Heritage?

(All 7.8.2016 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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RAIL THING - SOUTHERN REGION

As part of my long weekend 60th birthday celebrations we took a trip to the Isle of Wight on Sunday and rather than use the steam railway we preferred (as we had three non railfans) to take a trip on the electric line from Ryde Esplanade down to Shanklin. It's been almost 40 years since I last travelled on the Isle of Wight trains and it was nice to see that not too much had changed! Still the old underground stock, although newer than the last time I was there, surprised to see the pier was single track (with the second track still in place) and nice to see two new stations since my last visit (Smallbrook Junction and Lake). The trains we used were both full, which was good to see. Shanklin was a far more interesting destination than Wootton would have been, with the seaside busy and some nice pubs and restaurants along the front.

A real treat was the hovercraft that took us over to the island. This is a wonderful service, quick and busy. It kept the 'real heritage' experience going, the 60s feel of the hovercraft and the earlier feel of the trains providing an experience of real history still doing the job it's supposed to. A highly recommended day out. My next WILL include the steam railway!

Back to the island.

05 001

Sandown

043 Sandown

Ryde Pier

043 Sandown

Sandown station exterior

(All 9.2.1975 copyright Rail Thing/Steve Sainsbury)

FACEBOOK - REVERSING BEECHING - ISLE OF WIGHT

9th February 1975 found me back on the Isle of Wight, probably on another SR Rover ticket, and this time I went through Brading and on down to Sandown.

A bit of luck was finding the island's diesel locomotive - 05 001 - in the old Newport bay at Sandown station, with an engineering train. The branch up to Newport closed in 1956 but the platform was still signed as platform 3 back in 1975.

The station looked rather run down with the canopy in particular being defiantly shabby! The exterior looked abandoned almost, enhanced by the lack of cars and people. But the Island Line always was rather a seasonal affair and February 9th is traditionally the coldest day of winter!

It's great that the line is still there but the island needs its other lines back ASAP. The obvious first step is to get the Ventnor line open, it was always an insane closure and was done out of spite because the government would not allow the whole line to close. Newport and Cowes are also criminally devoid of modern transport and really the line across to at the very least Yarmouth needs to be rebuilt, connecting with the Lymington ferries. 

More info (via Wikipedia)

Sandown station is a double platform-faced through station. However, from the mid 19th until the mid 20th century it was a junction station, also served by trains to and from Horringford, Merstone, Newport and Cowes. These lines used to be run by separate companies, the Isle of Wight Railway (Ryde-Ventnor) and the Isle of Wight Central Railway (Newport-Sandown).

The adjacent land, which used to be occupied by coal-yards, is now a housing estate and the former Terminus Hotel pub opposite has long been a private house. The line from Ryde to Shanklin was constructed between 1862 and 1864, and opened to passenger traffic on 23 August 1864. The original station building was extended between 1870 and 1871 through the addition of a two-storey extension to act as station offices.

In 1923, with the Grouping, came the formation of the Southern Railway. This brought all the railway services on the island under one management, and considerable modernisation. At first, it did not affect the services offered, but eventually the line from Ryde gained a more frequent service whilst the Merstone line declined. One particular feature of the Merstone line was the School Train, which was subsidised by the local authority, and for a significant time meant that the line remained viable. When the line was closed, children from outlying villages going to the Sandown Schools were then transported by bus, the current situation.

Services

The present level of service is normally two trains per hour (tph) each way, which must pass at Sandown. However, due to the reduced trackwork at Brading, the frequency does not produce a predictable 30-minute service. Instead, in common with the rest of Island Line, trains run separated by a 20 or 40 minute gap.

This generally means that every hour, trains will pass at Sandown once. A journey from Sandown to Shanklin generally takes 6 minutes (although the published timetable allows 7), with a bus connection to Ventnor adding another 20 minutes. Trains to Ryde take about 10 minutes (to St. John's Road) or just under 20 minutes (to Ryde Pier Head).

the overseas railway ...

BRADING

Brading 30.12.1974 Copyright Rail Thing/Steve Sainsbury

FACEBOOK - REVERSING BEECHING - THE ISLE OF WIGHT

Back on 1974 the Isle of Wight was exotic and practically abroad - and was covered by the SR Rover ticket including the ferry crossing!

Late December 1974 and I found myself travelling from Littlehampton to Portsmouth Harbour, across the water to Ryde and then down to Brading (for the wax museum, now defunct). Brading had been the junction for the Bembridge branch, which sadly had closed 21 years before I reached there! A shame, as I'd like to have taken the trip to Bembridge!

Back in 1974 the station was still full of atmosphere and seemed well kept. The second platform where the Bembridge trains departed from was still intact with its buildings and the station has a passing loop. The signalbox still stood as well.

All in all a nice hit and run day to the island despite there only being about 8 hours of daylight available.

I haven't been back to Brading since 1975, except on a passing train. I need to get over to the island again, the last time I was there was before the reopening of Smallbrook Junction and the link to the steam railway.

Links

Rail Thing - Island Railways and Tramways

Hampshire Transport History

Southern Region Scene - 1970s

Rail Thing - Southern Electrics and DMUs

More info (from Wikipedia)

History

The station was opened in 1864 by the Isle of Wight Railway on the Ryde-Shanklin-Ventnor line. In 1882 it became a junction station, when the Brading-Bembridge branch line as part of the Brading Haven reclamation scheme. The branch line closed to passengers in 1953 and completely in 1957.

Under Southern Railway ownership, the passing loop was extended southwards from Brading to Sandown in 1927, forming a second section of double trackon the Island Line.

By the early 1980s Brading was one of the last stations on British Rail to retain gas lighting. In 1985 this changed; although the fittings were retained, they were converted from gas to mercury vapour usage. A few survive in 2010, now using compact fluorescent bulbs.

Brading signalbox closed on 28 October 1988. At this time, the passing loop at Brading station was removed, meaning that only one platform remained in use. This meant the end of 30-minute interval service on the line for over 25 years. By 1998 the signal box and branch platforms were very overgrown and the buildings were threatened with demolition. Brading Town Council stepped in and with the help of grants and volunteers the restored signal box and station buildings are home to a heritage centre, museum and Tourist Information Point.

Facilities

In August 2007 Brading Town Council announced a plan to revamp the exterior of the station buildings and former signal box. The station building houses a café, visitors' centre and bike hire shop. There is no railway staff presence at the station, tickets are issued from an automatic machine or from the guard on board the train. Trains for both directions leave from the same platform, as the line is presently single track.

In an online discussion, South West Trains' Managing Director Stewart Palmer stated that the company hoped Network Rail might reinstate the passing loop at Brading station by the middle of 2014, although the exact timescale depends on the line's resignalling.

Website - BRADING STATION HERITAGE EXHIBITION & VISITOR CENTRE

shanklin 1977

Isle of Wight Railways Remembered


I've always liked the Isle of Wight railway network, even if today it's a lot smaller than it was and will be again. One of the daftest closures of the Beeching years was the Shanklin-Ventnor line which connected the busy seaside town of Ventnor to the outside world. Of course BR at the time fully expected the IOW railways to all have closed by 1975, so that the rather silly situation with the line terminating short at Shanklin would have been short lived. Fortunately at least part of the essential Newport and Cowes line is currently being operated as a heritage line, I can't seriously see Cowes and Newport staying off the network for many more years!