The tantalising view from the main road of the Wootton terminus of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. From a first visit in Summer 1976 (courtesy of the LNER Society), a day out to the Isle of Wight became part of my calendar every year for the next four decades. The modest station here is a gem, offering views of the Island’s downland scenery. The hydrangea plant is almost compulsory: I was sure that there were more of these plants than people on the Island.
August 1993
Rollei 35 camera
Kodak Ektachrome 100 film.
Tags: preserved steam heritage railway Isle of Wight steam railway hydrangea wootton station wootton Isle of Wight
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On shed at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway’s Haven Street base are a pair of 0-6-0T Terrier tank engines. These plucky engines were designed by William Stroudley and introduced in 1872 on the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway. When made redundant by more powerful locomotives, the Terriers found second homes on other railways, including the Isle of Wight Central Railway. When the Southern Railway was formed in 1923, further Terriers were shipped to the Island. The IWSR has preserved examples in both IWC and Southern liveries.
August 1993
Rollei 35 camera
Kodak Ektachrome 100 film.
Tags: 0-6-0t southern railway Isle of Wight central railway iwc brighton terriers terrier tank William stroudley Isle of Wight steam railway iwsr Isle of Wight preserved steam heritage railway haven street
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Blame Monty Python, but I cannot take hovercraft 100% seriously. “My hovercraft is full of eels!” declared the pseudo Hungarian John Cleese in the Anglo-Hungarian Phrasebook sketch of 1970. The Phrasebook is beyond useless, comprising phrases hinting at an eagerness for casual sex that leads to fisticuffs and its publisher’s prosecution.
This hovercraft however is full of day trippers and holidaymakers as it takes to the water at Ryde Esplanade for a ten-minute dash across the Solent to Southsea.
August 1993
Rollei 35 camera
Kodak Ektachrome 100 film.
Tags: hovertravel Solent my hovercraft is full of eels Monty Python ryde esplanade Isle of Wight hovercraft
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Like Dovey Junction in Mid Wales and Cornbrook Junction on Manchester MetroLink, Smallbrook Junction on the Isle of Wight exists to provide passengers with an interchange between lines but has no other public access. At this site until 1966, Smallbrook Junction connected the Cowes and Ventnor lines, but became redundant and was closed after the Newport and Cowes line was axed under the Beeching cuts. After the Isle of Wight Steam Railway restored a section of the old line between Haven Street and Wootton and then further south to connect with the surviving Ryde-Shanklin route, Network SouthEast restored the connection in 1991, with electric trains serving the station on ISWR running days. Resplendent in its NSE livery, Island Line Class 483 arrives to take passengers onwards to Ryde Pier Head.
August 1993
Rollei 35 camera
Kodak Ektachrome 100 film.
Tags: Isle of Wight steam railway 1938 tube stock British rail network southeast island line class 483 Isle of Wight Smallbrook junction
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Resplendent in a fresh coat of Network SouthEast paint, an Island Line train made up of a pair of Class 483 units emerges from St. John’s Tunnel to enjoy the ozone-laden sea air as it arrives at Ryde Esplanade station. After serving London Underground for a full half-century, these units notched up a further 30 years on the Isle of Wight.
August 1993
Rollei 35 camera
Kodak Ektachrome 100 film.
Tags: St. John’s tunnel Ryde esplanade class 483 island line Isle of Wight network southeast London Underground 1838 tube stock
© All Rights Reserved