London to Bournemouth

[Starmill]

A friend would like to travel from London to Bournemouth on Firday 10th July after they finish work around 1700, and return the following Sunday afternoon. I've advised the purchase of a £37.55 Off-Peak Return (with Railcard) which I think is valid at this time, its difficult to check till I'm back off mobile tomorrow. Can anyone please advise of which trains are likely to be the least busy? I'm aware that might be asking a lot given it's the busiest time of the week and July. 10 or 12 car trains? And is there usually space right at the front of these departing Waterloo? Also again it's tricky to check on my phone, is there any engineering work on the Sunday? I'm not particularly familiar with this route, any other advice appreciated!

 

[Kite159]

Fridays in general are quieter than Mondays to Thursdays, as a lot of commuters "work from home" in the afternoons.

No evening peak restriction out of Waterloo so the off-peak return would be valid on the 17:05 departure, and NRE is suggesting no engineering works on the Sunday.

As far as train length, IIRC they tend to be double 444s (10 cars) until Southampton, where they split with the front unit running fast to Bournemouth, with the rear unit becoming a semi-fast/stopper to Bournemouth/Poole. The high-peak services tend to run-fast to Winchester where they empty out

 

[SpacePhoenix]

The timings may be different that weekend

The lines between Eastleigh and Fareham will be closed all day Sunday for renewal work.

A revised train service will run between Portsmouth and Southampton Central.
Some of these trains will attach to / detach from Poole services at Southampton Central to provide through services between Portsmouth and London Waterloo via Winchester.
Replacement bus services will run between Eastleigh and Fareham to connect with the altered train services.



This will also result in minor retimings to trains between London Waterloo and Poole, and connecting services between Brockenhurst and Lymington.

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/JulEng2015.aspx#162990

Looks like you'll need to be carefull which portion of the train you're in