"Phil Clark" wrote

I'm not sure a slow train to Reading - Basingstoke - back to Fleet
would have been any quicker. They were turning round some West of
England services at basingstoke, and advising people to travel via
Woking, not Reading.

But it's one to remember for future use - my ticket isn't valid via
Reading, so not one I'd normally think of.

The NR disruptions page mentioned delays up to 150 minutes, and also said
that SWT tickets were being accepted on FGW/FGWL via Reading.

Even with all lines closed at Surbiton for, perhaps, a couple of hours, it
ought to have been possible to serve Guildford and the Portsmouth line via
Epsom, Leatherhead and Effingham Junction, and to run a few Basingstoke
route traions via Staines and Chertsey - I don't have any information as to
whether these routes were actually used.

Peter.

Peter