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Isle of Wight Steam Railway

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Freshwater, Nov 12, 2013.

  1. Alan Kebby

    Alan Kebby Well-Known Member

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    Interesting film of Invincible in action at Farnborough:

     
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  2. NeilL

    NeilL Well-Known Member

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    My thoughts were whether she was ever working at an RAF facility and therefore rightly in RAF livery. I do not think Woolwich Arsenal or RAE Farnborough were part of the RAF during her service.
     
  3. Poolbrook

    Poolbrook New Member Friend

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    Just as I remember from my very young days! It was a treat to see the train when we were out shopping.
     
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  4. NeilL

    NeilL Well-Known Member

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    Yes just as I remember as well. Riding my bike along Elm Grove Road with the railway lines there was always a bit tricky
     
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  5. Alan Kebby

    Alan Kebby Well-Known Member

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    I believe the shade of green being used has been copied from one of the layers of paint discovered when stripped down.

    Those who remember it st Farnborough will be able to confirm if it’s the right colour once completed.
     
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2019
  6. paul1609

    paul1609 New Member

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    Terriers on the K&ESR routinely do 10 miles between water Northiam to Bodiam and then back to Rolvenden so I don't think that a return trip Havenstreet to St Johns would be a problem. In an emergency or excessive delay you put the platform hosepipe in the tank!
     
  7. paulhitch

    paulhitch Guest

    It is around the same distance between water stops on the IOWSR, there being only one watering point. All a bit academic now, at least for the time being.
     
  8. Christopher125

    Christopher125 Part of the furniture

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    Apparently divers recently did some re-pointing on the three arches of the buried bridge so it is being maintained, amazingly enough.

    They did try, PS Carrier worked between the quay at St Helens and a linkspan on the Hayling Island branch - alas she wasn't really suitable but one wonders how long it would have lasted if she was.
     
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2019
  9. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Didn't know about that one Christopher .... many thanks. What an odd choice of route, as of all the possibilities, that's scarcely the most obvious. Having just gone scurrying to Google for enlightenment, this cropped up:

    https://www.islandeye.co.uk/history/trams-trains-and-stations/p-s-carrier.html

    The dates are noteworthy ,,, not long after the LBSC &LSW had forked out for the extension from St.John's Road to Ryde Pier Head, so presumably notions of expanded traffic still excited the Brighton's board. I wonder if modifications to Ryde Pier were ever considered? Maybe passenger traffic on the extension was too busy, or maybe the LSW didn't like the idea of their investment benefitting their competition.

    Every time I think of Brading Harbour / St. Helens, the words 'silting' and 'dredging' come to mind (may centuries ago, there was a channel separating what's now a peninsula from the Island proper) and I wonder if this, as much as the complications crossing busy shipping lanes and inshore currents had a bearing on the longer term fate of this harbour.
     
  10. paulhitch

    paulhitch Guest

    To which words of wisdom add the berthing point at Langstone being at the extreme northerly point of Langstone Harbour in shoal water. Another bit of railway wishful thinking!
     
  11. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Indeed. The fate of the Portsmouth and Arundel Canal comes to mind. Had this route been close to financially successful, it's likely the coastway rail route would've been a bit different, rather than being part built on the remains of that moribund concern. Reading between the lines, the need for constant dredging of the route along the coast (13 miles long) round Thorney and Hayling Islands wasn't the only problem, but along with a maximum barge size limited to 40 tons (operated in 'trains' of six) sure as hell can't have helped!

    Easy to be critical from this distance, but we need to remember the unprecedented explosion in trade afforded by the railways. Canals only had previous traffic levels achievable by horse and cart or coastal sailing ships to go by.
     
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  12. burmister

    burmister Member

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    Can still see the arm to the first lock off the river Arun to the south as you go over the old railway ex Lifting Bridge at Ford, embankments remain at Yapton visible from the Barnham/Yapton road and you can see the canal crossing on the Barnham Bognor branch near Lydney, ditch like remains are next to the B road near Hunstanton but no sign of the T junction where it joined the Chichester barge canal. The old sea lock into Chichester Harbour is still there but not a lot to see in Portsmouth as the railway took the canal bed and then some. Did the Portsea branch not use some of it as well? The canal fortunes were tied up with cargo from/to London avoiding the Channel in Napoléon times, via the Wey and Arun canal, and Arun river. The canal was a water short narrow canal so when railways appeared this and the P&A canal fell rapidly into disuse. The river Arun is one of the fastest flowing tidal rivers especially on spring tides and Chichester Harbour is no mill pond on the Ebb in a SW F6 or above ( like today) . I certainly would not have wanted to barge it from Thames to Portsmouth.
     
  13. paul1609

    paul1609 New Member

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    On Portsea Island the railway only took over the railway for part of the way between Portsmouth and Southsea and Fratton Stations.
    The canal basin was under what is now the end of Arundel St precinct. Arundel St was so called because of the canal. The towpath became what is now Canal Walk alongside the railway line this curves in from the Basin. At Fratton the canal would have been along the edge of what is now the train depot and previously the Southsea Branch. It then is under what is now Goldsmith Avenue to Milton. After Milton the Towpath still exists as a Public footpath which runs along the end of the Terrace Houses until it reaches Towpath Mews on Locksway Road. Milton Lock (the sea lock to langstone Harbour) still exists without its gates along with a very short section of the Canal
     
  14. Steve B

    Steve B Well-Known Member

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    Talking about "Invincible" here are a few, rather poor, photos of her in action in the early 1970s. At this point it was "members only" for train rides (day membership being available...), no run-round at Wooton, so "Calbourne" propelled the train up the hill, and taking water involved what we see in the pictures - water and a pump in the wagons, "Invincible" brought the wagons up to "Calbourne", and the water was pumped across (and by virtue of various leaks in the hose also over those watching!).

    Steve B

    Scan0084.jpeg Scan0085.jpeg Scan0086.jpeg
     
  15. CH 19

    CH 19 Well-Known Member Friend

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    Blimey, must be autumn already. Someone is having a hard time getting to grip (;)) with the climb up to Wootton this morning. Must be the first time I have heard that much wheelslip from home!

    Chris
     
  16. andrewtoplis

    andrewtoplis Well-Known Member

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    It's 1 in 70 that bit, from a standing start. The first train can be a bit tricky, or when it is wet and leafy!
     
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  17. weltrol

    weltrol Part of the furniture Friend

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    [​IMG]

    This appeared on the Model enngineering Facebook page earlier. Southampton Docks for sure, with the Queen Mary as a backdrop.
    The coach appears to be air braked, so the question is: Is this ( and the locos underneath) destined for the IOW?
     
  18. Alan Kebby

    Alan Kebby Well-Known Member

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    Certainly look like it’s destined for IOW. Why else would a coach like this be craned on a ship at what looks like Southampton. Looks like 02s.
     
  19. paulhitch

    paulhitch Guest

    Post war carriage deliveries were of ex S.E.C.R.stock whilst this vehicle is ex L.B.S.C.R. one. Along with what seems to be Maunsell livery on the locomotives, a pre-war transfer is thus suggested The S.R. controlled oth Southampton docks and Medina Wharf and this route would have been the most straighforward.
     
  20. 240P15

    240P15 Well-Known Member

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    I`ve notice that the the trains operating at IOW is air-bracked and not vacuum as in many places. Is it a specific reason for this? To hear the sounds from an airpump mounted to an Ivatt tank engine is something unusual.

    Knut:)
     

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