The Isle of Wight Steam Railway is a heritage railway

Heritage railway

thumb|right|the Historical [[Khyber train safari|Khyber Railway]] goes through the [[Khyber Pass]], [[Pakistan]]A heritage railway , preserved railway , tourist railway , or tourist railroad is a railway that is run as a tourist attraction, in some cases by volunteers, and...

 on the Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

. The railway passes through 5½ miles of unspoiled countryside from to station, passing through the small village of Havenstreet

Havenstreet

Havenstreet is a village on the Isle of Wight, located about 2 miles southwest of Ryde.The Isle of Wight Steam Railway Museum is in Havenstreet, along with a station. Every year, the Isle of Wight Steam Railway runs a "Santa Express" train from Wootton to Havenstreet, which is a centre of...

, where the line has a station

Havenstreet railway station

Haven Street railway station opened in 1875 and was an intermediate stop on the Ryde and Newport Railway, Isle of Wight Central Railway, Southern Railway and British Rail-being renamed Havenstreet in 1958...

, headquarters and a depot. At Smallbrook Junction, the steam railway connects with the Island Line

Island Line, Isle of Wight

The Island Line is a railway line on the Isle of Wight, running some from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin down the eastern side of the island. The line was electrified in 1967. Trains connect with passenger ferries to Portsmouth Harbour at Ryde Pier Head, and these ferries in turn connect with the...

.

Operation

The railway is owned and operated by the Isle of Wight Railway Co. Ltd. and run largely by volunteers. Services are operated on most days from June to September, together with selected days in April, May, and October and public holiday

Public holiday

A public holiday, national holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year....

s. The railway is popular with tourists, attracting people to its original steam locomotive and railway cafe. Over each August bank holiday

Bank Holiday

A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...

 weekend, the railway organises the Island Steam Show, which combines an intensive service on the railway with displays of various sorts of steam power including traction engine

Traction engine

A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...

s and steam fair equipment, together with other attractions that vary year by year. For events like steam galas and Day out with Thomas

Day out with Thomas

Day Out With Thomas is a trade name, licensed by HiT Entertainment, for tourist events that take place on heritage railways and feature one or more trains decorated to look like characters from the children's TV series, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends....

 events, engines from the mainland have to be brought in by boat and then transferred to Havenstreet.

Rolling stock

The railway has several steam locomotives and a small series of diesel shunters, four of which have had notable careers on the island. To compliment the collection, numerous examples of pre-grouping carriages have been recovered and restored. The oldest of these were built in 1864 and the last in 1924. There are also more than 45 units of freight rolling stock, the oldest of which dates from circa 1860.

Carriage shed

The aim is for a rolling stock storage and display building to be built at Havenstreet, meaning the railway's collection of Victorian and Edwardian carriages to be kept under cover when not in use, away from the harmful effects of sun, wind, rain and vandals. The plan is for a four road shed, each road capable of storing four bogie coaches or their equivalent, with a total size of some 75x25 metres.
The railway is hoping to secure a Heritage Lottery grant towards the £815,000 cost. Some £163,000 needs to be raised by the railway. The total being £71,000 by December 2008.

History

The first railway on the Isle of Wight opened in 1862, linking Newport

Newport, Isle of Wight

Newport is a civil parish and a county town of the Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England. Newport has a population of 23,957 according to the 2001 census...

 and Cowes

Cowes

Cowes is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...

. It became the nucleus of the Isle of Wight Central Railway

Isle of Wight Central Railway

The Isle of Wight Central Railway was a railway company on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. At its peak the company owned 21½ miles of railway line, and it also operated trains on some additional lines it did not own. Trains were first run on what became its lines in 1862, although the company...

. The line from Ryde

Ryde

Ryde is a British seaside town, civil parish and the most populous town and urban area on the Isle of Wight, with a population of approximately 30,000. It is situated on the north-east coast. The town grew in size as a seaside resort following the joining of the villages of Upper Ryde and Lower...

 to Newport was opened in 1875 and by 1890 the island was served by an extensive network of lines. However most of these lines were relatively poorly maintained and had a low level of traffic, reflecting the general isolation and poverty of the island.

These factors meant that the island's railways could rarely afford to acquire new locomotives or rolling stock and instead relied on using already elderly equipment transferred from the mainland. Much of the equipment currently used on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway falls into this category, representing usage on the island in the early twentieth century but also the mid to late nineteenth century on the mainland.

The first railway closures on the Island were in 1952. Then in 1966 the Ryde

Ryde

Ryde is a British seaside town, civil parish and the most populous town and urban area on the Isle of Wight, with a population of approximately 30,000. It is situated on the north-east coast. The town grew in size as a seaside resort following the joining of the villages of Upper Ryde and Lower...

 - Newport

Newport, Isle of Wight

Newport is a civil parish and a county town of the Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England. Newport has a population of 23,957 according to the 2001 census...

 - Cowes

Cowes

Cowes is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...

 and Shanklin

Shanklin

Shanklin is a popular seaside resort and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, located on the east coast's Sandown Bay. The sandy beach, its Old Village and a wooded ravine, Shanklin Chine, are its main attractions. The esplanade along the beach is occupied by hotels and restaurants for the...

 - Ventnor

Ventnor

Ventnor is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies underneath St Boniface Down , and is built on steep slopes and cliffs leading down to the sea...

 lines were closed. The last steam services on the island ran on the remaining Ryde to Shanklin line on 31 December 1966. However a small group of rail enthusiasts formed the Wight Locomotive Society and raised funds to preserve one of the last steam locomotives, W24 Calbourne, and a number of the remaining carriages. Then, in 1971, the Isle of Wight Railway Co Ltd was formed to buy the 1½-mile length of track between Wootton and Havenstreet. From that early beginning, the railway has been gradually extended from Havenstreet towards Ryde. In 1991 this extension reached Smallbrook Junction on the Ryde - Shanklin line, where a new interchange station was built there allowing passengers to interchange with Island Line

Island Line, Isle of Wight

The Island Line is a railway line on the Isle of Wight, running some from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin down the eastern side of the island. The line was electrified in 1967. Trains connect with passenger ferries to Portsmouth Harbour at Ryde Pier Head, and these ferries in turn connect with the...

 trains.

An extension of the line westwards from Wootton to Newport has been suggested in the past. It is unlikely that the full extent will ever be restored as there is now a road on the site of Newport station and houses have been built on another part of the former line. However a stretch of trackbed from Wootton to the outskirts of Newport at Halberry Lane is still free from development and could in theory be used in the future. Another possible extension is one from Smallbrook Junction to Ryde St John's Road station

Ryde St John's Road railway station

Ryde St John's Road is a railway station on the Island Line, and serves the town of Ryde, Isle of Wight. The station is south of Ryde Pier Head—the Island Line's northern terminus. When the station opened in 1864, it was known as Ryde railway station, as it was the northern terminus of the...

, using one of the two Island Line tracks on this stretch.

External links

• Isle of Wight Steam Railway
• Isle of Wight Steam Railway photographs, WightCAM - photographically illustrated walks on the Isle of Wight.