What's better than a visit to the Isle of Wight? A visit to the Isle of Wight on a steam train, of course. Check out iwsteamrailway.co.uk if you’d like to pay them a visit. Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/jagohazzard Patreon: / jagohazzard
In around about 2000 I attended a meeting of the Isle of Wight Commissioners for Income Tax in Newport. We didn't actually have any cases (not an unusual occurrence) but talking to the Commissioners I mentioned that the last time I'd come to Newport was on a train. They exploded; 'We should have kept those trains, we'd have been making a bomb out of them now!'.
@Jim Thorne Many years ago I worked in the Secretary of Commissions section of what was then the Lord Chancellor's Department which dealt with appointments of Justices of the Peace and... General Commissioners of Income Tax! A blast from my past! 🤗
Would have been even better though if they had kept the extra 4 miles to Ventnor. Its closure really damaged Ventnor's tourist trade because it's only accessible by hilly roads. Admittedly the station itself was nearly 300 feet above sea level and accessed by a long tunnel. A dirty trick was played in the 1965 Ministerial inquiry when the inspectoir said that the case had been made for retaining the Ryde-Ventnor line and objectors turned their attention to trying to save Ryde-Newport-Cowes. Only after the inquiry had finished did British Rail present proposals to axe the Shanklin-Ventnor section.
As a resident of the frozen north, I have never ventured into tropical locations such as the Isle of Wight. Where I’ve seen any of it on TV, it’s always been from the Solent. Jago, you casually showing some of the scenery is the first time I’ve seen the hinterland. Your videos tend to show all sorts of bits and pieces that escape other videos. Thank you.
I visited there in 2015. A lovely day out. Brilliantly run, and extremely enjoyable. The train I rode in was pulled by one of the ex military engines - the Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0, 'Royal Engineer'. Interesting 'graveyard' of old station signs, too. Oh, and the cafe sold a great cup of tea. Most important, when you're parched after looking at rolling stock. I was going to say: What's brown, and comes out of Cowes backwards? The Isle of Wight ferry. But I won't, as it's a terrible 'dad joke', that makes you think of dung. What's brown, and sounds like a bell? Dunnnnng! What? That's a Monty Python joke, is that.
Ah Jago, you finally made it over here. A generally excellent video with one glaring error. The Wight Locomotive Society was based in Newport not Ryde. The notice to quit came about because Newport Station and yard were being bulldozed for a dual carriageway, interestingly still the only such road on the island. I live in Wootton and pass the station on a regular basis and know quite a bit about the railway. I was friends with one of the original volunteers now sadly passed on and know several of the current volunteers including one who works on the woodwork of those carriages. If I had more time I'd be down there myself volunteering. So a little snippet from the Great Move from Newport. The Society had no money but somehow and in what could only be described as dubious circumstances my friend Jacko turned up with a lorry load just in time. This fuel actually lasted them the first few years of preservation. Invincible was their main engine at first. Calbourne was in a bad way and it was many years before they could fix her up. Invincible was perfect because originally the line didn't even make it to Wootton so she just operated a push pull service as far as the line went. On the day of the move there was much activity as one would imagine. The line from Newport had been out of use for some time and was somewhat overgrown making travel difficult and somewhat dangerous. The "Last train from Newport" was hauled by Calbourne and consisted of much of the coaches and other rolling stock and featured Jacko hanging off the front clearing braches and sanding the rails.. The line was too bad to use Calbourne again so the tram took over ferrying the rest of the bits and pieces to Havenstreet. There was a problem at Wootton which had always suffered from land slippage. They had to had dig tons of earth to clear the rails but it was still touch and go as it kept moving. The current station is on the opposite side of the road from the original. The bridge as was is still under the road and apparently some of the fixtures and fittings are still down there. Anyway after a long day of moving stuff most of the Society had retreated to the pub to congratulate themselves. That was when they realised that a couple of people were missing. Jacko and his friend were not there and neither was the tramcar. They were still somewhere out in the dark between Newport and Havenstreet, nobody had seen them in ages. This was concerning as the tramcar had developed several major faults during the day. Had they broken down? Where were they? A search party was formed but was stood down as finally the tramcar pulled into Havenstreet with the last of the gear from Newport and a very tired and dirty pair of volunteers. The real, final, last train from Newport had taken two and a half hours and been beset by problems. The gearbox had gone, the throttle cable had snapped and the line had deteriorated to such an extent that it was near impassable. With nothing but a torch to guide them and with Jacko controlling the throttle by holding the end of what remained of the cable while his mate held the gearbox together with his bare hands and stuck in second gear they crawled in. This final run was so odd that it gave rise to stories of ghost trains on the old line between Wootton and Newport that persist to this day!
I don't get the joke. I don't get it so much, my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw it! XD Context: Geoff Mashall's Isle of Wight video was my introduction to his channel.
Island railways have a peculiar fascination. An island with a similarly dense network was Bornholm in Denmark. Alas nothing remains of the railways there. The Isle of Wight has been lucky and the Isle of Wight Steam Railway is a fine example to all.
Yes, the same happened in the Channel Islands. Jersey used to have a railway, but now all are devoid of trains except for Alderney, which also has an ex-London Underground unit!!
When I went to school on the Isle of Wight, we learned about WWII and how it affected children. Part of this involved a mock evacuation, where we were dropped off by our parents at a railway station, "evacuated", presumably learned stuff, and we then collected by our new family in the country (obviously our parents again!) at the other end of the line. Really glad to see that the line is still going 😊
Ah, I had an inherited love of railways from both parents and I remember distinctly sleeping in an LBSCR ex-four wheeler body above the beach at Fairlight in 1949. I also recall making out the letters LNER under an old carriage body's peeling varnish as recently as 1976, somewhere near Shoreham (Sussex).
That’s a wonderful expression…! But always remember, the Island is perfectly normal, it’s the North Island which has become strange and incomprehensible…
A bit of trivia is the Newport to Freshwater line was the only one to never show a profit from the day it opened until the day it closed, its amazing it stayed open until 1953. A second bit is the first winter after the Ventnor section closed snow hit the island and hilly Ventnor, despite assurances from the authorities,was the first place to lose its buses
Was that 62/63? I've got a book on the island lines somewhere with a photo of a steam engine fighting its way through a massive snow drift that winter. It was a very telling commentary on the decision to close the lines that road transport practically ground to a halt, but the trains still got through.
Jago ~ Excellent tribute to the work of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway; it deserves a good report. I only saw it once, years ago, and was impressed by the superb restoration and paintwork of locomotives, rolling stock, and buildings. It is a great survivor, as Beeching (1963 “Report”) sought to close down all railways on the island. It was interesting for me to see the class 2 locomotive, as it reminded me of the British Railways Standard class 2 locomotives (all scrapped) that worked most of the Brighton-Horsham trains in the mid-1960s.
Peter Jardine, who oversaw the restoration of the grounded carriage bodies to railway use, has recently been awarded the MBE for services to railway heritage. Well deserved!
As someone whose father purchased the Crop & Field (barges than ran to the IoW) and I also spent one of my school summer holidays baby sitting/marooned on a VIC up at Newport that my father had bought from MoD Rosyth. I have a passing interest in the IOW. I also served with a fellow Cornishman, a chief engineer, who had moved to the IoW to live in his name sake's village - Wootton. So very pleased you covered this JH.
The Isle of Wight Steam Railway is a fabulous place to visit, I was there back in August. A couple of corrections, the preservation society was originally based in Newport, not Ryde, and historically there was no station at Smallbrook, only a signalbox.
Growing up on the Island we had the Newport to Ryde line at the botton of our road, I can remember the odd steam train going past (the cuts had happened by then) I was also as a young nipper taken to the last train to leave Newport station by my dad (i'm in that photo someware) this was when the steam railway was moving varios items down the line to Havenstreet on a track that was not in good shape
I think it’s excellent to see that a RU-vidr who specialises in London railways has made it to the Isle of Wight unlike others I could mention 😜 Once again, a great video!
I lived on the island for a couple of years in the mid 1950s and I have memories of travelling from Cowes to Ventnor regularly. Yes, the arrival at Ventnor was brilliant! I would love to live nearer and be able to see it as it is now. Thanks for posting. Tim
Lived on the island for many years - enjoyed the steam railway that's for sure. I was lucky enough to do a couple of the Beer and Buses weekends which involved vintage buses driving all over the island to different pubs for one great massive booze up. They even had stops at the steam railway station and you could hop on. It really was as good as it sounds! Sadly it became a victim of it's success and they eventually cancelled it because it was too timely/costly to organise - it was essentially free after all!
I must confess I recall the Ventnor High Station with awe and amazement. As a young child our family went to the IoW on vacation. It must have been in the final years of the Ventnor station. Coming out of a dark tunnel into the glorious sunlight and disembarking to realise that we were on top of a cliff, never to be forgotten moment. As a young child the track seemed closer to the edge of the cliff, and the cliff seemed higher and the tunnel longer and darker than any of them actually were, I am sure. But it secured Ventnor Station a place in my heart for ever more.
Envy you that experience. I only knew Ventnor after closure, and those really strange cave-like dwellings cut into the chalk face beside the platforms. I think they once housed coal merchants. What an odd place to earn a living from!
I also remember travelling to Ventnor as a child and my dad captured it on cine film. The station site is still there and is nearly 300 feet above the town. A curious feature was that there was no bridge to the outer island platform. If you had to get a train from that you had to pass through a train on the nearer line which had platforms on both sides. If there was no train in that platform, you got across using a ship's gangway from the Portsmouth-Ryde ferries!
Ventnor is a sweet little place, for sure. The line from Shanklin has been mentioned again recently as a candidate for reopening. I wonder how feasible this might be?
@@QHarefield My Dad was a railway enthusiast so he took care to point it out and film it, so it stuck in my mind especially when we viewed the films in later years. Not the only quirky IOW practice. At Cowes the engine "ran round" by pushing its coaches up the bank out of the station, nipping into a siding and waiting till they had run back down controlled by the guard. Freshwater line trains had to reverse into Newport as the junction was beyond the station. That line closed as early as 1953.
My like - 👍was number 442, I felt it necessary to make it an Atlantic like. I enjoyed this video, Jago, as all your videos. Surprising how much rail exists on Wight and nice to see those steam locomotives preserved. Sad that David Sheppard is no longer with us. His 9F, Black Prince is a magnificent locomotive.
Went there in 2017 on a trip from New Zealand, I was born in London in 1950 and grew up with steam engines. My visit to Haven Street was very enjoyable with a bonus on being invited onto the footplate on 41298 ( a child hood dream come true) I was given the engineers cap to wear whilst my sister took the photo I had the biggest smile ever it was a day to remember and a worthy visit from any steam engine buff.
Ah, lovely video, Jago - brings back happy memories. As a kid our family had two holidays on the Isle of Wight in 1964 and 1966. For the earlier one, we caught a train of ancient steam-hauled stock at Ryde pier which took us on a fascinating journey all the way to Cowes where we decamped onto a coach waiting to take us to Thorness Holiday Camp. I was extremely disappointed to find, upon our return two years later, that the line to Cowes had been closed and the coach from Thorness came all the way to Ryde to pick us up. A few years later I discovered a book in our city library (Norwich) called "Rails in the Isle of Wight" by P C Allen and A B MacLeod and written in the dying days of steam. I believe it also featured the painting you show in the video at 1:02 on the cover as well as being reproduced as a colour plate on the inside. I remember getting that book out several times over the next few years. That particular copy of the book probably perished in the fire that consumed the library in 1994 but I managed to pick up a copy (without a dust jacket) about 3 years ago, which enabled me to enjoy the history of the island lines once more.
As a non-railway snippet, I remember the 1994 Norwich fire because I had work colleagues who did vacuum drying to salvage water-damaged books and records after either floods or fires (with consequent water damage from firemen's hoses). They ended up with a big job recovering most of the Norfolk county historical records which were housed at the library. It took 6 months and they had to freeze all the papers they couldn't handle immediately to avoid bacterial spoilage.
Newport was the holding ground before moving to Havenstreet just to say. Invincible was going through overhaul but lock downs killed that off there is hope she will get done next year. The railway did try to get two o2s but br accidentally cut up the other Loco (W31) is the story on that. Freshwater arrived with water in her tanks and Ash from behind one of the last Locos to run on the Hayling island line and mounted on a plinth outside of a pub. The railway does own 3 ivatts 41298 and 41313 running on the island and 46447 on a loan deal to the east summer set
Great video. On the IOWSR you are guaranteed travelling in a carriage at least 100 years old (originally LBSCR or SECR) and there's a train of even older Victorian carriages. No BR Mk 1's there! I travelled on the IoW as a child before the end of steam in the 1960s behind the O2s and in the same carriages, so it really brings back memories! The reason for using old engines and carriages was that some clearances were so tight that no newer ones would fit, and that's why London tube trains (first 1920s, then 1938, now 1978) were used instead of normal main line stock, when BR were forced to retain part of the line in 1967. Even the Ivatt 2-6-2Ts would have needed to be cut down slightly to fit through Ryde tunnel. BR at the time were so totally anti-steam that they refused to consider continuing that way - though they did spare the Vale of Rheidol. In fairness they would also have had the challenge of finding more modern carriages too. Ryde-Shanklin-Ventnor was still busy then, especially on Summer Saturdays when it carried most of the holidaymakers to the east coast resorts and up to 4 trains an hour were run.
And toot toot to you Dear Sir. How invigorating to realize that a small island like the Isle of Wright is doing so much to preserve the history of steam trains in their locale. May their efforts rekindle a flame in the hearts of young and old alike who remember steam trains being an integral part of their lives, or remember the stories older family members passed down in enthusiastic conversations at family gatherings. For example, I well remember.....................
Modernisation of railways still means pretty much the same over here now as it did when the "Calbourne" was received. The latest 'new' EMUs on the Island Line were about 40 years old and the fleet before that were about 50 when introduced and continued until they were just about 80
Fond memories of the early days of the preserved line. As a child my parents in the mid 1970s dragged me to the Island every year for Cow's Week. Needless to say, I did not share their enthusiasm for bobbing about in boats, but much preferred the joys of the steam locomotives. The trip over to the Island on the small hovercraft, however, is a whole other story!!
Ah yes: Cow's week: that famous annual island celebration of bovine livestock and associated dairy products. Or perhaps you meant Cowes Week? You're very welcome, my dear fellow!
@@IDIOCRACY_IS_NOW Indeed, my bad, clearly the scars still run deep! Although a week of bovine celebrations would have been infinitely more interesting!! 😊
The 38 Stock wouldn't have lasted for much longer, it really was a struggle to keep at least one serviceable unit available towards the end. Still, at least there's still two of them on the island, one at Havenstreet Station on the steam railway, and two more in preservation on the mainland, currently in South Wales, but they may pay the Epping-Ongar line a visit!
You would love the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway(RH&DR). its a 1/3 size locomotives and runs for 13 miles. its been here since 1927 and was used as defense for the coast with a armored locomotive that looks like a tank on tracks but 1/3 size haha. hope to see you down here!
It's been said that the miniature armoured train shot down a Luftwaffe plane, in part because the German pilot saw the tiny train and thought he was higher up than he really was!
Summer before last I made a good day out from Portsmouth. Went to the island as a foot passenger on the car ferry to Fishbourne, ie Wooton Creek, had a nice half hour walk to Wooton Station and visited the steam railway. Then I left via Smallbrook Junction on the old underground train to Ryde. Had a pint and dinner there before catching the hovercraft back across the Solent.
Loved this, Jago. The IoWSR is probably in the top 5 in the whole country, certainly for authenticity, where your journey will be in a carriage of at least 90 years old, and maybe as old as 160! I'd love to see you do a feature on Col. Stephens empire (or at least part of it), one day.
Indeed, The Kent & East Sussex Railway at Tenterden would be a good start. There's even a little museum by the Heritage railway station that tells you the fascinating story about Col. Holman Fred Stevens and his railway 'empire'.
I first visited the Isle of Wight in 1964. Lucky me - I caught the end of steam on the island, although I didn't appreciate that fact for many years. After the long haul from Central Scotland, the ferry crossing was a blessing - nearly there. Seeing those old trains waiting at the pierhead platforms was a shock. We (the family) rocked and rolled on toward Shanklin where we were to stay. Other than the trip back to Ryde, the train wasn't used again. I never got to go through Ventnor tunnel. My next visit was in the early 2000s, a day trip from Reading to Shanklin and back. That train rocked and rolled as well. Still haven't managed to visit IoWSR - and I doubt I never will. This offering on RU-vid serves to emphasise that. Thank you, Mr. H. Another interesting excursion out of London.
Hi Jago, I really enjoyed this video. I have a few videos and books on the IOW railways and three secondhand 00 named IOW Terrior tank engines that I purchased from a model railway show. They part of someone’s collecting and the seller was very happy that they were being kept together. I was in the 1990s that I visited the Island and as we arrived by the Sealink Patrica catamaran at Ryde Pier Head one of the old ex-LT tube/NSE Class 485 trains arrived. There had been a delay in replacing these with the “new” NSE 483 stock. The ride was of great interest as I rode in the leading motor car (Americanism for Mr C T Yerkes) behind the control compartment, listening to the Contactors controlling the power to the motors and the sound of the air compressor, sounding a little bit elderly, wonderful. The last visit, by hovercraft then by the youthful Class 483 (as shown in museum) was on a ticket that included travel on the IOW Steam railway. Wonderful Day. Calbourne was not in steam at the time and fundraising was in progress for her. I have to admit that I really liked the NSE livery applied to both the 1923 and 1938 tube trains. The D78 stock carrying on the LT UndergrounD tradition. Best wishes from Oxfordshire.
Went for a Ryde on it yesterday. It was a beautiful day, the woods were carpeted with bluebells and the railway was splendid. Very well run, as you state. Enjoyed it very much.
Thanks, Jago. It's been many years since I last visited the IoWSR - good to see it again. Very early photos show engines hauling 'Rocket' era coaches - virtually all their stock came second hand - and one problem was that bridge and platform clearances were built to fit them. So long as elderly Victorian stock was available from the mainland they were all right..... (It was not known as the 'Southern Region's geriatric ward' for nothing..... Nice, too, to see 'Cannock Wood', as I knew her, is now on their line. Not actually an Island engine, she survived into preservation through being sold to the NCB at Cannock Wood colliery, Staffordshire, which is how I first met her. Great film - loved it.
As a small child in the early sixties, I loved the steam trains from Ryde Pier to Ventnor for our summer holidays. Lovely to see this heritage being so well looked after and loved.
Yes, thats one experience I missed. My first visit to the Isle of Wight was in 1974, and the Shanklin - Ventnor section had already been consigned to the history books
Now that was really satisfying and edifying. I visit often the IoW railway from Florida using a combination of the IoW website, the live stream web cams and Google Earth. The views in this vid complement what I can see thru my usual sources. Another home run, Jago, or whatever cricket term is fitting. Cheerio!
I travelled on the line in 1956 as a child when the line went from Shanklin some of the now a footpath then in 56 there was railway through a tunnel to Ventnor. There was a twenty or thirty minute stop on the journey to chase a herd of cows off the track.
Nuclear Fred! 😂 Brilliant Video, Isle be back on the Island in the future to ride the IOW Steam Railway, have done the Island Line last year when the Class 484s (Former D78 Stock) trains started operating. But the truth is, catching the Train to Portsmouth, the Ferry and the Island is an awesome experience!
My wife and I rode this line and stock in 2020, we both really enjoyed it, so much so my wife has asked for us to ride other longer steam train rides. The rolling stock we travelled on was fantastic example of traditional compartment type very comfortable and cosy. Great Video ~Trooper
I did a tourist and rode the line back in the summer, we where hauled by the "royal engineer" and it was a great day out! great video as always, keep them coming :)
Thank you for recapturing my childhood with my dad on this wonderful heritage steam trains. I used to go to the isle of wight as a child we stayed in Sandown my dad and I used to go and watch the steam trains whilst my mother topped up her tan.
The quality and pride in the restoration of the passenger carriages can be seen in the immaculate antimacassars*, and the bright brass screws in the richly varnished woodwork, with all the screwdriver slots lined up… Some relics of earlier carriages are now still serving as a row of beach huts at St Helens, IW. * The white cotton “knapkins” placed at the top of the seat-backs, to protect the upholstery from gentlemen’s hair oil…
I find it very interesting to see a steam railway on the Isle of Wight given how the island bears a resemblance to the maps of the Island of Sodor in the wider mythologies of The Railway Series. I know that Audrey did not base Sodor on the Isle of Wight but it does feel like the kind of place that would have its own devolved identity and language as it is so parochial in Britain's archipelago geography. Always love hearing about steam trains from you, another excellent video.
@@neville132bbk Even the Isle of Wight managed to have a separate numbering system for its engines from the rest of the Southern Railway, initially with a W prefix, later dropped. After nationalisation the O2s, numbered in the 14-36 range, were the lowest numbered locos on BR apart from the three Vale of Rheidol steam engines (7-9).
The tired looking "Invincible" was once the locomotive for the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough. A short line ran from the goods yard at Farnborough Main down to the RAE until (I think) 1968. You can still see the trails at into the pavement at the top of Union Street.
The IoWSR is a lovely little line with plenty of historical value. They do a great job at getting the 'feel' right and am glad to see you cover it, Jago! Very good indeed! You're certainly made of the 'Wight' stuff!
Invincible used to run between Farnborough (Main) and the Royal Aircraft Establishment in the 1940s and 50s when I was a schoolboy there. Where it didn't run along residential roads the old track bed is now Invincible Road
See my response to a comment from @frglee, where I talk about three proposals: Shanklin-Ventnor (weak business case), Ryde-Newport via IoW Steam Railway metals (steam railway put the kybosh on it), and Sandown-Newport (still in play).
It would be hard to do, my house is built on the old Ryde to Newport on line the cutting was filled in then they built houses there and the tunnel is now a walk way from the River Medina to Fairlee rd
@@aswclassicsiow8588 One proposal, from a local man named Mark Townend, was to create a new route, crossing North Fairlee Road south of Binfield, then over the fields and along the riverbank to a terminus at Seaclose, somewhere near the leisure centre. Graham Akers reported a similar proposal: "A late friend of mine, in teaching an engineering course at the local [Newport] college, used to set his pupils the task of laying out a line from Whippingham station down to the east bank of the River Medina and then along the bank to Newport harbour, which is on the edge of the town centre." (Excerpted from a letter published in Rail Magazine, 9 - 22 September 2020.) The objections to the Restoring Your Railway submission, as I understand it, were (1) the good bus service between Ryde and Newport, (2) the steam railway, which wishes to preserve its character, and (3) the owners of the former Whippingham station.
I did wonder when you’d visit. I’m a mere youngster volunteer ( on and off 20 years or so) but there are plenty who started in 1971. Glad you enjoyed your visit. Hope to see you again.
My dad wanted to buy Calbourne as a static exhibit at the watermill in Calbourne. When there were a number of O2s and a E1 (freshwater?) they stripped Calbourne on the side of the track and eventually got it going again and I was on the first passenger service after Calbourne came back into service. I remember riding the cowes line as a nipper.. Incidently, smallbrook Jn was one of the business Jn’s on BR. summer Saturday it was all hand pouches for the single track. Look out for the vid iow railways. It explains the BR exemptions to the rule book for cowes
Camped near there a few years ago. They had ticket that gave a day pass across all of the railways on the island. I even managed to put my bike in the guards van and ride with to Smallbrook Junction then on to Ryde Pier for thr ferry.
Lord Jago, sir--- what an utterly gorgeous collection, and set of working stock.... the photography is just top class--crisp and sharp...rather like the commentary :-) Roll on, sir, says LeviNZ. ( if you haven't Wiki'd Levin NZ yet, i feel slighted, at a distance)
My grandad worked as a printer, sent me a lot of hardbound railway books when I was in my teens. Standout book that I’ve read many times, Once Upon A Line, stories from the drivers, guards, and station masters that worked the Isle of Wight railway. Highly recommend this book, documenting the quirkiness of the railway.
Those rail carriage conversions looks much better than modern container conversion homes! For starters, they have windows and doors in them to begin with, and enough insulation to make them at least bearable to ride in the winter. Not to mention they’re quite a bit longer than a shipping container. It seems almost like it would be akin to living on a narrowboat.
Excellent summary of my local railways Jago, you certainly do you homework! Calbourne and her sisters used to take me to school proir to electification. Many thanks.
I remember the "vinced" loco hauling coal trains from Farnborough main down Elm Grove Road, across Victoria Road to the RAE power station when I was a young little boy (as opposed to an ageing little boy).
