The Great British Railfanning Trip: The Isle of Wight Steam Railway

Frank writes...

As mentioned in my previous installment, Part IX of the recent railfanning trip to Britain of which I was part, we took the train from London to Portsmouth and the ferry to Ryde on the Isle of Wight, whence we rode the 38 Stock on the Island Line south. Our initial trip went all the way to the terminus at Shanklin and then we rode back as far as Smallbrook Junction, where we alighted for a ride on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. The IoWSR is a five-mile long heritage line on the original alignment of the Ryde & Newport Railway, one of a number of small lines in the island that were absorbed into the Southern Railway during the 1923 grouping. I inexplicably failed to get any photos of the Smallbrook Junction depot, but it's really a stitch. It's vaguely reminiscent of Batavia Junction on the CA&E, with its elevated platforms on two routes at a junction. Of course in this case one route is the Island Line, part of the British rail network, and one route is the IoWSR. The station is in the middle of farmland, totally isolated from any roads (and maybe even any walking paths). It has no access to electricity or water; power is gained from a generator humming away next to the station and the facilities are akin to a port-o-john. As with the other heritage railways we rode, the historically accurate atmosphere can't be beat. The picturesque poster below was one of several on the platform. Say, we've been there!

Before long, the train arrived. It was beautiful: a four-car rake of pre-grouping compartment cars painted in shiny Southern Railway olive green. The train consisted of four bogie coaches built for the London Brighton & South Coast: 4168, a five-compartment brake third built in 1922; 2403, an eight-compartment third built in 1903; 6349, an eight-compartment composite built for in 1924; and 2416, a nine-compartment third built in 1916. The locomotive was a Hunslet-built "Austerity" tank engine, no. WD198 'Royal Engineers,' dating to 1953. Zach has pointed out that the revenue train cars we rode on to get to the steam railway were 15 years older than the steam engine itself!

The locomotive was backing up but was at the head of the train, so after halting at the platform it uncoupled and ran around the train while we boarded. I managed to get a nice shot of the engine passing the train while we were sitting at the platform.

We found ourselves in car 2416, which was built at Lancing in 1916 as a six-compartment brake third but rebuilt as a nine-compartment third by the Southern Railway when the car was transferred to the Isle of Wight in 1936. In common with much of the IoWSR's stock, 2416 ran on the island until the end of steam service in 1966. It's been completely restored by the heritage line.

I was intrigued by the fact that most of the car's interior isn't stained-and-varnished but is rather grained, and grained to resemble a fairly light-color wood. The exception is a portion of the door. The quality and condition of the finish and moquette was excellent.

The IoWSR has four stations: Smallbrook Junction, where we boarded; Ashey, which is just a flag stop; Havenstreet, which is where the main museum and shops are located; and the terminus at Wootton, which is another isolated station in the countryside but which does have a car park. Our train didn't stop at Ashey but we got off at Havenstreet so that we could see the museum. I nabbed a photo of our locomotive at the platform at Havenstreet.

For a relatively small railway, IoWSR has a number of locomotives in operation. Two of them are Ivatt Class 2 "Prairie" 2-6-2T locomotives, and one of the pair was sitting in the yard alongside the platform. British Railways 41298 was built for the LMS in 1946 and was restored to operation for the first time since preservation in 2014. The IoWSR hosts two of the four surviving members of this class; they're among the largest steam engines to ever run on the island, I believe.

The setup at Havenstreet is very nice. On the north side of the tracks is a railway station which houses a raptor (as in, birds) sanctuary of some sort; we didn't visit. Down a bit from that, and visible in the below photo past the water tower, is a very nice little restaurant. I had a very nice meat pie for lunch here and some Isle of Wight ice cream, while Zach and Greg gave the apple pie high marks.

Here's the bird sanctuary. I believe this is the original station but I'm not sure about the restaurant. For whatever reason, the sign says "Haven Street" but everywhere else it seems to be called Havenstreet.

The train schedule had a "gap" in the middle to allow people to stop at Havenstreet for lunch, so we were able to have lunch outdoors next to the train, shown below (the restaurant and its outdoor dining area are hidden by the train). What a beautiful sight! One unusual thing about the IoWSR is that as old as its stock is, everything is fitted with air brakes. You may have even noticed the air compressor on the front of the "Austerity" during its earlier run-by of the train. The triple valve of one of the cars was close by our table and was notable given its rarity in Britain.

On the south side of the railway is a gift shop, a small museum, the carriage and locomotive restoration sheds, and a few hundred feet west down the railway, a large display and storage barn generally reminiscent of something you might see at IRM. Below is some of what was displayed in the small museum. The steam locomotives that were used on the island tended to be named for towns on the island.

And then there was this neat diorama of the old facilities at Ventnor. At one time this was the terminus of what is now the Island Line, but it was cut back when the route was electrified in the 1960s. Prior to that it went through a long tunnel and emerged right about at the Ventnor station, where there was also a goods yard and a turntable.

After perusing the museum we walked outside and over to the carriage restoration shed, which is alongside the yard. Out in the yard was an 0-6-0T "Terrier" named 'Freshwater.' The "Terriers" were a very successful class of shunters built in 1870s and remaining in service for 90+ years in some cases. This particular engine was built in 1876 for the LB&SC, later sold to the London & South Western in 1903. In 1913 it came to the Isle of Wight, where it ran on the Freshwater Yarmouth & Newport, and later on the Southern Railway, on the island. It returned to the mainline in 1949 for service on the Hayling Island branch, was retired in 1963, and was eventually brought back to the Isle of Wight in 1979. It was being steamed up for use the following day but unfortunately we didn't get to see it run.

The carriage restoration shop was very interesting; fortunately for us there is an aisle along one wall which is publicly accessible, so you can see what they're working on. The pride of the shop at the moment is Isle of Wight Railway 10, a four-wheel composite coach which was acquired as a grounded body in fairly wretched condition and was completely restored over the course of just six months. Wow! The impetus for this project was a BBC TV series hosted by Peter Snow called "Great Railway Restorations" and IoWR 10 was one of four passenger cars, each at a different heritage railway, restored during a very compressed time period.

The car really is stunning. It was built way back in 1864 and lasted in service until 1923, long enough to be fitted with electric lights towards the end of its life. It spent no fewer than 60 years as a garden shed in Bembridge, at the east end of the island, before coming to the IoWSR in 1983. It's been fully restored to IoWR condition complete with varnished teak exterior, oil lamps, and cloth ceilings. The blue glass upper-sash windows are especially striking. Some of the railway's volunteers (or paid staff?) were working under the end of the car while we were visiting.

Next to that car, on the same track, was Southern Railway 4115, another four-wheeler. This car is a three-compartment brake third built in 1896 for the LB&SC. It was transferred by the Southern to the Isle of Wight in 1925 and retired in 1931, whereupon it too became a garden shed. It sat on the ground for even longer than car 10: it was 74 years before the car was acquired by IoWSR in 2005. This car is one of their more recent restoration projects.

And below is the other side of car 4115, showing the nice big end windows on the brake compartment end. That must be a neat ride! In the right background is coach 10 and in the foreground is the frame for a bogie coach. Later on you'll see the body of a brake third which I think, working from the IoWSR's website, may be Southern Railway 4149, suggesting that might be where this frame belongs. But I'm not sure.

From the carriage restoration shop we set out for the museum's new equipment exhibit building, known as Train Story, and en route we passed the yard and locomotive shed. One of the engines in the yard was the other Class 2 2-6-2T on the IoWSR, 41313, with previously seen 41298 in the background. Both are in BR lined black. Sharp!

And after a short walk paralleling the right-of-way we arrived at Train Story. This exhibit building was built within the last five years and houses a good portion of the rolling stock owned by the IoWSR. It basically consists of two two-track barns sharing a wall (or a four-track barn with a wall down the middle, depending on how you look at it) plus there is a fifth track under an open-sided lean-to on the north side. Except for the wall down the middle, it's actually a fairly similar setup to the barns at IRM. The walkway between the two north tracks is elevated but the return walkway between the southern two tracks isn't. There's also a small interpretive area at the front of the building (the windowed area in the foreground under the lower roof) designed for classes of schoolchildren.

Here's an overview of the walkway between the north tracks. Down towards the far end of the building the "platform" ramps down to track level, just like it does at the ends of our own Barn 3. Much of the north track was empty, so I'm guessing that at least some of the cars used in the train we rode are normally stored here. That car on the left brake third 4145, and you could walk into the guard's compartment where there were some displays set up.

The first display on the north track was 1918 Barclay-built 0-6-0T 'Ajax,' which was set up so that you could step into the cab. The gauges and levers were behind Plexiglas, so it was a nice setup. This locomotive actually spent most of its service life in Persia working for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (that's BP to you!) but later returned to Britain and saw use in Swansea and Sheffield. The locomotive came to the Isle of Wight in 1972 and was in traffic between 2002 and 2014.

Past the brake third was this very nice goods train, with a 10-ton "road van" built in 1898 for the London & South Western closest to the camera. Down at the end, past some open wagons, is a brake van. I believe that a freight train setup like this is planned for Barn 3, and if it's anything like this exhibit it should be a really nice interpretive display.

So then it was down the ramp, take a left, and you're in the southern half of the Train Story building. The first engine we saw on the south track looked like British Railways W2 'Yarmouth' but wasn't. However, it's definitely a very historic locomotive. It's the only surviving E2 "E-tank" from the LB&SC. These were contemporaries of the "Terriers," as can probably be seen by the virtually identical cab, but were larger. Eighty were built and four of them served on the Isle of Wight, including W2 'Yarmouth' which was later scrapped. The only survivor was 110 'Burgundy' but it came to the IoWSR in 2012 and has been repainted as its compatriot that saw service on the island.

Across from the E1 tank engine is the last surviving Adams O2 tank engine which, unlike the E1, did actually run on the Isle of Wight for much of its career. BR W24 'Calbourne' is also significant as the first steam engine acquired by the nascent IoWSR back in 1967 when the organization was formed. This locomotive was built in 1891 for the London & South Western but was shipped to the Isle of Wight in 1925 by the Southern Railway. It was at that time that the distinctive air pump on its front end was fitted. The locomotive ran for more than four decades on the island, and this class was very closely identified with steam operations on the Isle of Wight.

Behind it was another "Terrier," this one W11 'Newport' which was built in 1878 as 'Brighton' and was displayed at the Paris Exhibition that year. This locomotive was sold for use on the Isle of Wight back in 1901 and ran on the island until a return to mainland England in 1946. It was retired in 1963 but didn't make it back to the Isle of Wight until ten years later. I believe the locomotive is serviceable but I'm not certain on that. This made the fourth "Terrier" we saw on our trip out of a total of ten preserved (and one of those is in Canada!) - not a bad haul.

Over on the south track was a line of four-wheel carriage bodies, sitting atop what I presume to be goods wagon frames to which they may eventually be fitted. This is the condition in which coach 10, the one restored over only six months, was prior to restoration. Yikes!

I believe this is brake third 4149, the car whose frame is in the carriage shop.

You may recall that when we were riding the Island Line over the pier from Ryde Pier Head, we were paralleled by the supports for the long-abandoned Ryde Pier Tramway. Well, this is the only survivor of the fleet of electric tram cars to operate over the pier. It was built in 1911 by a local firm in Ryde and ran until the line was de-electrified in 1927. Its body was restored in the early 2000s and donated to the IoWSR in 2017.

And I have no idea what the identity is for this body, but it's just another example of the "projects" that the IoWSR has accumulated. They're obviously working through them and getting these cars rebuilt and operating. They actually have a whole train of fully restored, operational, matching four-wheel coaches. Unfortunately that train is stored under the lean-to on the north side of the Train Story building out of public eye, so we only saw it from the train. But they have done some truly outstanding restoration work on these ancient cars.

That was about it for our visit to Havenstreet; while we toured the facilities the train had made a round trip to Wootten and back to Smallbrook Junction, so we caught it going westbound again. We rode to Wootten and stayed on the train back to Smallbrook, where we got off and took an Island Line train back to Ryde for our trip back to England. The video above shows our train coming into Havenstreet. The Isle of Wight was a beautiful, bucolic place to visit and the IoWSR has some beautiful equipment. I'm very glad we were able to go.

Click here for Part XI of our trip.