The old trains (red tube stock) are stored on a heritage line - mynydd mawr railway - in south wales. I cycle past them regularly. You can see the words "Island Line" painted down the side and i doubt passers by realise where they've come from. Interesting and usual excellent level of presentation.
Excellent and informative as usual, thank you so much for making this. I lived on the island for two years in the mid 1950s, and used to travel between Cowes and Ventnor to visit my father, who was in the TB hospital there. Ventnor Station was amazing to a young lad! Cheers again. Tim
The whole story of the Isle of Wight railways is quite interesting. The definitive source is Maycock and Silsbury. There are two volumes, one dealing with the staem era and another with post-war and electrification. You might like to make a video of the early history of the Island's railways. Of interest is that the writer for the Thomas and Freinds "Great Discovery", saw a picture of the derelict Cowes station and that gave her the idea for "Great Waterton". Thomas goes to this derelict station, and gets Sr Topham Hat to put it back into order. The reverse and opposite of what happened to Cowes station! Thanks for uploading.
Please forgive my ignorance as a far away Australian but with the 1923/Standard stock, I believe they were initially allocated the pre TOPS 4VEC and 3TIS classifications respectively. When combined, the classifications would form VECTIS, the Roman era name for the island. That’s my understanding of the situation anyway and I am happy to be corrected.
Brilliant. I spent many years holidaying on the island as a child and in my youth and my brother and I would spend significant amounts of our holidays standing by the line from Ryde, marvelling at the quaint locos and Victorian carriage stock. What a contrast to manchester where I lived.
Very thorough but succinct coverage of the evolution of this fascinating railway. It brings back memories from the 1960s of arriving on the ferry at Ryde Pierhead and travelling through the St Boniface Down tunnel to Ventnor and thence by bus to Niton Undercliff to visit my Grandmother, whose real name was actually “Nanna on the Isle of Wight”!
Great timing since I went to the IOW yesterday with a train mate. The new Class 484 ex D Stock trains have been beautifully refurbished complete with electronic motor control although the elegant single leaf door mechanisms should possibly have received more attention (don't seem to operate as new in some cases) and Air Conditioning seems essential nowadays especially when over crowded in the Sun as these will be. Perhaps they are not insulated to a high enough standard to make AC a goer. At present they are only operating as 2 car trains, I don't know whether an upgrade to 4 car operation is envisaged for peak season (starting around mid June), that is certainly required since even now all seating is being used judging by my visit in late May 2022. It is my understanding that all Station platforms can accomodate 4 car trains. I didn't realise that Dr. Beeching was responsible for closing the line south of Shanklin to Ventnor, what a retrograde decision after all that work constructing the tunnel through St. Boniface Down. The site disused-stations (route Closed Passenger Stations, Isle of Wight rather than searching in vain `PASSENGER STATION INDEX' at the top of the page like I did haha) Wroxall & Ventnor makes interesting reading.
Beeching did not close any railway lines, what he and his staff did was to write a report based on the national survey undertaken on all lines week ending 23 April 1961 of passenger ad freight traffic. From this they were able to estimate what lines were operating in profit and those that were unremunerative. The report viewable in the Railways archive web site does not contain Beechings name in it or on it neither any of his staff. Closures were done t a set process as outline in the 1962Transport Act, in which the TUCC heard any reasons for hardship, that the closure would cause.Closures were sanctioned by the relevant Minister until 1966 when BR were responsible for closures.
Riding this line in 1985 was the highlight of my first overseas travel, involving the use of a 30 day brit rail pass. The line is highly comparable to the Staten island Rapid Transit in New York City, which retained its 1925 vintage equipment until 1973.
First class video again! Big fan of your work here. I visited the IoW for the first time this year and went to the esplanade station. You've filled in a lot of blanks for me. Thank you.
Another stellar video, Ruairidh! I always watch your mini documentaries, love the info you share. Thanks for all the hard work you put into these for us.
I've only visited the island for family holidays and for the Steam Railway, but every time I've been it's been a lovely experience; I'd like to go back and see the ex-District Line new rolling stock they're using (last time I visited was before they replaced them), but it's such an idyllic location, a lovely place to be
Some of those old island line class 483s showed up recently at the Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway near where I am. I cycle pass them all the time, interesting to know the history, thanks!
This episode has special interest to me because I had an extended visit on the IOW in 2007. At that time some of the operating electric trains were done up with colorful dinosaur murals reflecting the local fossil finds. I cycled old railway grades from Newport to Merstone and Sandown, Newport to Cowes, and Brading to Bembridge. Also saw disused tunnels near Cowes and Ventnor West. A former railway tunnel near Newport now has a bike path through it. Old station buildings still exist at Ashey, Bembridge, Whitwell and Yarmouth. The steam tourist railway operates with authentic vintage equipment. It's a shame the once extensive island rail network has been largely abandoned and now the narrow roads are overburdened with vehicle traffic.
When we moved over here from Canada when I was a young lad this was one of the 1st trips my Nan took me on ( Spending the summer taking me all around the South East where we'd moved to by train in a bid to get me used to the country and to learn more about my new home). I'd been on the tube once, maybe twice, by then and remember being excited to see tube trains on this little island and amazed at how you could step off a ferry and take on along a pier which you could see the sea through. I always thought they looked quite good in the NSE livery but having taken a day trip to the IOW a few years back it was very clear they needed replacing and having watched a few videos about the work put into the new generation I think they make a welcome 'new' rolling stock addition to the serivce.
Some great vintage colour footage here. I’ve fond memories of many childhood trips on the 1923 stock and have a treasured photo of my parents on the same stock taken in 1986.
Went to the IOW in 1980 and travelled down to Sandown on the ex- 1923 units. Could mention that the last Class 05 shunter used to be based at St. John's Road. Later a Class 03 shunter was transferred to the island, but I think there are no shunters left now. With traffic congestion a real problem, there have been proposals to reopen some lines, and it would be nice to see Newport, Cows and Ventnor reconnected to the network.
Unbelievable that they shut the line to Ventnor, truncating it at Shanklin after all that work in getting to Ventnor in the first place through Boniface Down. Would you know the reasons for the decision? I realise that both Ventnor & Ventnor West stations were not ideally situated for the town centre (hence Ventnor Town was renamed Ventnor if i remember correctly).
@@Martindyna Firstly, BR knew from ticket sales, that the bulk of the footfall was to Shanklin and not Ventnor as the former was where the bulk of the Hotels, Guest houses and B&Bs were. Yes there were some Guest Houses, Hotels and B&Bs in Ventnor, but the station was sited somewhat remote from where the town was. It must also be remembered that BR wanted to close all the remaining railways on the IoW in March 1964; and whilst this closure process was going on, a general election was called and Oct 1964 saw a Wilson Labour government elected. It was planned to electrify the Ryde Pier head to Shankling only and the budget set was £500k. The project always hovered on being cancelled due to cost overruns. Basically to electrify down to Ventnor would have needed a fourth 33kV/650V DC substation plus 33kV OH Line connections, costing some £264k extra, and BR were not prepared to fund this, but suggested that the Local Authority (LA) did fund the capital and running costs of that section of line. The LA refused stating that it would put a financial burden on their ratepayers the bulk of which were retired. That is where the matter ended. At the time 1d of rates (old money £sd) raised £13,000. So 20d (old money ie 1s/8d) extra on the rates would have raised £260k. Not a lot of money these days but perhaps a lot in the early 1960s.
@@michaelhearn3052 Thanks for your detailed response. I think that Dr. Beeching recommended virtually all of the lines be shut IIRC so that Ryde Pier Head to Ryde Esplanade would be left? Perhaps you could confirm please.
@@Martindyna The closure notice served was to close all the IoW lines in their entirety. Basically the Beeching Report, (of which he and his staff had an input in writing, but you will not see their names in the report) was based on a survey done using passenger and freight traffic information week ending 23 April 1961, which was way outside the summer loading's on the IoW system; which ran from mid June to early September, this was why the IoW lines were seen as unremunerative. Various scenarios were considered, (including the use of buses to run to the esplanade station, which the local authorities were of the view that they would refuse planning permission for such a thing) and the decision was made to electrify the truncated section that exists today. Bearing in mind that BR did not anticipate the backlash in terms of complaints and also that there was in Oct 1964 a general election that saw a Wilson Labour government in power, whose manifesto was to reverse the cuts, which they did in a few cases but not in any number. Now had a Tory government been returned to power, then the prospect exists that all the lines would have been closed, IMHO.
the isle of wight tunnel idea continues to pop up on a regular basis although these days i imagine it's a road one envisaged. Still, 125+ years on, we're no nearer seeing it happen.
There's an excellent little book "The Great Isle of Wight Train Robbery" which gives a detailed account of the closures and the survival of the truncated line to Shanklin.
The Class 483 have done a good job for 80 years running on the Island Line but they have now been replaced by the Class 484. Still I do want to take a ride on the Island Line and the Class 484.
Back in 1973 /74 we had a school holiday to Atherfield holiday camp, walking along the beach the cliffs were very fragile and to this day I would swear there was a railway line over hanging the cliffs.
Great stuff! Absolutely fascinating! I think I learnt more in the first five minutes or so about IoW railways than I had in the 5 years I've known about them and been interested! 🤯
@@BrecklandSpotting It's called "Compulsory Purchase". Been done before to reinstate a line, so no reason why not. The promoters of the line just have to present a viable and sustainable business case.
I still regret never being able to visit the line before the refurbishment in 2021. I only learned of the line's existence and running with old tube stock in the beginning of 2020, but due to covid restrictions I was never able to travel to the line before the old trains ended their service there, only being able to see the last rides online due to the strict rules to travelling from the Netherlands at that time.
I travelled from Victoria to Ventnor on a through ticket that included the Portsmouth to Ryde Ferry. We got off the ferry briskly and arrived at the platform gate in time to see the train disappearing. Clearly no flexibility or co-ordination between them, but rather a dogged determination to stick to the schedule, come what may!
Took my family to the IOW a couple of months ago and tried out the new 484s and the old steam railway. There is a 483 on display in the museum of the steam railway that you can go inside. Not quite the same as riding on one, but better than nothing. What I didn't realise until I just watched this video, was that the 483s had been converted to 3rd rail only traction. I was surprised to see no 4th rail when I went, and presumed they had removed it for the 484s, but I guess they never added one!
I think you'd have to add t ogether the lengths of the three piers at Ryde (Road, tramway and Railway) to made it the second longest pier in England - Southport claims that. Also the choise of that 1920's Tube stock was also due to its control equipment being inside the body shell not underneath it as that would give protection against high waves when on the pier.
I must have been about 4 or 5 years old when I was taken on a trip to the island. That included a steam train ride which was my first experience of non-corridor stock. Not understanding that there were multiple compartments to each coach for years afterwards I was convinced that the IOW railways had peculiar carriages which were only one compartment long!
Thank you for this fantastic insight into a line I've always been keen to know more about, I never knew it had a Hayling Island connection as well by ferry!
Thank you on yet another very informative and highly interesting clip Rory. If anyone plays Train Sim World 2 you can play this exact route from Shanklin to Ryde Pier Head with the Class 483's but in their NSE Colours
Yeah it's really funny when you drove up and down the route a lot of times and you see and hear about elements of the route like the tunnel at Ryde and knowing how whacky it is to drive through. I think I'm gonna take the 483 for a spin... :D
Very interesting video, thank you. FWIW, the railways on the Isle of Wight are the subject of the boardgame 1860 by Mike Hutton. Great game, though not for the faint of heart, due to its length and complexity.
I recently went to the UK for a few day stay and it was quite pleasant to see all the stock I've always watched in your videos. As a 24yo, it feels sad to me that I can't get to see most of the already retired machines, but I hope I can find some in museums. Would you consider taking on with the railway history of any other countries? Big kiss, Alice :)
I was supposed to go to the IoW in august 2020 on tour with NMYBB, so I would've ridden the 483s before they were withdrawn. But the obvious happened, and now I'll only ever see 483s in preservation. The tour has been rearranged for this summer, so I'll just have to do the line on the 484s.
Sitting in a saloon carriage in the 1950s going over a rail crossing at speed, as the drivers did sometimes, some of the light bulbs shot out of their sockets ! 😆
Great video. Though looks like BTF must've got a bit lost at some point as the view down the cobbled hill at 0:35 is actually Keere Street in Lewes, East Sussex!
You mention Ryde Pier is the second longest in the UK after Southend. I was under the impression Ryde is 4th longest after Southend, Southport and Walton-on-the-Naze.
Thanks for the video! What about the tunnel clearance? Subsurface trains are roughly of mainline loading gauge and the Island line didn’t provide enough room for such kind of trains since electrification. Did they somehow enlarged the clearances? If yes, how are the flooding issues managed now?
You did not mention that class 483s were repainted from NSE/SWT colors to red (the color of London Transport) in their last years of work on the Island Line
I remember reading somewhere that they wanted to link the Isle of Wight to the mainland via a tunnel at one point. Is it possible to make a video about that? Edit I saw you mentioned it
This video surely has your longest sentence yet. Does someone punish you every time you use a full-stop? My English teacher used to mark me down for sentences that were a fraction of the length some of yours are! But still, outstanding content as always, and despite having grown up on Hayling, I never knew about the connection to Hayling Island.
In the event, the assumptions of the 1960s were somewhat mistaken. Tourist numbers (at least those arriving by foot) declined with the advent of the jet age, but pressure on the roads between other towns increased. Since about 2005-2010, the roads between Cowes and Newport and Newport and Ryde have become congested with the time to drive by car from Cowes to Ryde increasing from about 25 minutes in the 1990s to 40 minutes (on average) today - actually as slow as it would have taken by steam train in the 1960s. They should have kept the Cowes-Newport-Wootton sections open. I suppose it is too late to open them again.
I think your wrong about the 1923 standard tube stock. The central line had changed earlier. The very lastclinr in London using standard tube stock was the Northern City line, they replaced there with 1938 stock. And itcwas these units that went to the Isle of Wight I stand to be corrected
@@mikeuk4130 for goodness sake if the only thing you can do is critique Grammer you need to go get a life. Now do your self a favour, put your head in a bucket of water 3 times but only pull it out twice. You are a completely sad person. What a looser. Grammer may be important but not being rude is more important. I have trodden in things more civil than you.
Some excellent vintage footage, but some footage (especially relating to the heritage rly) is inauthentic. The latest IL units are proving problematic and the insufficient modernisation of the route means frequent speed limits lead to risk of timetable overruns. Also, too few units available for service if any fail.
It might be, but apparently the actual imaginary "location" of Sodor was meant to be just off Barrow in Furness and there are a couple of small islands that genuinely do exist there, Walney and Piel, so maybe they were the inspiration. But happy to be corrected.
I enjoyed several family holidays in the IOW in the 60’s, staying in Ryde and Ventnor. and travelled on the line behind the O2s. I bought my first camera in Burroughs camera shop in Ventnor and would talk to him about the recently closed Wroxall and Ventnor stations. I also purchased a copy of his book ‘The Great Isle of Wight Train Robbery’ whilst we were there. It describes how BR manipulated the passenger figures to make a case for the closures. He campaigned for the re-opening of Ventnor station, which was still intact at the time, having only just closed. Sadly this came to nothing and the site has been redeveloped. I also remember taking evening walks from Ventnor to St Lawrence station on the old Ventnor West branch.
The figures were not manipulated to make a case for closures as you state. There was a nation wide survey of all passenger and freight traffic week ending 23 April 1961. The data was given to Dr Beeching and he and his staff wrote The Reshaping of British Railways report that was published on 27 March 1963. The problem was that the peak times, on the IoW lines occurred during the Summer Holidays i.e. from June to mid September, outside of the survey dates, and Beeching knew this. Also, BR did not anticipate the backlash of complaints when the notice of closure was served in March 1964, nor did they expect a general election in Oct 1964, that would return a Wilson Labour government to power. The line down to Ventnor had a poor business case for its retention, as the bulk of passengers alighted at Shanklin, and walked to their accommodation. Others would get on a bus to go to Ventnor. The station at Ventnor for all its charm was in the wrong place for the town, some 300ft above it. Passengers had to carry luggage down the steep hills, and do the reverse when their hoilday was over. It was easier to get a bus into Ventnor from Shanklin. But the real killer was the £264k needed for the 4th traction substation, which was funding that BR did not have authorization to spend, as they were already committed to spend £500k on the scheme to electrify from Ryde esplanade to Shanklin.
Seems like the Island is another tube line that everybody forgot about! "The Isle of Wight is the largest island in the UK" So... are we not counting Great Britain as an island? So Beeching ruined the rails here, too. Beeching is a bastard; every time I hear his name, a part of me dies inside.
Where did the capital come from to pay for this? This island is utterly unproductive. Your father's taxes have paid for what's become a rich man's playground, that BTW you're not welcome to enjoy.
