What ifs

There may be a case for turning the Ryde - Shanklin line into a fully fledged working museum of London Transport, perhaps on Sundays at least - suitable items could be borrowed from Acton or Covent Garden. Not too far from London, and still a popular holiday/ short break destination for Londoners. It's a pity that one or two of the 1928 units that had worked on the Island since 1967 were not saved. Anyway, the present 1938 stock is due for replacement - newly redundant C stock perhaps?

John

 

What if...we considered a different scenario? Are there any other heritage lines that are connected or close to NR branchlines of a sensible size?

 

sarah sissions and the bluebell met stock ? oh along with met 1

 

Sounds like a good 'un. I'd love to see Sarah Siddons on a train - opportunity for some historical accuracy on the recent Chesham 125th celebrations was missed when they put the GWR prairie LT150 on the front/back, with Sarah inside the train.

John

 

now wouldnt that look nice with Calbourne next to it at St Johns, especially if they could leave together and run side by side as far as smallbrook

 

is the C stock the circle/district/ met line stock? would it fit the island loading gauge, the platform clearences would still need to be dropped at all stations, or platforms built up a step up added or something

 

The problem with the electric stock goes beyond the actual vehicles, the substations are life expired, I believe that one is already out of action .
Amongst the other problems are very worn track and the irregular timetable which means that half the trains do not coincide with the Fastcat at the Pierhead.

 

now that is very interesting, if rather concerning, i would imagine that some very expensive renewals will be needed very soon, my original posting that SWT walk away from the franchise when it finishes could end up being nearer to the truth than what i had thought, and then the only option would be closure of whats left of the line, someone said that Southern could take it on, Southern, are owned by the same group who happen to run Southern Vectis, that would most likily end up in the track bed being tarmacked over and turned into a bus route rather than the infrastucture being renewed.

 

With road congestion, surely the railway is the fastest way to get between Ryde, Sandown and Shanklin? Down in Cornwall we have First Group running a bus between Truro and Falmouth and also a branch line railway between those places.

That said, somebody is going to have to invest a lot to keep the line on IoW running, that much is true.

John

 

both sandown brading and shanklin stations are some way from the town centres, particularly sandown and brading stations.
it should also be noted that very few people now travel on holiday to the IOW via a mainland train and the portsmouth harbour-ryde pier route.
the days of families forming long queues with their luggage at both piers are sadly a thing of the past.
cheers,
julian

 

I visited the IOW for the day on Sunday, principally to visit the Steam Railway but also to travel on the Island Line, travelling down by train and ferry from Portsmouth. Admittedly it was a Bank Holiday weekend, but the queue at Portsmouth Harbour was so long that I had to wait for a second ferry to arrive - which unfortunately was somewhat slower than the catamaran and meant that we misses the connection at Pier Head. But the point is that there was still a significant number of travellers, and a market for the IOW does still exist. As for the Island Line, the gradient from Sandown up to up Shanklin is quite significant, and I would pay good money for a steam trip up there!

 

hi Learner,
there was a time not that long ago when the car ferries were small, and the Ryde Pier-Portsmouth Harbour service was operated by 3 large Motor Vessels (the Southsea, Brading, and Shanklin) on an intensive 20 min service at bank holidays, the electric trains were 6 car units and used both platforms at Ryde Esplanade, and there were still long queues at both Pier Heads. the old MVs had a passenger capacity far greater than the current passenger ferries.
the majority of holidaymakers now come by the car ferries in their own cars and on large coaches, and in any event the numbers of people having a traditional holiday on the IOW is now considerably fewer.

incidentally the Met coaches would suit the IOW very well as the old IWR had a fleet of Met coaches. some grounded coach bodies still survive at St Helens.

cheers,
julian