 40 & 45's never operated anywhere near this area they did come down here on railtour services, which I also envision to come as a seasonal layered service on this route.

There is also the Class 31 add-on for Tees Valley Line, which would take advantage of the PCA Tankers available with that add-on. The main thing it would add is by having some of those wagons stationed as static at the now defunct cement plant at Northam, along with maybe the chance of having some services with them, but it depends on whether any of the available stock from what we have now, or what this route would provide, would be appropriate of such services, not to mention how long would they last. Would they travel a length of the route, or would they just travel back and forth between Northam and Southampton Central? This is something that again, I need to look into more. Also on this note, the Class 31 would also be available to use on some of the existing 33/0 services, as some where spotted around this route back then.

The final main layer for this route is actually West Cornwall Local. For this one, envision fitting the Class 37/5 in Railfreight livery into the route on some services (as I did see an image of one working on this route at one point), but more importantly, utilising the Seacow wagon available with that route, either on a few services, or even just as static stock at both Fratton & Eastleigh.

Continues on next post...

 

Future Loco Add-Ons

So coming into the final section, we are going to keep it diesel themed here, with a trio of diesel loco add-ons. All three of them where seen around this route at the time of it's setting and all could add a lot more diversity of intrigue to this route. There's even one here that I feel like could be a massive fan favourite in TSW, but we will talk about it more when we get there.

BR Class 73/1

This space was originally filled by the BR Class 438/Class 33/1 4TC set, but that has been moved over to the Salisbury extension section, as I feel like it would be a better fit over there, so in it's place is the other major Southern Regional diesel locomotive, and one that is capable of running on both diesel and third-rail DC power.

The Class 73's were first built in 1962, with an initial batch of 6 73/0's being built that year. Following successful trials of these locos, a further 43 of them were built between 1965 & 67, being given the title of 73/1's (this later one being foundation for this loco add-on). Despite being built for third-rail lines of the south, the diesel engine allowed them to operate on non-electrified lines such as this one, but they rarely ventured beyond the southern region, due to the fact that this diesel engine didn't provide as much power as the third-rail supply. While many of them have been withdrawn, presered or even in the case of a few, scrapped over the years, several still remain in mainline operation with GB Railfreight and for the longest time, after the scrapping of the more powerful Class 74's , they were the only dual-powered locomotive in the UK until the introduction of the Class 88's in 2015. During that time speaking off, 13 of them were upgraded into the Class 73/9's, which gave them more powerful engines, and a major mechanical & electrical overhaul, along with a visual facelift, but were still able to work alongside the existing Class 73's along with venturing even further than there Southern origins, all the way up to Scotland in fact.

But back onto the loco we have here, along with it being the 73/1 variant, it would come in the BR Large Logo Blue livery, and would also add some new freight services, using a PWA pallet fertilizer wagon in UKF livery.

But along with that, they would perfectly be able of subbing into existing services operated by the Class 33/0, which include both passenger and freight services. They would even be able of subbing into services operated by the loco I have next up...

BR Class 50

Here's something I really want to see in TSW, regardless of whether it's a loco add-on for this route, or for something else. Nicknamed 'Hoovers' by staff at London Paddington, which these locos once served, a total of 50 of these locos where built between 1967 & 1968. They original were used on express trains on the non-electrified section of the WCML between Crewe & Scotland, but once that was electrified, they were moved down south, where they eventually ended up on services out of both London Waterloo & Paddington towards Exeter St. Davids and Hereford & Worcester via Oxford. But some where spotted on this route around the late 80's, which is why I have them as a loco add-on here. They were all eventually withdrawn by 1994, being replaced by the Class 159's that continue to operate on their routes today, but a total of 18 managed to survive into preservation, with some even been certified on run on the mainline.

With a loco that has a lot of fanfare behind it, I could see this easily being able to headline a route of it's own, but that's a discussion for another time. For now though, in the case of this being a loco add-on for this route, it would mainly add express services that travel across to length of the route, from Southampton to Portsmouth and even on to Havant towards either Waterloo and even on some cases, Brighton. But what I would really love to see here, is it come in Network SouthEast livery, along with Mk2 coaches that are also in the corresponding livery. Something like this would look fantastic in TSW and would make for a refreshing change from the BR Blue & Grey ones we currently have now.

BR Class 56

You might be surprised to be find this loco here (even I was when I discovered this) but trust me, I did actually was present on this route around the late 80's time period. First introduced between 1976 and 1984, a total of 135 were built for heavy freight work. The first 30 were actually built in Romania, but due to there poor built quality that lead to them having to be rebuilt, the remaining 105 where built in the UK at either Doncaster or Crewe. They were nicknamed 'Gridirons' (or 'Grids' for short) due to the grid-like horn cover fitted to the front-ends of locos 56056 onwards. While being strong and capable locos, they were prone to high maintenance costs and being somewhat uneconomic compared to a more modern Class 66, leading to many of them being withdrawn by the early 20th century. But a handful of them are still in operation with a few companies. Several of them would later be converted to run to a similar specification to a Class 66, including the same EMD 710 Engine Powerplant and associated control systems, forming what we know today as the Class 69.

So you might be wondering at this point 'what would be doing on this route?'. The answer is add aggregate services running between Havant & Eastleigh, heading towards Ardingly in the east and Whatley in the west. They would all achieve this using the PCA hopper wagon in ARC Livery. The locos themselves would come in BR Railfreight livery, to help them stand out from the other locos running about the route.

Conclusion

In the end, from what we've just gone through here, this route could actually end up being a lot of fun. Even if the main route is only 25 miles long, the fact you have both a small branch to the west at Havant and of course, the vast complex that is Eastleigh with it's branches coming from St Deny's & Havant to help make the route more of a network than a straight-forward A to B route. Plus, the fact that it would be a period route set around the late 1980's would help give it a lot of character and life. Along with two very strong lead locos, huge layering potential, and some really fun loco add-on potential, you have would could really be a great add-on here, as well as a great first stepping stone in period diesel-era southern content. If anything, if this route ever gets made and does well, it could lead us to further opportunities to do other, much larger routes of this kind set in this part of the country. It might seem at first like another not-so interesting route set in the south of UK, but give it a little period flavour, you could take this rather uninspired concept and turn into a really fun, diverse and overall, strong addition to TSW's line up of UK routes.

As always with my suggestions, if you have any ideas for this route, or you feel like there's something that can be done differently (whether that be loco selection, route length, etc) then feel free to let me know in the replies down below.

Also, one more thing before leaving, I highly recommend you go and check out this Flickr group down below, which is home to tons of images of loco-hauled services around Portsmouth before, during and after the routes time-frame:

https://www.flickr.com/groups/4461558@N21/

I should also thank all the people that contributed to that thread, that has seriously been very helpful when researching into the route, what it could be like and what locos were running on the route at the time.

That's all from me, and I'll see you all next time.

EDIT 29/08/2023: But wait... there's more! click here to take you down to part 2 of this suggestion, which takes about a possible post-release extension to Salisbury.

Image Sources:

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/rtrasouthampton/
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/71592768@N08/34516192965
  
• http://railthing.blogspot.com/2015/11/st-denys-in-1983.html
  
• https://alongthesetracks.blogspot.c...ss-205028-diesel-multiple-unit-eastleigh.html
  
• http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/salisbury-to-southampton--eastleigh.html
  
• https://daverowland.smugmug.com/Gos...lway-Past-Present/Gosport-Trains-Fareham-Etc/
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/153712773@N08/44183547214/in/pool-4461558@N21/
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/60675332@N02/39911796782/in/pool-4461558@N21/
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/southern_modellers/26815286078/in/pool-4461558@N21/
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/southern_modellers/17974071213/in/pool-4461558@N21/
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/southern_modellers/19788512202/in/pool-4461558@N21/
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/151904976@N08/29180611007/in/pool-4461558@N21/
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/71592768@N08/24723188849
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/afc45014/50071863948
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/jncarter1962/25224194557/in/pool-4461558@N21/
  
• https://citytransport.info/Mk1.htm
  
• https://www.keymodelworld.com/article/br-vanwide-and-vea-wagon-story
• https://twitter.com/SalopianLyne/status/1013173517075050496
  
• https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brhba
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/36034969@N08/9487449703
• https://www.thelocoshop.co.uk/products/gm2210208
  
• https://www.hattons.co.uk/directory/vehicledetails/3143047/pwa_procor_pallet_van
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/79665856@N08/50129032162/in/pool-4461558@N21/
  
• https://sremg.org.uk/coach/brmk2.shtml
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/southern_modellers/24936815930/in/pool-4461558@N21/
  
• https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/arcpga

 

Oh yes! I am speechless as this suggestion is genuinely brilliant mate, but only because of the era which is perfect, as any more SR need to be backdated. Like I said I am stunned for words which doesn't happen often so, well, brilliant suggestion mate!

 

As you've mentioned ARC hopper wagons on this great suggestion would it be possible for us to get a 59 instead of a 56 due to my belief the former were used on more ARC trains.

 

Very nice route and some awesome old sheds as well

 

Great call, Class 205 doubtless the centrepiece with a rejigged Class 33. If memory serves me correctly most of the Canton based Mark One 5 coach sets used on the Cardiff to Pompey services were corridor stock, typical formation consisting of 3 x SK, 1 x BSK and a CK. So we would need the existing TSO retasking into a SK, not sure if we have a CK and BSK already. Good news for DTG on this one, they could still dodge putting a Mark One catering car in the game as these weren't conveyed on the Cardiff to Pompeys!

 

Very detailed, sensible and appealing suggestion, well done. This route would be fantastic especially for the difference of using Southern region diesel traction, although a 4-VEP or 4-CIG would still be a welcome sight especially around the Portsmouth and Southampton areas.

I'm not 100% sure but the Class 31 could also be used on the Bristol/Cardiff to Portsmouth services I believe? (more likely to be a Class 31/4 with ETH but the Class 31/1 would be a fun substitute). The Class 47 from NTP could also be layered for AI Bournemouth to Birmingham/Manchester Cross Country services at Southampton perhaps.

Maybe even extend from St Denys and Fareham to Eastleigh? (Quite a complex area to model but it would add a lot more operational interest, including longer duration passenger and freight services).

Even if set modern day, the Class 166, 313 and 377 would layer in nicely with the route containing a GWR Class 158 and a SWR/SWT Class 450.

 

Yes the Class 31's were used on the Bristol to Pompey services when they went over to loco hauled, from an assorted collection of Class 120, Class 123 (Inter City) and Thumpers which certainly came over to Temple Meads. I remember being hauled by a Class 31 from Bath to Salisbury in 1982, where I jumped off for lunch then a Thumper on the stopper to Pompey.

 

Fantastic idea! Great suggestion. Gets my full support!

 

YES! would love to see this

 

Need more late 1980s diesel action in the United Kingdom keep in mind some of the downloadable content locomotives will then run on Tees Valley Line since it's also set in 1989 like West Coastway when abbreviated WCW.

 

Such an excellent write-up! I would sincerely enjoy this route, especially in this time period.

 

I like the suggestion I would rather see Southampton Central - Portsmouth harbor and Brighton and maybe merged with East Coast way in 1988 - 1989

 

I like this idea in general. I believe that Portsmouth to Southampton is a good base plate but with routes like this, people want to see them longer. Having Bournemouth as a decent terminating station is viable as it too has a depot which sees many operations run through it. I appreciate this might be a bit of a long route but if they decide in the future to make longer routes, this would be a ideal shout

 

Maybe a Maybe merge with East Coast Way Line could be an expansion at a later date (maybe)?.

 

Appreciate the suggestions here, but I want to point some things out.

I feel like expanding the route to Brighton would mess with the kind of route I want to create here. This route is suppose to be mainly a diesel route and I feel like it would be much more EMU Slam-Door stock if it did go all the way there (such as the Class 421/423 & so on), which I feel probably wouldn't be as fun, enjoyable, or even intriguing compared to the section I ended up choosing. Also keep in mind, while the section between Brighton & Portsmouth was electrified around then, the section between Portsmouth & Southampton was not. That wouldn't happen until a year or so after the time-period I chose. Which would mean trying to run along the entire length of the route around the 1980's, unless you use the Class 33, wouldn't really be possible unless you switch trains at Portsmouth. Even at that last note, I don't think either the Class 33 or the 205 'Thumper' went all the way down to Brighton back then. Maybe they did on a few occasions (probably more so for the 33), but from what I was able to find, they were mainly working in the Southampton-Portsmouth area of the route. If you really want to go all the way to Brighton, I would just leave it as it's own route adaptation, so it can properly focus on the EMU side of things, and then maybe merge it down the line (even on that stance, I've had a idea for a route that could introduce slam-door EMU rolling stock that isn't this, but that's for another time).

Also, merging with East Coastway would make no sense since you wouldn't be able to drive all the way from Southampton to Eastbourne without changing at Brighton. Maybe if you bring Brighton Main Line into this it would make more sense, but that's a discussion for a different time I feel, as the route would already quite massive as is, if you were to do that.

Let me ask you this, did any services from this route actually go to Bournemouth back in the late 80's?...

…from what I could gather, no they didn't.

Maybe there were a handful that did, but for most part, services heading west typically went towards Salisbury and even further afield towards Bristol, Cardiff and even towards Paignton, Plymouth & Manchester in some cases. Now I did consider carrying the route on towards Salisbury when brain mapping this route, and I even saw a great suggestion about maybe going up to Eastleigh from Fareham & St Deny's, but I thought in the end to leave the route as is and see what people think of it before trying to mess around with it.

 

I agree but I feel like if you were to have West Coast way you have to include Brighton

 

Nice suggestion. I'd be interested in some more BR Blue era content.

 

I've been debating to myself about whether I should make this route any bigger than it is now for a while now, even before first uploading this suggestion to this forum. But I decided at the time to put up anyways, see what the reaction was, and then decide whether it's worth expanding or not.

Now for the most part, the response to this suggestion has been positive, but I have seen a few post about potentially making the route bigger, but some either mess around too much the vision I want to create for this route (continuing east to Brighton) or just don't make any sense considering that services on this route don't go there to begin with (Heading west to Bournemouth, of all places).

But there was one that did grab my attention, one that actually did make sense in the content of what route I'm trying to suggest here, and it's one right over here.

I did debate to myself about whether to actually do this, especially when Eastleigh is a beast of an area to cover, but I eventually decided to go with it for one purpose. It would allow you to get the full freight experience on this route as most of them would be Fratton-Eastleigh mixed speed-link services, using the Class 33 hauling HEA & TTA wagons. Plus, even if this area isn't included, you would be able to drive part of the services that head down the branch to Bedhampton, between Eastleigh & Fareham, which would use the VEA & OAA wagons. As well as this, you would also getting Thumper services heading here from Fareham, and even a few services coming St Deny's, even if the majority of them are layered.

So what I've just done is update this entire thread to now include the new section up the Eastleigh from Fareham & St Deny's, so this route is now West Coastway 1988-1989: Southampton Central & Eastleigh - Portsmouth Harbour & Havant, which would actually make for quite a more interesting route than what it was before. I've also taken the time to expand the layering section, as I think there's more potential here that what I thought there was at first.

One last thing, you can now access the full map that I made for this suggestion, rather than me showing images of part of it. There's a link to it in the suggestion, but if you want quick access, just click here.

 

YES! I need this route so much!

 

This is some fantastic work! And I love not only the quality of the suggestion, but the entire suggestion aswell. Gameplay amd rolling stock wise this would bring some great and unique oppertunities, aswell as making good use of what we already have for layers. The services seem really varied and fun, and I like that there's also a significant freight element. The DLC options are also all really good and each bring something unique to the route and the game overall. We really need another route from this era, and even though I don't have any special liking for the southern area, I think it should be this route!

 

Great suggestion, but if you're thinking of diesels, then I wouldn't bother with Havant, but equally I would include Southampton & Eastleigh to Salisbury. Pompey to Salisbury is about 50 miles so a good diesel run there with regular 33's and DEMUs and one journey each way on 50s. Longer run on the Ardingly 56 and also freights from Eastleigh to Severn Junction.

 

I had another really good read over this and I am so drawn to this route. So many layers to have as well! Would love to see this.

 

Out of all the route suggestions I've made on the forum over the past 2 years, this is easily become my favourite by some way. If anything, this for me completely justified the decision to stop making route suggestions based on that 'Rush Hour' poll and just try to make more interesting and fun route suggestions, based on concepts that you know have the potential to make excellent TSW route, while exploring that maybe haven't been explored yet, and that's certainly what we've seen here, and with the other two suggestions I've made since with Camel Valley and the West of England Line. Both of those routes also period route (the former of which is even a steam-era route) and I will keep trying to post suggestions like this going forward (and I do have a few ideas that I thought up for future suggestions. I wouldn't say much now, but let's just say the newly announced TSW4 may have given me some inspiration there).

But back onto why I'm coming back there, I what to explore one more area of the route that I've seen brought up, but I was a bit hesitant to include it here, as I feel like it's taking the route a bit too far away from the West Coastway portion that I've established (and by the way, I'm now perfectly happy with the section I have here, as something that could be available as a route at launch, should this route ever get made). But in the end, I feel like it's better suited as a future extension, should it ever be decided to take the route further in the future, once this route has been released. So without further ado, let's jump into the Salisbury Extension, taking the route further west from Southampton Central & Eastleigh to well... Salisbury.

But first, let's see how it looks on a map

Map of the Extension (Marked in Purple)

Section between Southampton Central & Redbridge

Section around Dean/East Drimstead

Section around Salisbury

Once again, if you want to see the update map in full, then click on the link here.

So going over the stats of this extension, this would add another 33.7 miles (54.2 km) to the route, which would include the main 24.6 miles (39.6 km) section between Southampton & Salisbury, the 7 miles (11.3 km) upper link connecting Eastleigh with Romsey, and an additional 2 miles (3.3 km) making up various depots and yards along the route. This extension also brings 6 more stations, 1 additional depot at Salisbury and 3 further yards. In total, this extension would bring the total stats of this route to 81.2 miles (130.7 km) long, 28 stations, 3 depots & 8 yards.

Now even if this section is taking the route a bit beyond the end of the West Coastway line (as it's technically terminates at Southampton Central, and we are touch Wessex Main Line territory with this section here) there are actually some benefits that would making extending the route to Salisbury in future very attractive. Now of course for me personally, this means the option of possibly merging this route with my recent West of England line route suggestion (despite the fact they are set in slightly different time periods to each other) but there are other factors that would benefit everyone. For starters, you now get to drive the whole service that the Class 205's operated, which is between Salisbury & Portsmouth. It would quite a long journey, as it would take just just over an hour-and-a-half the complete the full 50.3 mile (81 km) journey end-to-end (due to the fact these services stop pretty much everywhere) but having that option to do the whole journey now would be a pretty cool thing to see. Plus, there's always the Class 33 services that have also been extended to Salisbury (which also go further west from towards Bristol/Cardiff) which while they would still take time to complete, at an hour-and-twenty minutes roughly, would still be slightly faster than the Thumper services. But that's not all though, you would also see some services that only appeared around the general Southampton area, get some additional track to run along. One such are tanker services going towards either Fawley or Furzebrook (using the TEA tankers from BTP's BR Heavy Freight Pack). Before, they would operate be able to driven between Eastleigh & Southampton, whereas with this extension, you could have a extra piece of drivable track up to at least Redbridge, and while I don't envision having such stock right away, there's always the option to add old-style intermodal services operating out of the Freightliner Terminals at Southampton, at some point down the road.

Now as for what would be different about this extension being set in the late 80's compared to today, you would course have the usual ones like a dirtier and grimmer vibe and the presence of a yard at East Grimstead Quarry that doesn't really exist today, there are some more noticeable ones that are specific to this route, such as the fact that Mottisfont & Dunbridge station was called Mottisfont Dunbridge during that time (it actually went through several name changes during it's time). But the biggest one here is the absence of a certain station of the Romsey-Eastleigh section of the route. Wondering why Chandler's Ford station isn't represented on the map? Because it wasn't open back then! It actually had been closed in 1969 and wouldn't reopen until over a decade later in 2003. Now this doesn't mean there wasn't anything running down this section anymore, as the branch itself was still used by freight services, empty stock moves and the occasion railtour or diverted passenger service. Which some of these would be represented in the routes timetable.

Now it's all good having the Class 33 & 205 'Thumper' running services along this section, but I'm going to also bundle in two new locos with this extension, just to really enhance the overall experience with this route, and one of them was previously suggested as the loco add-on here, but I feel it's a better fit for this extension suggestion here.

BR Class 438 4TC+BR Class 33/1

The first piece of new stock is a modified version of the Class 33 already available with this route, along with a new multiple-unit set, which is the BR 4TC unit (or Class 438). These have the same basic design as a typical slam-door EMU from the time like a Class 421/423 and so on. But unlike those units, they are not powered. They would usually have been coupled with a loco at one end and would operate something like a push-pull set, the only difference is that the 4TC units had a cab at either end, compared to just a one end with the push-pull trains we have now in TSW. They were originally intended for services between London Waterloo & Weymouth, but did eventually spread out to other parts of the Southern network, including this route.

To provide power to the 4TC, you have the Class 33/1. It's basically the same as the 33/0 available with the base route, but has been modified for push-pull operation, which is most obvious visually, by the high-level brake pipes and jumper cables on each cab end, to make them compatible with the 4TC stock, which in itself, would come in the BR Blue & Grey Livery. Together, they would mainly work along the Class 33/0 services already available with the route (including some services that go up towards Eastleigh) but unlike the base Class 33/0 passenger services, they could easily come in and out of Portsmouth without having to get another loco to couple up to back of one service to free up the loco that took it in, thanks to the cabs at either end of these trains. You would also be able to use the Class 33/1 on the 33/0 services that were already available with the route.

Since this loco is now here, I've filled it's space by the Class 73/1, giving the 33/0 a suitable partner to go along with as a loco add-on. It even comes with a new wagon, but you'll have to see the suggestion if you want to find out what it is.

BR Class 59/0

I've seen this loco be suggestion as a loco add-on instead of a Class 56, but I think that later loco was a bit more present on that section of the route back then, and I can't seem to find any evidence that this loco went further than Eastleigh from were it came from. But now with the Salisbury extension, I feel like it would be a good excuse to include it here.

This could be best described as the predecessor of the Class 66. 15 of them were built between 1985 and 1995, 5 of which being the 59/0's that are featured here. Back when they first arrived, they were both the first privately-owned diesel locos, as well as the first US-built diesel locos to operate on UK soil. The engine was designed around the EMD SD40-2, with 'super-series' wheel creep control, a newly-designed EMD 645 engine producing a maximum 3,300 hp, British brakes & safety systems and a cab similar in design to the Class 58. This allowed a single 59 to operate on the heaviest of Foster Yeomen trains, which allowed for doing away with double-heading operation. Or course, all 15 that were built are still in operation today, with the class going on to form the foundation for the Class 66 that succeeded them, using the same design as the 59's, but with various improvements, including a more powerful EMD 710 engine.

For the loco that comes with this extension, it would be the 59/0 variant in the original Foster Yeomen grey livery, and would working with PGA Hopper Wagons in Foster Yeoman livery.

They would for the most part, only be working on the Salisbury extension between Salisbury & Eastleigh via Chandler's Ford. There might be a chance they worked further than that, on the main West Coastway route, but I need to find more research on that before being able to discussion about maybe taking this loco further. But even still, this modern US-built diesel locomotive would really stand out from the older-gen diesel locos/slam door stock that was running around at that time. It really would be the main star attraction of this extension to Salisbury.

Conclusion

So there you are, that's the Salisbury extension and what an extension it could possibly be. I was already quite pleased with how the existing West Coastway route suggestion turned out, but this extension would really help elevate it to another level. Bringing a whole new location that's allow you to get the complete experience, even if it takes you away from the main West Coastway route, while staying turn to the nature of the existing route, and while bring some brand new stock to the table that would bring entirely new experiences to this route, with the 4TC set and the Class 59, the later loco of which could reflect the changing times ahead. How the old dirty, grubby, slam-door diesel locos meets the new, sleek, more powerful & more modern diesel locos that would end up playing a major role in shaping Britain's railways, in terms of freight traffic, for years to come. To end this suggestion section off, I'm going to leave you with some images of what this section looked like around the time setting for this route (the same as it originally was, 1988-1989). Some of these images might not be exactly from that time-period, but it's just working with the images I was able to find online.

That's all from me, and now, enjoy the images.













Image Sources:

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/southern_modellers/19780144308/in/pool-4461558@N21/
  
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/southern_modellers/18575737595/in/pool-4461558@N21/
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/2993478619
  
• https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/101731-pga-pga-andor-pga/
• http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/southampton--docks.html
  
• http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/salisbury-to-southampton--eastleigh.html
  
• https://www.woodleynet.co.uk/old_trains-03.htm
  
• http://railthing.blogspot.com/2015/09/salisbury-april-1986.html

 

And now I want this.