end of steam on isle of wight in december 1966

ive always had an interest in the railways of the isle of wight, when steam finished on dec 31st 1966 what were the arrangements to remove the withdrawn locos and steam stock to newport for storage and disposal were some of the locos steamed ,or were they towed dead by one of the two retained engines( 24 or 31) to newport

once the cutting commenced ,i can guess that 27 was the first, being at the head of the queue does any record exsist of the 02,s being broken up and which was the final one

whilst at ryde wasnt 31 stored for a while before she was cut up because an attempt was made to save it does any pictures remain of her at ryde before the cutters started work

 

There a image in 'Once upon a line' Vol. 3 showing W31 being cut in the former yard at Ryde. In the photo, her left side tank has been removed but she still largely one lump still...

 

22 was the last one to be cut up at Newport. 27 was indeed the first, and I did hear a story that it wasn't even cold from it's last steaming when work began. The scrapyard staff then just worked their way down the line of engines in the order in which they'd been shunted and left.

31 was cut up in the early summer at Ryde. I believe by the same company.

It's quite ridiculous that more of them were not saved. Typical of those times, and we have to be thankful of course that 24 did make it.

 

astonishing really, but then again transportation to the mainland was probably out of the question in those days and the Wight preservation scene was in its infancy. Still they have done wonders since it has to be said.

 

If you are interested in the last days of IOM Wight Steam, I can whole-heartedly recommend "The Isle of Wight Railway - 40 years of Preservation" by Dave Walker & Terry Hastings. According to the list on page 8, 27 was the last BR steamed loco which was used to shunt the locos from Newport station into Freshwater yard on the 18th April 1967. The list also states that she was cut up in April so the story about it hardly being cold would seem very plausible (I'm guessing it was 27 which hauled all the locos out to Newport in the 1st place?). 22 was indeed the last to be cut up in July/ August 1967 so HB Jolliffe (the contractors) obviously didn't hang about..... There is also a pic of 27 in steam doing the shunting.

31 was apparently cut up at Ryde in September 1967 although there was an 11th hour reprieve whilst an ill-fated attempt from the mainland to save her was entertained by the scrap merchants (think I read somewhere she was already partially cut up). Once cutting re-commenced, the remains were taken to Newport to join the rest of the scrapped locos. I'm sure I read a story/ rumour/ urban myth somewhere that a large quantity of spares (almost a whole loco....) was saved but it's probably like most stories of this ilk - a complete load of rubbish!

The accounts of moving all the stock out of Newport in 1971 (with a week's notice?) are also fascinating reading!

 

the story about an intact boiler being around somewhere surfaced a few years back, but with the cost of copper at the time of scapping being what it was, the scrappers would have wanted the fireboxs cut out from the steel i read a book ,the last years of iow steam and the only picture in that was on a pile of cut up engine parts so i am sure that all the major parts were cut up the only things that were saved would have been things like the air pumps, but these were purchased at a much later date , long after the newport site had been cleared so i dont know about any spare bits that the steam railway were able to save and anyway the few pictures i have seen would indicate that the boilers were cut up in the frames, and not removed and then cut, can anyone conferm this?