Isle of Wight Steam Railway

oh, whoops i think i have just dropped one enormous ball

 

i really did think it wasnt for another couple of years, so island line did not celibrate it i assume,
i know its pie in the sky, and may never happen, but forgetting anything else, when the IOWSR starts operating to Ryde St Johns, assuming it does, are you likily to have any type of open day, organised by yourselves and island line, that could see one of your engines and a restored coach displayed on ryde shed yard,and the workshops at havenstreet open. i believe that 24 posed in the ryde yard in light steam, along side one of the tube trains with a restored 4 wheeler would attract quite a crowd and no , night time runs before PH jumps on me again

 

Bit early to talk about open days isn't it?

 

Yeah, we have to decide which livery the through services will carry first. Maybe when the Chatham's re-emerge with new underframes, they'll carry a fetching dinosaur livery as well

Tom

 

It can't be dino livery, that will not match the new build Beyer-Peacock tank engine fleet

 

It will if they paint the BPs in improved dinosaur green.

 

Nope, these will be in BR blue/grey, NSE and LT red as tributes to the Islandline stuff of previous generations.

 

It was commemorated last year by Island Line and the local Community Rail Partnership, a little low-key perhaps but it didn't go unnoticed.

 

I visited the line on Sunday for the first Island Days event of the year and did notice they some issues with the freight, I saw it at Wootton and Havenstreet and on both occassions they were having issues.

 

I'm puzzled by what you refer to as issues? there were none that I am aware of. They were trying out a new timetable and train formation so that only one brake van was in use, this of course involves having to shunt the brake van to the other end of the formation at each terminating station. Not sure how shunting can be considered an issue?

The timetable did slip due to the shunting involved, so future runs will have both brake vans.

 

I would only call it an issue as how late it was and that a whole run was cancelled. I was at Wootton for its first run and the crew had to have a good old discussion about how they were going to sort the train out. When you get the second brake van for future freights it wont be a problem. The train did look brilliant and the one thing I would give the railway HUGE credit for is how in the last couple of years they really have been making a big effort with engaging with the young kids.

 

I was driving W11 on the heritage good train yesterday and yes, things did not go quite to plan. The method of shunting the brake van around the train is something that we have done often in the past, it is the time that it takes that can become a problem. On our second train to Wootton we completed everything in 17 minutes (arrival to departure), those of us involved felt that it would have been a challenge to shave any more than a few minutes off of that time.

As a result of the experience gained it may be that the heritage goods train for Island Steam Days this year (second Sunday of every month, well worth a visit!) will either have a brake van at each end or a significant revision of the goods timetable, which has to fit around the advertised passenger service. It remains to be seen what the outcome will be.

Unfortunately we did loose one Havenstreet to Wootton train in the morning but gained an impressive (I hope!) shunting display at Havenstreet. Other factors then came into play in the afternoon resulting in the loss of a Havenstreet/Smallbrook leg. Like many railways we are limited by the overall capacity of the line (two single line sections with an unevenly positioned passing place) and once things start going wrong it is a challenge to recover, often the only way to get back on track is to loose a train.

There was another unfortunate happening on the last Up Smallbrook train when my hat blew off at Ashey Grounds, luckily I was able to recover it on the return leg!

 

It was an impressive shunting move around Haven Street managed to get loads more photos than I planned of Newport which can only be a good thing

 

I bet loose shunting is no longer part of the scene! That always saved time.

 

i'm intrigued as to how they shunt the brake van at wootton, do they come in to the platform road, uncouple, run round, pick up the brake, shunt that into the loop, set back onto the wagons, pul those out to clear the points set back onto the brake van, and then sit in the loop until the next arrival , when they can then get the token and enter the section

 

No loose shunting although it was still a really good day on the footplate, a pleasant change from the routine of passenger trains.

 

One of my photos from the weekend

 

Playing with troublesome trucks was always better than being gentle with coaches! The young H & S conscious of today would have a fit if they saw the practices of yesteryear.

 

Almost right Martin. When the train is reformed in the loop it is pulled forward onto the single line clear of the loop points and then stopped. The points are then re-set for the main line, the token withdrawn from the ground frame lock and handed to the driver - train ready to depart.

 

In one of the 'Firing Days at Saltley' volumes Terry Essery described the brutality of the normal shunting procedures at one particular location and commented that it can't have done the railways any favours in competing with road haulage for wagon load freight.