4-4-0 tank loco

You're not wrong. Recently a brass plate turned up at Ryde St. John's Road listing various patents which the Oldbury carriages had been made under. This must have been sculling around for a century.

 

Blimey Paul, do you mean that years long after the last steam era loco and coaches was in the works, there are still little items kicking around in the dark unseen corners of the works dating back to that time, who knows there might even be a BP works plate to fix to a new build 2-4-0 which would make it a restoration, rather than a new build

 

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Not too unexpected really for one of the older railway works in the UK. Boston Lodge is a good comparison. The IOWSR has a number of Beyer worksplates bequeathed by Sir Peter Allen but somehow I suspect that they will be staying in the museum!

 

In that case all someone has to do is to wait till your on duty in the museum, and whilst someone distracts you with talk about why don't you get an restaurant car , or WIBN to get Flying Scotsman over, whilst your being pealed off the museum roof, found somewhere dark and quite to calm down , We've unscrewed the original works plate, replaced it with an replica and we are back on the fast cat before you can say, Bugger!! , only joking of course old chap,

 

I'd not be in the least surprised were someone to turn up more at Ryde (or from an archaeological dig where Newport C&W once stood) .... and bob only knows what's still lurking in the undergrowth both around the Island and within a 20 mile radius of Eastleigh.

I'd love to think at least one of the old IWCR bogie vehicle bodies is out there, somewhere. They had a grand total of four, two (Lancaster C&W) bought new, one ex-MR (S&C 12 wheeler)* and one converted from a railmotor trailer, all of which received their SR numbers and livery and (I believe) all got shipped to the mainland on withdrawal, as 'return loads' when replacements arrived..

*later converted to 2x 4w bogies
** had one bogie with an 8ft w/base, t'other 7ft!