Episode 1: Ryde to Ventnor Line
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- Опубликовано: 16 апр 2023
- The first episode in a series of videos where we walk (mostly) every abandoned railway line on the Isle of Wight.
In this episode, we explore the Isle of Wight Railway Ryde to Ventnor Line.
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Credit:
All music used in the video was written and recorded by Jack Singleton.
Copyright @jacksingletonmusic
W24 arriving at Brading photograph credit to Ron Hersey. Used with permission.
Wroxall Station photograph credit to Nick Catford and www.disused-stations.org.uk .
Used with permission.
Train on Ryde Pier by Ben Brooksbank and licenced for re-use under the Creative Commons Liscence.
Archive footage - credit unknown.
£4:70- £5.70 for the one way train fare from the pier head to Shanklin in March 2024...
If you stop off at Sandown, don’t expect much from the town, the only good thing their now is it’s beaches, Shanklin is much more welcoming, sadly the lack of tourism has affected those businesses who flourished a few decades ago.
Great vid guys🥰
Greetings from Texas and many thanks for posting this! As a kid in 1962, my family holidayed on the IOW and we stayed in Ventnor, taking the train from London and using the IOW railways and buses to get around. I have a hazy memory of standing on the platform at Ventnor and watching the train emerge from the St Boniface Tunnel ... whistle blasting and steam rising. There was a small water tower at the end of the platform, close to the main road, where the engines would be refilled for the return journey to Ryde. I know the closure of the line to Ventnor and Wroxall hit the locals and the local economy, even though a shuttle bus service was setup following the closure. It would be great if that section was re-opened, but Southern Water built a huge storage tank just outside the Ventnor tunnel portal, which is supplied by a large water main that runs through the tunnel. I thought I read somewhere that the tunnel is opened once every year or two, for public walk-throughs. Also, if you ever walk across St Boniface Down, there is actually a round brick-built ventilation shaft, above ground level and now boarded over.
Hi Paul. What a great memory to have thank you for sharing it! 🙂👍
I’ve seen the tunnel portals and walked by the brick ventilation shaft above but not been inside the tunnel.
It would be fantastic for Ventnor and the Island if the line could be reinstated but sadly I doubt it will be. The government would rather throw money into the black hole that is HS2.
I remember the old Ventnor station vividly because, as a kid, I found the tunnel, right next to the station, fascinating in a slightly creepy sort of way. I've been through that tunnel a few times too. I hope they bring it back one day.
i Used to travel from Ventnor to Sandown to go to school in the 50s.
A really enjoyable railway and walking exploration, nicely informative too - you could easily take over from Michael Portillo! Very well done!
Very kind of you to say! Glad you enjoyed the video, hope you manage to check out the others aswell on the channel 😊 all the best 👍
Thank you for this interesting video. The shanklin ventnor line should never have been closed. Pier head in particular symbolises the islands railways, a mere shadow of the past.
It was closed due to a poor business case for its retention. BR knew from ticket sales and receipts that the bulk of passengers alighted at Shanklin as that was where the bulk of the hotels, B&Bs, and Guest Houses were. some 20% of passengers went to Wroxall and Ventnor, with even less in the winter. Secondly, it would cost an extra £264k to electrify down to Ventnor from Shanklin as a 4th 33kV/750V DC substation including a 33kV pole mounted O/H line would be needed. This would have put the £500k budget to electrify down to Shanklin at risk of being unviable. Now had the situation been the other way around in that the bulk of the passengers alighted at Ventnor then a solution would have to have been found. Also due to the number of complaints about hardship received by the TUCC and the Minister, I do believe that BR did not anticipate the backlash the closure would cause. Equally when the closure notice was served in Feb 1964, BR did not know how an incoming Labour government would react and unsurprisingly they refused closure.
Love this 😊
Love this! Really informative and you guys have put so much love into it. The beautiful old stations are so pretty, great to see the original features. I'm looking forward to next episode 🙂
Thank you so much for your kind words 😊
Ventnor Heritage would have been a good stop off as they have a model of the old station.
Really enjoyed this thank you. We visit the island each year and Shanklin-Ventnor via this route is a new walk we shall do next time
Glad you enjoyed it. It is a lovely walk 🙂
At last,someone,filming our beautiful paths and walkways,p please would you also consider filming around White croft and Gatcombe as well,oneday.❤️
Absolutely, we are thinking of doing a side series where we visit every view point on the island, so Gatcombe and Chillerton down area will definatly feature in one of theose episodes 👍
@@WightWanderer That will be Wonderful,I am looking forward to seeing more of your walks and hikes,and talks.❤️
So looking forward to this series. My husband and I love the old railways but due to disability I cannot walk them so thank you for showing us x
I'm sorry to hear that Mandy. Hope the videos will bring you joy, next one will be out in the next couple of weeks. All the very best x
That was very interesting guys, many thanks, most enjoyable. I have a few very sharp Victorian photos on card of Ventnor railway station seen from an elevated position looking north eastwards. Taken on a sunny morning they date to between 1893 and 1900, various pointers in the main photo pinning it to that timeframe. The steam locomotive pictured is "Ventnor", a 2-4-0T built by Beyer Peacock & Co at a cost of £2,250 and delivered to the IWR on 24th October 1868. "Ventnor" at the time of the photo would have been painted 'Furness' red with black bands edged with fine yellow lines. Although allocated the number W15 by the Southern Railway, it seems that Ventnor never carried the new owners' livery and she was condemned in September 1925 having been damaged the previous year in a collision when, travelling at some 14 mph, she ran into a cement lorry which had stopped on Cement Mills crossing between Cowes and Newport. The train carriages shown in the photo consist entirely of 4 wheel coaches, the first 2 vehicles having almost flat roofs and the remainder slightly sharper arc roofs. The first 2 are examples of the coaching stock purchased by the IWR in 1864 for the opening of the railway whilst the others date from 1882. The photo shows well the turntable which permitted locomotives to be released to run round their trains. My photograph was printed in the British RAILWAY JOURNAL No.15 Winter 1987 and published by Wild Swan Publications. The technical/dating information was provided by Roger Silsbury of the Wight Locomotive Soc. in conjunction with Wild Swan.
That is a very interesting bit of infomation Frank, thank you for that! And thank you for the kind words 👍
Great video. 🥰 Informative, interesting, educational and you both have a fantastic screen presence. Can't wait to see more from you guys. I have a feeling your channel is going to grow rapidly. ❤
Yeah, I live in Ventnor and I would love to see the line open up again and I remember seeing an old map with all the lines shown, and it was amazing,even to Merston and obscure places,thanks for doing this,stay hppy🚇👟👟a
Yes it would be lovely, unfortunately lack of future planning was the result with the line to Ventnor. It would be an asset in the present day. Thank you for watching & have a good evening 🙂👍
Hi people! 🖐
A couple of you have messaged about setting up a kickstarter to help us with future videos.
We are not going to set up a kickstarter as it specifies a set goal amount.
We have though set up an online collection pot for those that would like to chuck us a couple of coppers for the time put in to the research, filming & editing of these videos.
Obviously this is completely up to you, it's just there if you're feeling generous.
Here's the link.
app.collectionpot.com/pot/3099713/
All the very best and thank you!
🙂
Great video. Very informative. Looking forward to the next one. 😊
Thank you! Very kind 🙂
Fun fact re Wroxall station.
There was a refreshment room on the up platform.... BUT there was also an entrance from said room out on to the public road. It was not unknown for crafty locals to enter the bar just in time to exit on to the platform to catch a up i.e. Ryde train
Hi guys. Thanks for posting these videos. My family and I had some good holidays on the Island in the 80s, and my brother and I had some good walking holidays there in the 90s. We used to stay in St Helens, near Bembridge. Brings back happy memories!🙂👍
You're welcome! Yes it is a rather stunning area around Bembridge and St Helens. We will be doing an episode on the Brading to Bembridge branch soon so keep an eye out for that. All the best 👍🙂
mate brings back memories of the island from NZ
My family and I are on a mini holiday, currently staying at Parkdean Resorts Lower Hyde down one of the roads you walked from Shanklin Station. I love the Isle of Wight and its amazing heritage.
Hope you have a wonderful time here! Have you walked the line yet? It is a lovely walk to Wroxall.
This is really interesting! I cycle a lot of these old railway lines and it's great to hear more of the history and know what I'm cycling through.I didn't realise that there was a 3 arched bridge over the old line that I cyle to Wroxall.Looking forward to the next episode - thanks for all your careful work putting this together 😊👍👏
Thank you Ellen! For the kind words. We have 6 more railway lines to go and looking forward to them.
All the best 😊👍
Brilliant video! I have only visited IOW once many years ago.
I took my coach for fuel and saw the sign for the steam railway, I drove in, and the staff got a fright, thinking it was a coach load of tourists! They had a laugh when it was just me. I enjoyed my trip and read up on the lost railways on the IOW.
I've subscribed and am looking forward to the next videos.
That's hilarious! Thank you for the sub and glad you liked the video. Filming the next episode next week 👍
Great video, looking forward to the next line! I have been thinking about visiting all the old stations on the island for a while but haven't got round to it yet
You are both very good at this. The shots appear to be well considered, the editing is brilliant as is the sound. Huge regards to both of you. I spent my formative years on the island, having been born there and I remember catching a steam train from Havenstreet to Ryde, before Beeching came along. Keep up the great work.
Hi Rob. Thank you very much for the kind words, we do try and put as much time into the editing as possible 🙂 and thank you for watching 👍
Love it! Great video Jack !
Thank you for that interesting video and I look forward to the others. About 14 years or so ago one of my pipedreams was to move to the Isle of Wight (house prices were more favourable then!). I'd always fancied moving in to a disused railway station and making a feature of any remaining architectural bits. At that time both Alverstone and Watchingwell stations were on the market. We were on holiday there at the time and did walks which went past both - just for a sneaky nose around. I preferred Alverstone although Watchingwell was lovely and remote. However, nothing further came of that dream but I live in the Chilterns so it's not all bad!
Thank you for the kind words 🙏 we will hopefully be walking both of those lines very soon. Episode 2 will be up on Wednesday.
Love this I've subscribed I'm in love with the isle of wight
Thank you! Episode 2 will be out soon 🙂
Great video...have done the walk from Shanklin as far as Wroxall a few times. Love the narration and glad it stopped raining for you. Look forward to the next one.
Thank you! Filming next episode next week so hopefully some nicer weather 👍
Just as an FYI, the video link below appeared on my RUclips feed, yesterday. It and all the others in the series are presented under a rather unsavoury subject banner, but the towns of Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin, Wroxall and Ventnor are included and there is some walking and drone footage that may be of interest. The IOW has suffered from the downturn and pandemic, like many other places. I'm just posting the link below, for information ... with no offence intended to anyone who may call the IOW home.
ruclips.net/video/K3DcJxL_tlk/видео.html
Go on Frenchy get ya information head on
Haha cheers mate 👍
You forgot to say that the Shanklin-Ventnor section was closed due to the cost of maintaining the tunnel, but after it had closed they found it had to be maintained as there were services (water main?) through it abd it couldn't just be left to decay.
Not true, it closed due to a weak business case, for its retention as BR knew that the bulk of passengers alighted at Shanklin, with a few at Ventnor, and even less in winter. Also a fourth 33kV/750C DC substation plus 33kV O/H line and conductor rail, costing an extra £264k, would be needed. This would have serious cost implications as £500k was quoted as the scheme to electrify down to Shanklin with three substations, and that scheme always hovered on failing. It is only in latter years (c 1990s) that Southern water have a water main in the tunnel feeding Ventnors water supply, on one side and a waste pipe on the other. I suspect that Southern water owns the tunnel.
When you went to Lake station you may not have realised but there was a previous Lake station- albeit small, I believe it closed around the time of WW1. The original site of station was a few hundred yrds away. It's very hard to find details of it
Really? That's fascinating, could you point me in a direction of any info on the station? Books, websites etc ... many thanks & cheers for watching 🙂
@@WightWanderer I have started to look through the numerous books I have on the Islands railways. As I find mention of the original Lake halt I'll send messages.
The first reference is in the book "Southern Rails on the Isle of Wight " Volume 2 The Ventnor and Bembridge lines by Ian Drummond with Alan Roe ,2010 and 2014.
First reference with photo (don't know how to send photos as I'm a bit of a luddite) on page 60-- "W27 locomotive south of Skew bridge passing the county ground (?) on left. Near here was the site of the original Lake halt"
Page 61--,there is reference to the new Lake station, it then goes on to say " From here ( new station- heading south) the line climbs again passing under Lake skew bridge. The line passes the site of the county cricket ground where a halt had been erected in 1889, and which had latterly served a convalescent home before being closed in 1914" I presume it mean the halt closed in 1914 as I have seen this date of closure elsewhere.
It is very hard to find any info on exact site of station or other details. If I find more I'll come back to you
@@WightWanderer I have found another reference to the halt. "Steam on the Isle of Wight ( 1956-1966)" P Paye and K Paye printed 1979.
Page 28, "To the south of the bridge ( Skew bridge) on the up side of the line a halt was opened in 1889 to serve the county cricket ground and a train called in connection with sporting events only, until WW1. "
So it seems it wasn't a station as such, only serving the cricket ground or Convalescence home, but it was there. A bit like the halt on the Newport to Cowes line. I hope that has helped you. Did you also know there was a "Racecourse station " on a curving line from Ashey station ?
The line curved south from the station and actually went south about 1/2 mile , under road in short tunnel, then into a quarry. The racecourse station was built a couple of 100 yards down the line. I have not watched all you station videos yet ( going to today) so you may have mentioned them. mentioned
The Isle of Wight Railway. R.J. Maycock and R. Salisbury Oakwood press OL109 --printed 1999. Page 101.
" Although the residents of Lake were repeatedly refused their own station, in 1889 the company spent £14. 7s. 10d on the construction of a " platform at Lake" adjacent to the cricket ground; it was ready for use by 17th August "
Past and Present- Special- Isle of Wight. Colin. A .Pomeroy. 1991/93
Page 54 gives a Ordanance survey grid reference for 1889 Lake station.
SZ 588827 ( the new Lake station opened in 1987-- 99 yrs after old original-- is at SZ 590833) So gives a exact site.
Very interesting thank you It's such a shame that the ventner station was closed down by beeching typical government that did not look ahead. we would not have so much traffic on the roads if they had kept some of these lines open.😊
I think that statement echoes for many of the UKs lost railways, it is a big shame.
Thank you for the kind words 👍
Firstly, to correct you, Beeching never closed any railways. He and his staff were responsible for publishing a report, based on a survey of passenger and freight traffic, week ending 23 April 1961. The report, which is colloquially called the Beeching Report, was published in 1963, although you will not find his name or the names of his staff in it or on it. Closures were handled by the TUCC in accordance with the 1962 Transport Act, and once a decision was made the relevant Minister of Transport, tory or labour, agreed the closure(s). But in 1966 onwards closures were undertaken by BR themselves. Also note that: In March 1964 the notice to close the remaining IoW lines was actioned, in Oct 1964 there was a general election with a new labour Wilson government in power. Beeching left office in May 1965. It was latterly in 1966 that the electrification scheme came into being following all the complaints from the public and businesses, and the Minister refused to close the line. There are two specific business reasons why Ventnor (and Wroxall) stations closed. Firstly, BR knew that the bulk of passengers alighted at Shanklin, where the bulk of the B&Bs, Guest Houses and Hotels were. With about 20% alighting at Ventnor, even less in winter time. Also note that Ventnor station is some 100ft on a hill, above the town. Secondly, to electrify down to Ventnor, a fourth 33kV/750V DC substation plus 33kV O/H line, transformer, rectifiers and conductor rail would be needed costing £264k, with the original scheme cost of £500k to electrify down to Shanklin with three transformers etc. The latter scheme was under costed and always hovered on failing, as the original costings were undertaken by engineers not familiar with the scheme as the best brains were working on the Bournemouth Scheme at the time. In reality we are lucky to have the truncates section electrified today, as the original intention was to close all the IoW lines in 1964.
great job . is that line now known as the sunshine trail ?..
It is part of the sunshine trail yes 🙂👍
"...A lot of people in this area didn't like the idea of a railway going through their land..." - not much changed then. Absolutely anything - from moving a fire hydrant 1.5m in Whitwell to having a field behind the greenhouses in Newchurch to walk dogs in - is regularly objected to on the grounds of "increased traffic/noise/drunken teenagers/ people under state retirement age/coach parties" flocking to the affected areas with their fancy ways etc.
🍓🧶🌈💙