Because of the recent dry weather conditions, the risk of causing lineside fires was high, so the Class 47 on the rear of the train had to do most of the work. We left London Victoria almost on time, and kept to the schedule until our planned water stop at Winchfield. Because Clan Line wasn’t working hard, we still had plenty of water in the tender, so didn’t need to take any from the waiting tanker. We did, however, take some at Salisbury.
We were held at Wilton Junction, waiting for a late running train to clear the single line ahead. We were also held at Gillingham by another late running train, and we arrived at Yeovil Railway Centre about a quarter of an hour late. While the train went on to Weymouth, Clan Line was serviced, and turned on the turntable.
We left Yeovil Railway Centre early, but we were held at Yeovil Pen Mill for about forty minutes, because of delays on the line to Dorchester. Having picked up the train, we left Weymouth about forty three minutes late. We saved some time by missing the pathing stop at Brockenhurst, but we were still behind at Eastleigh, where we took more water. We finally arrived at Waterloo about eighteen minutes down.
