Great Western Coffee Shop

166202 is currently heading towards Southampton on a gauging test run. Running outwards as 5Z44 21:06 Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton Central (via Redbridge) and returning as 5Z45 01:18 Southampton Central to St Philip's Marsh (via Eastleigh and Chandler's Ford).

Noting out and back through platform 4 at Salisbury ... will a 166 be OK in platform 3 there?

Currently sat in platform 3 at Salisbury. Looks like it is shunting back out to run via 2 so all of the platforms are gauged.

Lots of shunting around at Southampton, but they seem to be doing only 3 of the 4 platforms as far as I could trace through RTT.    Also noticed that they covered the island platforms 2 and 3 at Eastleigh but not platform 1.   Of course P1 at Eastleigh might not normally be used, but I'd have thought it would still be checked.

Presumably they'll be back again to do the two routes to Portsmouth at some stage anyway.

Paul

Looking at Open Train Times (maps), don't they have to go though platform 1 to reach Chandler's Ford?   As far as I can make out, the short double section out of Eastleigh is not reversible

There are routes through P2 and P3 to the Chandlers Ford branch, they run on the right hand bi-di track for a short distance until a crossover to the down (Chandlers Ford bound) line. Unfortunately the relevant crossover isn't on the RTT map. It's the normal route when GWR bypass Southampton during engineering work.  But the normal evening 'via Eastleigh' services, one each way, use P2 or P3 at Eastleigh, up trains crossing west of the station for reversal to the Botley route, so never need P1.

Paul