Portsmouth Line

[SithMurcielago]

Although I'm not to much into UK stock unless its the Eurostar or the DVTs with the Newer MK Stock, I'm looking very interested in the Portsmouth Line. The main reason is because of the third rail. I was think about trying my hand as doing an American third rail line like the LIRR. I was wondering what is you take on the Portsmouth Line and the Class 450 it comes with before I decide to buy.

[johnmckenzie]

Hi there

The line itself is a little bit lacking in variety of traffic. It is purely a passenger route and most of the activity is in a linear fashion. There are three real large stations included - at Woking, Guildford and Portsmouth. There are no real freight possibilities. Having said that, it is beautifully modelled and I am very happy with it. The extended network that comes with it (unannounced and unsceneried) is quite promising and there are people out there apparently working on scenarising this. Interestingly, the tracks extend from Guildford across and up to Wokingham - just one station short of joining up with Reading station which is on the default Oxford to Paddington route. It seems a shame that at this moment RSC didn't see a reason to join up with this station - it would have brought an infinitely greater variety of possibilities with connecting services between the two different regions / operating companies.

The 450 is a nice model and is well detailed. It is a bit enthusiastic in acceleration, but apart from this flaw which I'm sure will be sorted out it is good.

[micaelcorleone]

The Portsmouth Line is a nice modern-day route.
As already said it's mostly a passenger route, but I like this fact.
I also like the fact that it's third-rail and despite of the start acceleration, the class 450 is well done.
If you like high-speed commuterservice this route is a good buy.

I've nearly played all scenarios that came with it, so I like the route.

[Toldrabald]

Yes it's a bit boring line regarding traffic and scenario opportunities, but it is challenging to drive with constant speed limit changes, hills up and down and in the delivered scenarios a lot of traffic and signals to watch out for. Also the scenery is very nice and from what the british folks say it is modeled close to the original route. I really like it the route itself. The Class 450 is typical commuter train and while it has a detailed outside model the cab is a bit boring and less detailed. Unfortunately I bought the Class 156 together with it and it is a huge difference between Oovee and RSC there. Sounds, well it is an electric train so it is very quiet, but there is a constant buzzing of the engine and the rolling sounds, so it's okay. So if you like dense traffic scenarios with a challenge I can recommend it. Nice thing is all but one scenario is available as career scenario as well as a standard one.

[Dan]

Hello,

I live on the line and commute daily on the route. There is more varied traffic on the line than is maybe presented and there are plenty of options for scenario creators.

You could download the 'old style' ie 1950's to late 1980's non-corridor stock from UK train sim - HAPs and EPBs were common on the semi-fast rush hour trains down to Portsmouth.

http://www.uktrainsim.com/filelib-direc ... ath=,ty=13

Freight trains - From Woking there are stone trains to the West. The down yard (on your right hand side as you enter Woking from Guildford) is a big stone yard. They do a very odd reverse move at Woking to get from the up line, into the down yard, run round, reverse the train into the stone siding, unload and the reverse the move before going back West.

Inter-modal trains - there is a lot of traffic to Southampton that goes via Woking. On occasions I have seen this diverted via Guildford.

Parcels trains - until the mid 1990's there were regular parcels trains from Redhill to Guildford and also from Portsmouth to Guildford - these would then go off to Reading.

There are regular engineering trains working the line south of Guildford and there is a big yard down at Eastleigh where a lot of equipment is kept. The up-yard at Woking is also a big engineering yard. So there are a lot of Ballast, rail trains, tamping equipment etc.

Cross Country trains (used to run from Brighton and Portsmouth via Guildford - then to Reading) - now they just run from Guildford. A class 47 and a rake of MK2 (air conditioned normally about 8-9 cars) later became Virgin trains but often ran in Intercity livery.

Steam services run through Guildford often, and with the Mid Hants railway near by it is common to see engines returning and reversing at Guildford to go to Alton via the Ascot line. A common route is Victoria - Redhill - Guildford - Woking - Waterloo, or sometimes they use Guildford as a way of avoiding the lines out of Paddington to go West. In some cases these trains start from Guildford. They are most common before xmas.

Woking and Guildford used to have more freight traffic, including an O8 as the shunter at Woking. The two little sidings at the south end of platform 1 at Woking used to have 4-5 locos there.

Prior to the 166's being used to the Gatwick-Reading service the dmu of choice was a 3 car 101.

Before the 158/159's were used on the services to Exeter via Woking, the service was class 47 4's and 7's and before that Class 50's. The coaches were old style Mk IIs with the sliding windows.

You also see oil tanker trains - much less common - a regular service used to be via Guildford to North Camp on the line to Reading. Normally a 33 would handle this.

On sundays when there was engineering work these would be sometimes diverted via Guildford.

Other units you used to see in the past - 33s - most recently on engineering trains, 73s on engineering trains, 47s, now you will see 66s and the occasional 59.



In terms of operation - rush hour is the most interesting:

In the morning trains run at 8 minute intervals.

Hope this all helps

Also, Jeremy Gould at railpictures.net has a lot of photos of the area and of the line in the last 1980's early 1990s

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php

[SithMurcielago]

Thanks alot guys for the amazing opinions, however i decided to wait longer to see what the surprise DLC is going to be and the NEC. I will keep the green hidden a little longer.

I do wish they would release the Class 450 by itself. I'm more interested in the train than the route.

[Trainguy76]

Thanks alot guys for the amazing opinions, however i decided to wait longer to see what the surprise DLC is going to be and the NEC. I will keep the green hidden a little longer.

The date has already been announced for the NEC. 24 June. http://www.railsimulator.com/showcase/

[Dan]

Oh one more thing. There is not much commercial freight on the line because Portsmouth is the naval port rather than the merchant navy port, as a result most stuff goes to Southampton. But in the past there has been a lot of military freight going to Portsmouth.