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Isle of Wight Steam Railway

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

  1. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    So had I. :Banghead:

    Wasn't it's prominent brass (?) CRC fleet number an inverted re-use from an earlier withdrawn loco?
     
  2. gwilialan

    gwilialan Well-Known Member

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    Praise where it's due to the lineside gang who have made such a difference at Wootton.
    You can almost see the whole platform on the webcam now. Big difference.
    :Googleit:
     
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  3. Whacky

    Whacky New Member

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    Yes, the station gang in particular did a much needed drastic cut back. All credit for a great job. Lineside gang are slowly heading east towards Have Street.
     
  4. City of truro fan

    City of truro fan Member

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    This is the best railway for webcams it’s grate for seeing and the shunting.
     
  5. Christopher125

    Christopher125 Part of the furniture

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  6. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    While I understand the imperative for such a provision, part of me mourns for the loss of a the simple, uncluttered (except by historically accurate enamel advertising panels!) ambience of a IWCR wayside station. I suppose there's no chance of acquiring the land necessary to construct the facility out of sight, west of the bridge?

    I "got it' with Haven Street, Ropley, Wharf, Pendre, Llanfair Caereinion, Porthmadog Harbour, Sheffield Park, Horsted Keynes, Tenterden and numerous other locations besides. Our lines have to be self-contained, have to have the facilities needed to operate, to repair and store stock, but my 'Inner Betjeman' is no less downcast for that knowledge. At least Sparrowlee still looks close to it's appearance in L&MVLR days .... but for the lack of track!

    Edit: Sorry spirit of Sir John!
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2022
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  7. Paul Grant

    Paul Grant Well-Known Member

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    Do I understand this plan right that the goods shed will have no physical connection to the Wootton loop? The big planning/ design statement suggests they will but I assume its outside the remit of the application.
     
  8. gwalkeriow

    gwalkeriow Well-Known Member

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    my understanding is that it will be connected to the loop.
     
  9. Paulthehitch

    Paulthehitch Well-Known Member

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    Wootton station used to be in one of the arches of the overbridge now, sans abutments, covered by infill. The present station closely resembles the original Havenstreet one apart from the signal box. This is the actual FYN one from Newport.

    The goods shed will resemble that at Ventnor West. Apart from showing visitors what such a building was like it will give cover for a few wagons.
     
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  10. Paul Grant

    Paul Grant Well-Known Member

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    That makes sense. I couldn't see anything about it in my skimming of the plans initially.
     
  11. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    I don't doubt for a minute the IWSR will do work to the impressive standards we've come to expect over the years, but please don't think of it as a complaint, just a slightly mournful acknowledgement that things have to move on. I'm sure you knew what I meant in my OP

    I was actually aware of Wooton's original location. I've a wonderful photo of it in a book, after closure, taken from the bridge in a 1960's high summer, and it was difficult to tell where the platform and luxuriant overgrowth parted company. I'm also well aware of the unduly mobile geology beyond the bridge !

    Is there any possibility of the race track siding site at Ashey ever returning to the fold?
     
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  12. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    To be accurate, the station at Wotton, is a complete re creation, as the original was never on that spot, and is now buried under spoil, so any extension of the new station, will be another re creation of what an original would have looked like .
     
  13. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    The diagram on the deposited plan doesn't refer to anything west of the existing site Martin. That bit was just me flying a kite. As I said, I understand the reasons why more storage is essential and know this isn't some vanity project, but still feel sad this atmospheric recreation of a simple ICWR station is to be joined by more tracks and structures. In truth though, I'd be unsurprised to learn more passengers were carried during today's operating season than in any full BR era year .... or quite possibly any year after around 1930!

    AFAIK, there's neither any intention nor desire to extend the running line beyond the bridge. The infill at least seems less susceptible to the slippage which plagued the railway at that point! Were it to happen, there'd need to be some serious and doubtless very expensive remedial work to stabilise what lies under expensive to remove infill .... however far south of it's original location the old trackbed currently is underneath that lot!

    Have you seen the photos of the last stock transfer from Newport coming through the bridge? The train had to move very gingerly and the track movement in the time since closure is painfully obvious in the image.
     
  14. Wagoniester

    Wagoniester Member

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    The artwork all shows track terminating without connecting to the loop. Page 3 of the Planning Design and Access Statement however says:
    "The single track within the goods shed will continue beyond the shed to terminate in front of the coal yard, at the same level and adjacent to the existing tracks, to facilitate the transfer of goods wagons."
    Not sure how they will transfer wagons if it has terminated adjacent to the loop; I can't imagine they will be swapping things regularly, so it maybe it will be a crane job as and when necessary? Or perhaps indeed as said above, there is a plan to connect it to the running line?
     
  15. cav1975

    cav1975 Member

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    On the Isle of Wight Steam Railway we have a wonderful inheritance in terms of locomotives and rolling stock dating back to the earliest days of the Island's railways. Unfortunately this is not the case when we look at stations and buildings. We have only the 1920s small building, platform and permanent way hut at Havenstreet, the 1950s shelter and platform at Ashey and a few relocated small wooden & concrete buildings. We are attempting to recreate an Isle of Wight Central Railway wayside station at Wootton by using design elements from the original Haven Street and Ventnor West stations together with the FYN signal box from Freshwater that was earlier at Newport and the IWCR crossing keepers hut from Smithards Lane. The result is/will be full of compromises but we trust that both the public and the enthusiasts will find elements to please them.
     
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  16. gwalkeriow

    gwalkeriow Well-Known Member

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    .
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2022
  17. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    I wish you well, but my experience of some other railways (I last visited the IOW on 31st December 1991) is that the aggregation of these individually excellent premises can lead to what is overall a loss of historic authenticity, as the underlying nature of the station is changed.
     
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  18. cav1975

    cav1975 Member

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    Fair point but the underlying nature of Wootton's current station has changed many times already from being
    1 - part of a through single line with a connection to a coal siding to
    2 - a run round loop without a station in the middle of nowhere to
    3 - a basic station with a grounded PMV as a station building to
    4 - the replica IWCR station, complete with replica IWCR enamel signs, that we have today.

    Our view is that the addition of the IWCR style goods shed will be in keeping with what we have now and not represent over development. You are of course free to hold a different view.
     
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  19. cav1975

    cav1975 Member

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    PS - We are investing a lot of money this winter in repairing our biggest railway heritage building - the station building cum signal box at Havenstreet. If you look at the webcam https://iwsteamrailway.co.uk/about-us/live-webcams/ you will see the scaffolding. The building is receiving attention to roof, gutters and walls with all work being done in a way that matches the original as closely as modern conditions allow.
     
  20. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    It's a worthy aim. Within the confines of today's IWSR, there are always going to be compromises ... it's unavoidable. I do hope, if it comes onto the market, the IWSR are in a position to acquire the old station building at Ashey.

    Re: The goods shed. The old IWC Ventnor Town (from grouping, Ventnor West) station was a charming location, scenically on a par with the larger, better known and considerably busier IWR station. I do however feel, if 'West' was more accurate than 'Town', it'd have been more honest to have called the IWR terminus 'Ventnor High Level'!

    It's a shame the Ryde-Newport-Cowes line closed. It had been on the cards for 10 years, but was no less short sighted for that. I'm probably not alone in suspecting it'd be busier these days, had it been sparked up along with the Shanklin line. I remain to be convinced by repeated modern proposals for reconnecting Newport and Cowes to the network.

    Either the Newport-Sandown or Freshwater lines would have done very nicely for a heritage railway, though it has to be admitted the bridge at Newport would've presented it's own set of challenges, as would the habit of parts of 'the level route' to do a passable impression of a canal at times! I'll admit a personal bias, as the IoW's answer to Clapham Jnc (Merstone) has always been by favourite island station. I'm plotting an EM gauge model and have decided to represent the subway in the half-submerged condition which eventually led to it being filled in!

    Back in the real world, we should be grateful we've got the IWSR, which is a real gem. Even if (against the odds) it were to extend to Ryde (St.John's Road), I'd hope to see at least the IWSR side of Smallbrook survive, if for no better reason it's very redolent of the Newport station (only open between 1913-1923) of the wondefully pugnacious FYN .... the very minnow of a railway which held out for a better deal from the Southern and didn't join the fold until August 1923!
     
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