Isle of Wight Steam Railway

It's the third record breaking year since Covid lockdown for the IOWSR. There are others who have fared decently as well.

 

Great news for the railway. How does that relate to tourist numbers on the island as a whole and other attractions there like Osborne House etc? I only ask because while plenty of other railways do seem to be struggling, it seems to be in line with what other tourist attractions are experiencing, so curious to know if the island as a whole is doing well or if the IoWSR is an outlier even on its own turf.

 

As is not to be wondered at there is no consistent pattern. Osborne House remains the largest attraction with the IOWSR having overtaken Carisbrooke Castle into second place. A long established country park is up for sale.

 

It would be interesting to understand the overall pattern, though. Purely for the purposes of comparison, understanding whether IoWSR growth is in an area of growth, with all ships rising, tells a different story to IoWSR growing and with IoW tourism falling. That's partly about how well IoWSR is doing, but also a guide to whether "less successful" railways might actually be getting an unfair comparison.

 

Some data about spend and visitor numbers by quarter here.

https://visitwightpro.com/research-development/

 

Apologies if this has been answered before (I can't see any references) but are there any plans to sort out the web cams on the web page? The Havenstreet view has shrunk to a tiny fraction of it's former self and cannot be expanded and the Wootton one has just disappeared. If this is all that's going to be shown it's hardly worth keeping anything.

 

You can see the Havenstreet webcam clearly through this page.

https://www.camsecure.co.uk/isle_of_wight_steam_railway_webcam.html

The Wootton one is down.

 

Over the Easter weekend I could not access this one either, glad to see it is back. Although one of those annoying sites that does not have the, I understood, required reject all cookie option.

 

Havenstreet worked perfectly for me just now, plus the cookie notice came up on my phone.

By happy coincidence there was a train just leaving

 

Thanks

 

We had an excellent day on the line on Father's day. Travelled by island line to Smallbrook, where we got on the steam to Havenstreet. The railcar was running, so we had a trip to Wooton and then back to Ashey. As seats were limited, they had a system where you had to get a pass to travel on the railcar. We were given the run-around on how to get a pass (first sent to the shop, then the booking office, then back to the platform), but once we had the pass, then it was great. Had a further couple of trips on the steam, loved the rolling stock. Thought the train story was good, just a pity we could not get to the sidings round the back that looked as if it had some interesting stock that we could not see.
The only downside was on our return to Smallbrook. We wanted to watch the engine run round before we went to the island line platform to go back to Ryde. However, the steam railway staff shooed us off the platform saying they "had to lock up" - they were fairly officious about it. Ironically, they did not lock up at all and we were able to go back onto the steam railway platform after the train had left for Havenstreet and after we had missed seeing the runround. That was a bit disapponting and puzzling.
We enjoyed cream teas and a pint! All in all a great day out and we will come back.
Ian C

 

Thanks for your constructive comments Ian which we've noted. It's good to know that you had an enjoyable day and will be back. We try hard to keep our linear scrapyard out of sight - and we seem to have succeeded!
Nick

 

I know the general public don't like it, but as an enthusiast I always want to be able to see this stuff! If there's a safe way to make it accessible...

 

Ajax is moving to the Northampton & Lamport for a nominal sum: https://www.islandecho.co.uk/locomotive-ajax-heading-to-a-new-home-in-the-midlands-after-50-years/

The railway’s trustees decided to look for a new home for Ajax, where it would be returned to operational use. Following the NLR’s visit to the Island and inspection of the locomotive, an agreement was reached for the transfer for a nominal sum. Its new owners aim to use Ajax on the 2-mile heritage line in the Midlands, where it will join the NLR’s fleet of heritage steam and diesel engines.

 

My prediction was correct then. It seems a very sensible decision. Ajax was useful to the IoWSR at one point , but it now has a bigger collection of more appropriate locomotives to call upon.

I see Ajax has now arrived at the NLR.

 

This guy is fascinating, and just shows how much railway heritage is still salted away into the quiet, inaccessible areas of the island:

 

Picked up a leaflet for the IOWSR from the Swanage ticket office hall this morning.
Had to smile at this event from the events list.
" 1 Jan 2026 Boxing Day Special"

Good job no Delay Repay on Heritage Lines then

 

I wonder if the new vacancy for a proof reader is a paid or volunteer role?

 

Here's some fantastic news from the Island....

"We are delighted to announce that, 57 years after being sold by British Railways, Ashey Station is back in Railway ownership. The Isle of Wight Steam Railway has today acquired the full station grounds, the station buildings and land to the North. The station was built for the opening of the Ryde and Newport Railway in 1875. It was reduced to an unmanned halt in 1953 and sold into private ownership in 1968 two years after closure of the line. What better way to celebrate the 150th anniversary of our railway"!

https://iwsteamrailway.co.uk/2025/04/ashey-station/

 

This is rather un expected, Can you yet say what the future plans are likily to be, ? restored as a fully working station, or to be used as residential use, Something like a holiday let, around a package might be a good investment, plus if the present arrangement, stays, the station buildings would not effect the way the railway runs, where as there might be concerns with holdiday makers, and trains passing very close to them.