the isle of wight used to be an absolute metropolis for steam railways, now in 2021 due to the beeching axe of the 1960s, the line now is an 8 mile line from ryde to shanklin, including the only bit of steam left with 5 miles from smallbrook junction to wootton , but today i am going to be suggesting the isle of wight, back in time to the 1960s The first railway to be built on the island ran for a distance of 2,500 yards (2,300 m). It was opened in 1833 on the Nash Estate near Yarmouth. Its usage is presumed to have been for transporting brickmaking materials to and from a jetty on the Solent, and it is not thought to have used mechanical traction.[3] The line is now abandoned. The first conventional railway line to open on the island was that from Cowes to Newport. The Cowes & Newport Railway Company began construction of the line in 1859 after an enabling Act of Parliament was passed earlier that year. The line opened to passengers in June 1862. as you can see the railway we see now is nothing compared to what it was back in the 1960s The O2 class proved ideal for the Island’s railways and a total of 23 were eventually shipped to the Island. By the end of 1960 they were the only class of steam engine operating on the Island’s rail network. Following the closures of the fifties and sixties the Island’s remaining railway from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin was electrified in early 1967 and ‘Calbourne’ was retained for engineers works trains before sale to the Wight Locomotive Society. In 1971 she hauled our historic carriages from Newport to Havenstreet, and later that year the first passenger trains at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. some steamers at newport station also during the 60s the tramway was also in operations cowes in the 60s haven street station HISTORY OF THE LINES The line between Ryde and Shanklin was also earmarked for closure by Beeching, but the TUCC stated that this would cause severe hardship and the Minister of Transport refused consent, so management decided to authorise electrification instead. This remaining Ryde-Shanklin line was electrified using the third rail system and Class 485 and Class 486 trains, which had previously worked on the London Underground. The new electric service began in March 1967. In 1948, the railways of the United Kingdom, including those on the island, were nationalised as British Railways.[4] Under separate modernisation schemes, the FYN line, Ventnor West line, Bembridge branch and Sandown to Newport line had closed by the end of 1956. In 1966, under the recommendations of the Beeching Report, services were withdrawn on the Ryde to Newport and Cowes lines, and between Shanklin and Ventnor. After the Railways Act 1921 came into force from January 1923, the Southern Railway took over all lines on the island, although the integration of the FYN took some time due to financial wrangling. The company set about significant investment in the island's rail services, primarily through replacing old locomotives and carriages. Twenty-three O2 Class locomotives were transferred to the island from the former London and South Western Railway's suburban services, and many coaches were brought from the former London, Chatham and Dover Railway and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. The locomotives were given numbers under an unusual system where each number was individual only on the island. Each locomotive officially carried its number with a W-prefix to indicate this, and was given a nameplate relating to somewhere on the island cab of the O2 Class reference videos: thank you all for listening, and let me know what you think about this route being in TSW
A couple of the loco fleet at the steam railway w24 (o2) 41313 and 41298 ivatt I now the ivatts and Hunslets did go with a steam day route for the island but ivatts were played to move over. Ryde per tram on its first day out in public use. All steam locos are fitted with air pumps
Excellent idea and I wonder what would the downloadable content locomotive is? I'm guessing a 4MT Belle
