Excellent video. I could never understand why Ventnor Station was closed as this should have remained as the terminus for the one remaining IOW line in service as a part of the national railway network.?
@@DavidMartin-ym2te not true. See my comment above. Besides this Southern Water have a water main running down one side of the tunnel and a sewage return pipe on the other. There are some pictures on RUclips of this. It is my understanding that Southern Water owns the tunnel now.
Two reasons: the bulk of passengers alighted at Shanklin, as the bulk of the B&Bs, Guest houses and Hotels were there. BR knew this from ticket sales and receipts. Some 20% of passengers alighted at Wroxall and Ventnor, even less in the winter months. This made that section of the line unviable, with a poor business case for its retention. They would argue this strongly, even before closure. Secondly, to electrify down to Ventnor would cost £264k, needing a 4th 33kV/750V DC transformer, rectifiers, and a 33kV O/H line connection. That extra cost would have blown the original budget of £500k making the whole scheme unviable. We are lucky that the truncated electrified section survives today.
Great video...thanks for posting!
Marvellous and tragic in equal measures.
You're a really useful railway.
Excellent video. I could never understand why Ventnor Station was closed as this should have remained as the terminus for the one remaining IOW line in service as a part of the national railway network.?
There was a fall in the tunnel which was used as an excuse to close it.
@@DavidMartin-ym2te not true. See my comment above. Besides this Southern Water have a water main running down one side of the tunnel and a sewage return pipe on the other. There are some pictures on RUclips of this. It is my understanding that Southern Water owns the tunnel now.
Two reasons: the bulk of passengers alighted at Shanklin, as the bulk of the B&Bs, Guest houses and Hotels were there. BR knew this from ticket sales and receipts. Some 20% of passengers alighted at Wroxall and Ventnor, even less in the winter months. This made that section of the line unviable, with a poor business case for its retention. They would argue this strongly, even before closure. Secondly, to electrify down to Ventnor would cost £264k, needing a 4th 33kV/750V DC transformer, rectifiers, and a 33kV O/H line connection. That extra cost would have blown the original budget of £500k making the whole scheme unviable. We are lucky that the truncated electrified section survives today.
Enjoy the ride.
You're a really useful engine.
Great video excellent