... this afternoon since around 1700 the down line at Totton has been completely shut as well as both down lines at Basingstoke being shut for nearly 2 hours due to an insecure load.
[...]
I have full sympathy with SWT/XC/GWR passengers at the moment, it's not their responsibility to understand why things go wrong.
Just got caught up in this myself. Heading home from Portsmouth & Southsea to Sway, I set out happily enough at 17:40.
First inkling that something was wrong (apart from a 10 minute delay approaching Fareham) came when I saw a Voyager stopped at St Denys. The driver called across to our driver, asking if we'd wait while he sent his passengers across to us to get them to Southampton Central. We did.
At Central, we came in on plat 1. Plats 2-4 (and '5' I think) had empty 444s blocking them up, so Plat 1 was being used for trains coming in and out from Portsmouth, Victoria etc..
There were no announcements that I heard explaining what was going on, and the departure boards were a misleading mess, so I went to try and find out. There were some small queues for taxis or buses (not sure which) outside the main entrance on the up side, but I heard someone asking for Bournemouth being sent to Platform 4, so I dashed there, where whistles were already being blown for a 444, around 19:00. The info on the platform was wrong I think, but I hopped on thinking it was the best bet. We set off, and it turned out it was fast to Bournemouth. Not ideal, but I have a Sway-Bournemouth season so I thought I'd just double back when I got to Bournemouth.
The train crept out, paused at Millbrook, then came to a halt at Redbridge for just under an hour. The driver walked through the train, and it was announced we'd be reversing on to the 'up' line, then reverse again to run wrong-line through Totton. This was duly done (although not before another 444 went past, empty I think). I waved to the track workers (a team of 3 and a couple of vans) as we went by Totton.
At Bournemouth we came in on plat 2, and the station was a nightmare. Plats 2 and 3 packed with people, all it seemed in a single queue for taxis! An ambulance was outside, I think for people fainting in the heat, and station staff were giving out water. No sign of any buses. The train I came in on terminated, and soon after a train left for Weymouth from plat 3. I nipped to Asda to get a sandwich (all sold out, had to be a banana) and then headed back to the station.
A 444 came in to plat 3 from Weymouth, marked for Brockenhurst. Hurrah, my stopper for Sway! Confirmed by the guard on the tannoy.
Then it was announced that the train on plat 2 would be fast to Brock, Southampton Central, Basingstoke and Waterloo. People rushed to it, as the station PA implored them not to run.
Then the guard on my train announced it would be going to Weymouth instead. Now it was my turn to hare across to plat 2, thinking that at least Brockenhurst was close to Sway. All 10 coaches full and standing, but at last I got to Brock sometime after 21.30 I think.
Finally got the 21:16 from Brock to Sway, which was delayed by about an hour. So about three hours late, although I might have been earlier had I not been so keen to get out of Southampton, and had waited for a stopper there.
The above will be cut and pasted into my compensation claim