WITH FULL REGULATOR LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW
THE UK Railtours’Atlantic Coast Express (ACE) on August 10 had been eagerly awaited by Southern fans, having been postponed from June 29 due to crewing issues. It was a trip not to be missed as it was the only non-Belmond charter this year for reasons not entirely clear, to me at least. Therefore, once again we found ourselves on the first train up from Southampton Airport for a pre-7am arrival at Waterloo for our 7.52am departure as we could not risk a later train
However, the prize for such an early start was a rare chance of a run down the main line to Woking, where the organisers had inserted this stop instead of the more usual Staines.
On the downside, the price to be paid was a slow line path from Woking to Basingstoke and a poor slot from there on to Salisbury – but would it be worth it?
After meeting up with the group of ‘Old Timers’ in the rear vehicle of the 11-coach train, and talking to many others from the days of steam on the platform, we settled down to see how Wayne Thompson and Dave Proctor would fare with this 425 ton train on a windy day of heavy showers.
Some coastal routes had speed restrictions imposed and there were reports of trees down in a number of places, but fortunately we were to be unaffected by both. The start from Platform 19 is very slow and the train was booked to run on the Windsor line to Queenstown Road, where it would cross to the fast line which it was booked to take all the way to Woking, having allowed the 7.53am Waterloo to Alton to get past and make its Clapham Junction call. All was well and we were through
