3rd September 2022

UK Railtours
The Vectis Venturer

Route :
1Z23 : Tonbridge to Portsmouth Harbour
1Z25 : Portsmouth Harbour to Tonbridge

Notes:
(1) Off tour options: visit to the Isle of Wight Steam railway or a cruise of Portsmouth Harbour.
(2) John Clifford's comments: On the outward journey the tour arrived at London Waterloo on time but left late for reasons that I did not discover. The next problem was that the train was due to pick up passengers at Clapham Junction, but did not stop! These passengers followed on the next South Western Railway train to Woking, where we waited for them. This meant that we were 9 minutes late leaving Woking. A few minutes were lost on the Portsmouth Direct line, but time was made up by omitting the stop at Petersfield. At Havant we found ourselves behind the 10.00 Brighton - Portsmouth Harbour, instead of being in front, which delayed us further. There was a stop outside Portsmouth Harbour as there had been a change of platform to number 1, so we had to wait for the 11.23 Portsmouth - Cardiff Central to vacate it. Arrival at Portsmouth Harbour was 7 minutes late. I visited the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, details of which are shown below. The return journey started on time. There was a stop at Portsmouth & Southsea to allow the 18.38 Portsmouth & Southsea - Southampton Central to come out of the low level platforms and precede us. It checked us as far as Fareham. Once on the South Western main line we made good progress until we came to a sudden stop near Milepost 48½. It was believed that one of the engines had suddenly shut down. We were soon on our way and no further problems were encountered. We ran on the up fast line all the way to London Waterloo, instead of switching to the up slow line in the Wimbledon area. Arrival at London Waterloo was 9½ minutes late, where I left the tour.

Source : John Clifford (on the tour from/to London Waterloo) & Doug Lindsay (on the tour throughout)

Timings (Booked & Actual)
(from John Clifford & Doug Lindsay)

Mileages as shown in the tour brochure.

Associated Workings on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway

Steam loco in use: 2-6-2T 41313
Stock: 2416+6375+4168+2403+6349.
In addition the Ryde Pier Tram was running shuttles between Haven Street, Wootton and Ashey.

Associated E.C.S. Workings

5Z23 : (1001) : St Leonards T&R.S.M.D. to Tonbridge

5Z23 : (1001) : Portsmouth Harbour to Fratton Depot

5Z25 : (1001) : Fratton Depot to Portsmouth Harbour

5Z25 : (1001) : Tonbridge to St Leonards T&R.S.M.D.

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