Isle of Wight Railways (now & then)

Spring bank holiday 2017 I decided to go tracing the remains of the Isle of Wight Central Railway on a bike following as many ex railway permanent ways (pw) trailways as possible. The route I took was from Cowes to Newport to Merstone to Ventnor West then Ventnor Town to Sandown to Merstone. I also included a trip on the IoW Steam Railway.
Cowes Station site is now an M&S Foodhall. Mill Hill Station platform edge is still visible and the tunnel is now used by a gun club. Housing occupies the pw to the outskirts of Cowes. The trailway is then complete from the outskirts of Cowes to the outskirts of Newport. Newport Station site is now an industrial estate and the pw out of Newport is now lost to roads and industrial units.
The trailway south of Newport begins again at Shide. The Shide Station site is now a National Tyre unit. The trailway is complete from Shide to the remains of Merstone Station platform (look out for the concrete suitcases), passing through Blackwater on route where the Station house still exists.
From Merstone East Lane to Godshill, Whitwell, St.Lawrence, Ventnor West, Ventnor Town and Wroxhall it was a case of using bridleways, lanes and roads as the pw is unavailable; nonetheless Godshill Station house and platform still exists, Whitwell Station looks in excellent condition (distant view), St. Lawrence tunnel approach is still accessible (passing crossing keeper’s cottage), St. Lawrence Station still exists in a fashion and Ventnor West Station house still stands. The owner of St. Lawrence Station was telling me the railway still has to maintain the station bridge to this day some 65 years after closure.
Ventnor Town Station site is now an industrial estate but St. Boniface tunnel entrance can still clearly be seen (now used to pipe water to Ventnor). Wroxhall Station site is now a Travis Perkins builders unit.
The pw from Wroxhall to Shanklin is again a trailway passing under three arches on route, one of which is a tall triple arch bridge. From Shanklin the railway is still in use to Ryde, passing through Sandown where I rode the esplanade between the two to pick up the pw trailway back to Merstone. Alverstone and Horringford Station houses still exist on the route back, although Newchurch has long gone.
I hope you enjoy the pictures of the excellent IoW Steam Railway with its London, Brighton and South Coast Railway influence of motive power and carriages. I certainly enjoyed the train ride and comfortable sit down. With the ferry ride back to Southampton and ride on home I completed a round trip of 64 miles. A soak in the tub was much appreciated to ease the aches that evening for this OAP.

I visited the Island a couple of weeks later to look at the remains of the Freshwater, Yarmouth and Newport Railway (FYNR), closed some 64 years ago.
As mentioned above Newport Station site is now an industrial estate and this includes the FYNR platforms. Carisbrooke Station has long gone.
Watchingwell Station house and platform still exist but is a very remote place down a one mile dirt road.
Calbourne (& Shalfleet) Station house and platform still exist but remote from their name sake. Being called Badgers Bend helps to keep it anonymous.
Ningwood platforms still exist and the Station house is much modified.
Yarmouth Station and platform is in excellent condition and used as a cafe and cycle hire. The ‘signal box’ is a hide for watching the birds on the marshes. The old pw is now a trailway alongside the River Yar all the way to Freshwater, crossing the Causeway with a level crossing on route.
Freshwater Station site is now a combination of the ‘End of the Line’ cafe, Honnor & Jeffrey garden centre and the old Rapanui clothing. (In the garden centre remains of the old platform can still be found). It was by comparison a short ride of only 21 miles on the Island that day from the Yarmouth ferry terminal.

A final visit to the Island, another week later (after the heat wave), was to fill in some gaps and visit the Bembridge branch. The route I took was from Cowes to pick up the pw at Wootton and trace the remains to Newport, revisit Merstone to Sandown pw, pick up the Bembridge branch pw from Brading, return to Newport and revisit the pw back to Cowes (a home round trip ride of 57 miles).
The excellent IoW Steam Railway’s Wootton Station is to the east of the buried Station Road bridge where the original Wootton Station stood, its unstable clay cutting finally giving in to nature. The original secluded Station house still stands on top of the bank!
A trailway from Wootton passing under a refurbished access arch, on over Park Road ends at Whippingham Station and platforms, all still standing. A path leads on from here on the pw to Belmont Farm bridge where it abruptly stops. The trailway picks up again at Little Fairlee Farm to continue on to Newport using the Fairlee Road pw tunnel. (The gap in the pw between the two farms possibly seems temporary due to the access needs of a recently built large solar energy farm to the side of the route).
The Island Line Brading Station is on the last working piece of Network Rail’s Shanklin to Ryde railway and uses old London tube train stock.
Brading Station second platform and old signal box is now a heritage centre. A path from Brading Station later trailway follows the old pw to almost St. Helens Station, the station house still standing now in a spacious well stocked pw garden.
The private pw from St. Helens to Bembridge still exists: part farm track, part footpath and later part industrial units’ backyard extensions. Bembridge Station has long gone now under housing in Harbour Strand on the east side of the harbour entrance.

A final, final visit to the Island (round trip of 37 miles) on the 2nd Sunday in September, and failing to beat the driving rain home, was to capture some shots of structures without scaffolding and match up some present to archive shots. Ben, who lives in the station house at Godshill, was very kind in letting me visit the garden platform. Oh and Godshill itself is a very pleasant village to visit with its many quintessential thatched cottages; and tourists.

Archive station pictures have been reproduced by kind permission of Nick Catford from the Disused Station (D.S.) website.
Whitwell Station by kind permission of Mike Ashworth.