A brief look at the Island Line including the new class 484 units, followed by a look at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway at Smallbrook Junction, Wootton and Havenstreet.
The Island Line really needs to clear those dry weeds off its tracks and platforms at Sandown before some stray spark from the third rail causes a fire in this hot dry summer. And only one train an hour? That's probably putting plenty of potential passengers off.
There is lots of competition from bus routes with frequent services. I think the line only remains open as it would be politically unacceptable for it to close. I'm not sure what market it is 'competing' in. Visitors to the island are unlikely to use it to get about and I suspect that foot passengers are more likely to arrive by hovercraft than the conventional ferry.
@@BoogiesTrains I suspect you're right about the political angle, but if the line itself showed more certainty about which market it's aiming at, it might just be transformed from a curious relic into a useful resource. It's been done elsewhere through things like Community Rail Network partnerships.😊
@@BoogiesTrains The ferry to the pier head is a fastcat, and is more convenient to use if you arrive by train to Portsmouth Harbour, to use the hover you have to travel from Portsmouth to Southsea. I agree the state of the line is a disgrace considering the amount of money spent refurbishing the trains, stations and track.
Great video Mr Boogie, never been on the Isle of Wight, so I guess it'll have to be added to my list. I see basic housekeeping on the "railway network seems to have fallen by the wayside. Anyway well done 🤓
The island is a good holiday destination but the railway interest is limited. I will post another video specifically about Havenstreet station on the IoWSR when I have finished editing it.
I feel it should also be worth noting that there are functioning stations at Brading and Ashey on the Isle of Wight as well, Brading is a stop on the electric island line and Ashey is a requested stop on the heritage railway
I couldn't really do the Island Line justice as I had limited time available and the service was so sparse. There is another video coming about Havenstreet that I hope you will enjoy.
Very good video, very enjoyable, and I guess the IoW goes on the list of things to do. I like the captioning with no insane background music. Just the sounds of the locality. Great. Cheers!
I think you got a few things wrong 1) iirc they are operating 2 tph at the moment 2) most trains terminate at pier head and some go to st johns road or esplanade
I can only report what I observed. I think there are some extra services but the basic service was just 1 tph. Trains only run to the pier head to connect with the ferry. I didn't see any go onto the pier.
@@ianbouglas Just been to Isle of wight couple of weeks back and can confirm that current service is 2 tph for most part of the day (except Sundays) with every other train going till Pier head. We went by the ferry from Portsmouth harbor and found the island line very convenient to take till Shanklin right after getting off the ferry.
