The Southern Rover to Woking

For the princely sum of around 50p equivalent in the 1960s, it was possible to get unlimited travel on a Saturday around designated parts of the south London suburban network. One of these area tickets covered Waterloo to Woking. So for a cash - strapped teenager this was a golden opportunity to get steam mileage at a bargain price. If you planned it well then it amounted to less than 0.2p per steam mile. Who could turn down that kind of offer? Add to that the fact that on the same ticket you could also pop down to Guildford for a run across to Redhill then it all became just a little silly!

How it worked is shown below. The steam services did map out quite conveniently and whilst there were minor variations possible, it was usually a version of the following that I did, sometimes without the Surrey Hills interlude. My example is one trip I did in June 1964.

34048: 0912 Wok - Wloo 0944 (0739 from Salisbury)
35030: 0954 Wloo - Wok 1025 (To Basingstoke 1114)
35006: 1044 Wok - Wloo 1116 (0849 from Salisbury)
73074: 1154 Wloo - Wok 1224 (To Salisbury 1422)
80139: 1300 Guildford - Betchworth 1336 (1205 Reading - Redhill 1346)
31858: 1344 Betchworth - Guildford 1422 (1335 Redhill - Reading 1518)
76007: 1508 Wok - Wloo 1539 (1301 from Salisbury)
30830: 1554 Wloo - Wok 1625 (To Basingstoke 1714)
76082: 1657 Wok - Wloo 1736 (1447 from Salisbury)
34102: 1754 Wloo - Wok 1825 (To Basingstoke 1914)
34097: 1947 Wok - Wloo 2023 (1550 from Wymouth)
34100: 2054 Wloo - Wok 2125 (To Salisbury 2331)
34036: 2133 Wok - Wloo 2208 (1600 from Plymouth)

Looking back it is a tad mind-blowing to realise that I had struck gold on that Saturday with two Merchant Navies on fairly mundane stopping services and the bonus of an S15 plus, of course, the ubiquitous Mogul on the Redhill train.

Talking of Southern Moguls, the advantage of the Rover ticket was that you could change plans at short notice. On a previous Rover day I had spotted that soon after the 1535 Waterloo - Bournemouth West (that called at Woking) there was a vans train with a Mogul that went to Basingstoke but also stopped at Woking. So full of the audacity of youth I wandered onto the platform showed my Rover ticket to the guard and asked if I could travel in his brake down to Woking. "No problem" he said, "that is, if you don't mind standing as I'm having the only seat!" So that's how I got a ride out of Waterloo behind 31408.

Two weeks later I was at Waterloo again, saw that 31619 was up front and having had a N previously thought I'd try my luck with a U. Same tactic - same question but different response. "What do you want to ride with me for? If I were you I'd go and have a word with the driver!" So I did.

Much to my surprise the crew was more than amenable to giving me a footplate ride but insisted that I wear the fireman's serge jacket "as the guys in the (signal) box are a bit fussy about footplates out of Waterloo".

Rattling along at 60 mph on the main line (as we did through Berrylands) was something that came a close second to swinging through Clapham Junction at line speed (40 mph) with the whistle on (for my benefit I think). I know that others on this Forum can tell many tales of their footplate exploits on the SWML but I have to say that this was unforgettable. By the way - quick tip. Stand on either the tender plate or on the footplate but not both!