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Isle of Wight Steam Railway

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Freshwater, Nov 12, 2013.

  1. paulhitch

    paulhitch Guest

    No problem whatsoever. There is a dedicated Hoverbus which connects both principal stations in the City directly with the hover. Another service (No. 8 I think) links Portsmouth Harbour with the hover terminal.

    The biggest real problem for those with pushchairs or infirmities is the footbridge over the railway at Ryde. There is "talk" of a re-arrangement of platforms at Esplanade to provide a facility for Hovercraft passengers to avoid crossing the railway. However, as always, one has to suspect that W.I.B.N. might be involved!
     
  2. cav1975

    cav1975 Member

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    To be fair to Tom the walk at both Portsmouth & Southsea and Portsmouth Harbour to the Hoverbus stop is quite long and not well signposted, by contrast the short walk from the end of the platform to the ferry terminal at Posrtsmouth Harbour is short and obvious. Similarly the walk over the bridge at Ryde Esplanade from the Hover terminal is much longer and harder to negotiate than the easy ferry to train change at Ryde Pier Head.

    For the average traveller the Wightlink FastCat is much easier to use.
     
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  3. andrewtoplis

    andrewtoplis Well-Known Member

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    I volunteer there as a steam driver, but stress this is a personal opinion and I was not involved with any extension projects.

    The terriers would be ok for water to put an additional mile or so on the journey. They have about a 25/30% left in the tank after a round trip, the ivatts easily have 60% left over and everything else somewhere in between! Bluebell and KESR both have longer runs.

    From a timetable perspective it does push the round trip time further over the hour, meaning that a one train service is less desirable commercially. For me though, the main timetable impact is that the railway becomes unbalanced with the passing loop being nowhere near the middle of the line. So the Wootton section train would sit for even longer at Havenstreet than it does today! Or you would need another loop near Ashey which would have its own challenges.

    The wider point though is that the IWSR is a very well run railway with excellent facilities and is financially on a good footing. As much as we would all love a longer run and St Johns as a location, it has to be the right thing for the railway. Let's let SWR get their new trains and the loop in and look again in the coming years.
     
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  4. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    You miss the point. It is a link that you know about, and have experience of. Having read your post, it might have an impact on how I would choose to travel, either solo or with family. But as an outsider, without local knowledge of local public transport, it is an unknown quantity that has to be weighed up against a variety of other factors in a through journey. One of those factors is the impact on my day if it goes wrong. To give an example on scale, I commute to London, but have also used my season ticket to attend events in London. I am relatively relaxed about the consequences of a late train when commuting - stuff happens, I can rearrange my day if necessary - but very cautious if travelling for an event because a delay on the train will disproportionately affect the purpose of the journey.
     
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  5. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    The last time I visited the Island in October 2017 , I drove to the park and ride, then got the bus to the hard, then caught the hover bus from there ,i only opted for the hovercraft because of an online offer that month that meant paying £5 instead of £15 the only down side, I chose an non operating day on the Steam Railway:(
     
  6. Christopher125

    Christopher125 Part of the furniture

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    That's not my idea of 'equally convenient' though, especially in less than ideal weather...
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2019
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  7. Alan Kebby

    Alan Kebby Well-Known Member

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    Also Wightlink offer a combined ticket which covers SeaCat, and unlimited travel on both
    Island Line and IWSR. I believe Hovertravel do something similar.

    Is such a ticket available if travelling by bus?

    Whilst it is possible to get from Ryde to IOWSR by bus, I can’t see why anyone would choose this option over Island Line.
     
  8. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    Maybe they are a bus gricer ;)

    Tom
     
  9. paulhitch

    paulhitch Guest

    The services are more frequent, with (much}newer vehicles. These are smoother riding with air suspension and are quieter. The railway suffers badly from rail corrugation which adds to the already considerable racket from the gearing. Hopefully, the forthcoming renewals will improve things.

    The railway will still be up against an extremely well run competitor shose drivers are not unknown to stop and open the door for a latecomer, which I saw happen only yesterday. By contrast.I recall having to walk down a rainswept Ryde Pier because the train would not wait a minute for people from a weather delayed boat.
     
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  10. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    If there was a fixed link, a solent tunnel, we wouldn't need any public transport or ferry we could just drive over, park up at Havenstreet except on the down side, a larger car park might be needed
     
  11. Alan Kebby

    Alan Kebby Well-Known Member

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  12. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    very interesting the links between the Island MP and ferry companies who stand to make a lot of money each year by having a captive market
     
  13. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Indeed .... as has been the case since Freshwater,Yarmouth & Newport Rly investors lost their shirts betting on a tunnel .... and no-one back then even had any concerns about the effect of a fixed link on the Island's red squirrel population!
     
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  14. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    whats to stop grey squirrels hiding on a ferry and then coming over?
     
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  15. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    I think the investors in the FYN essentially lost their shirts by virtue of investing in the FYN ...

    Tom
     
  16. mdewell

    mdewell Well-Known Member Friend

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    That's just nuts! :D
     
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  17. Alan Kebby

    Alan Kebby Well-Known Member

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    Had the Victorians succeeded in building a railway tunnel, the railways on the island might be very different now.
     
  18. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    certainly , as they would have been part of a greater network, as the intended route would have linked Yarmouth with Lymington / Bournemouth would it have saved the island, that's hard to say, had the route branched off and headed inland to Newport Sandown and Ventnor then possibly it would have made it harder to justify closure. there would have still be closures, most likily Ventor via Brading, as the majority of trade would have been via the Newport route and tunnel to the mainland. and not via ryde.
     
  19. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

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    Goes in the same box as the Sandbanks Bridge/Tunnel!
     
  20. ilvaporista

    ilvaporista Part of the furniture

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    I was always under the impression that the grey had displaced the red squirrel and that the grey was another one of the intruders imposed on the UK by Europe. Imagine my surprise whilst walking to work in Germany yesterday to have two red squirrels cross the road right in front of me. Infact they had come out of the trees alongside the preserved railway in Bad Nauheim. So maybe there is hope for the island's red squirrel population.
     

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