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[450] BP9. 2P05 0500 London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour

Take this class 450 on the first service full run of the Portsmouth Direct Line in the morning. Despite it being rather empty on the passenger front, it is still important to arrive on time, as your trian will form part of the return service at the tail-end of rush hour.

This is the first service of the morning, which calls at London Waterloo, Vauxhall, Clapham Junction, Earlsfield, Wimbledon, Surbiton, Esher, Hersham, Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge, Byfleet & New Haw, West Byfleet, Woking, Guildford, Farncombe, Godalming, Milford, Witley, Haslemere, Liphook, Liss, Petersfield, Rowland's Castle, Havant, Bedhampton, Hilsea, Fratton, Portsmouth & Southsea, and Portsmouth Harbour.

In this scenario the journey is replicated exactly in terms of lines taken betweens stations and platforms called at (even between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction). The only thing I have taken artistic licence with is at Portsmouth Harbour, where you must couple to another 4-car unit already waiting in the platform to form a full length 12-car train for the morning peak. This doesn't happen in real life.

The scenario runs the full length of the line in one go, so will start off quite laggy. This is especially true as at the start, all the AI trains exist simultaneously along the route, to avoid issues with portals as experienced in BP5. This is compounded at Clapham Junction and Wimbledon as there are a large number of static trains in the depots. However, as you get further out of the capital, the lag will decrease as AI trains finish their service and run into portals, removing them from the simulation. By Surbiton, the lag has pretty much ended for me, but it doesn get a bit worse again around Fratton until the end of the scenario.

It is possible to get 1000 points, albeit very difficult. A Standard mode version will be released soon - if the conversion works correctly!

This scenario is rated at the highest level. This is because it takes place in stormy weather, is over two hours long, starts in the dark (although it does end in the light), has frequent stops but also longer distance fast driving, and requires coupling to another train. In this sense, it has a little bit of everything that I could think of to reasonably add into one long scenario.

A final warning; especially around London Waterloo / Clapham Junction, but really anwhere along the route, the really low speed limits when switching tracks can occur before their marked location on the HUD. Provided you are at the decreased speed before the points start, then you should have no problems.

Duration: ~145 minutes.

(PS. At Guildford, there's a little surprise waiting!)

If you enjoy it, check out my other scenarios for this route in the collection above. The previous scenarios I have made are all shorter, and have a variety of night and day scenarios, as well as long distance express and short stopping suburban services.