South Western Railway, Great Western Railway and XC Trains at Basingstoke on February 10th 2024

3rd Visit to Basingstoke on the South Western Main Line as well as being the junction for the West of England Line and Reading to Basingstoke Line
Featuring services from South Western Railway, Great Western Railway, CrossCountry Trains and one Freighter from Eastleigh East Yard.
Basingstoke was opened on June 10th 1839 as a temporary terminus by the LSWR when its line to Southampton reached Basingstoke from London however a year later in 1840 It became a through station when the line to Southampton.
At the time the LSWR intended to extend its line from Basingstoke to Salisbury however due to financial problems it was extended in stages firstly to Andover in 1854, Salisbury in 1857, Yeovil in 1859 and finally todays Exeter St Davids in 1860 which is known as the West of England Line
On November 1st 1848 the former Great Western Railway opened its line from Reading when it was broad gauge which it was converted to mixed gauge 8 years later on December 22nd 1856 to enable through services between Southampton and Reading although the Broad Gauge was removed in 1869.
The station was also a terminus of the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway opening in 1901 which at the time was built to avoid the GWR extending its route to Portsmouth however the line was never profitable with some of the track sold off during World War I and despite the line reopened by the Southern Railway it was closed in 1932 at the same time when the GWR station building closed as well
All 4 main platforms are bi-directional with Platform 1 mostly used by terminating South Western Railway services from London Waterloo which then proceed empty either to Basingstoke Down Yard or Basingstoke Bartn MI C.S.D.
Platform 2 used by most stopping services to Weymouth, Portsmouth Harbour as well as Exeter St Davids services via Salisbury with the latter used by Class 158s and Class 159s although the Class 158s are mostly used for the services on the Romsey Loop Line.
The Class 159s can run in 8 or 9 or sometimes 10 car formation to Salisbury where trains would separate with in 9 car Formations some services a day travel to Bristol Temple Meads via Westbury and Bath Spa or Terminate at Salisbury whilst most Class 159s to Exeter St Davids continue mostly in 6 car workings although can occasionally terminate at Yeovil Junction or sometimes Yeovil Penn Mill via Castle Cary.
Platforms 3 mostly used by services to London Waterloo whilst Platform 4 is used by CrossCountry Trains although can be used in either direction including CrossCountry Trains and passing Freight services and also not forgetting to mention trains to and from Poole run non stop through the station.
Platform 5 was converted to a bay platform in the 1980s to enable an entrance on the Northern side of the station to be built by British Rail and as for the platform itself it’s nowadays served by Half Hourly all stopping Great Western Railway services to and from Reading which are provided by Class 165 and sometimes Class 166 Turbos which alternate with CrossCountry Services which run non stop on the Reading to Basingstoke Line from Basingstoke to Reading.
Music used:
JJD - Adventure
Music provided by NCS
Video link:
NoCopyrightSounds
• JJD - Adventure | Glit...
Filmed on Saturday February 10th 2024 on iPhone 14 Pro and edited on iMovie
#basingstoke #southwesternrailway #greatwesternrailway #crosscountrytrains #class165 #class221 #class450 #class444 #class66 #class158 #class159 #hampshire

[@williambowles3379]

Great video! Really enjoyed it 😊 I know cross country have reinstated some Reading to Newcastle services however unfortunately I don’t think we’ll see any Southampton central services via Basingstoke reinstated towards Newcastle which is a bit of a shame.

[@ZackMurray12]

Nice, Basingstoke my local station. At 1611 every day there’s a Class 455 that passes through here from Bournemouth to Wimbledon

[@RoscoTrain107]

Thanks Zack Ah interesting I thought it would be something like a 701 on test or a 458/4 on test run well if SWR decide to get them back in service since the Portsmouth service idea has now been changed

[@leonontransport]

Nice

[@RoscoTrain107]

Thanks Leon

[@miahaskurti4539]

Cross-country Services Between Newcastle/York And Southampton Central Have Not Returned Since Early 2020. I Wonder If It Is The Right Time To Bring Back The Services?