The Isle of Wight Steam Railway is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
On 24th January 1971, crowds of well-wishers had flocked to Newport station and lined the line to Havenstreet, to witness the town’s last trains.
In the late 1960s, the preservation group had assembled the Island’s sole remaining steam locomotive, carriages and wagons at the old Newport station. At the time there were hopes that trains could run along the whole line from Ryde to Cowes. Alas, the section through Newport was destined to become the town’s bypass, and the preservation society had to find a new home at Havenstreet, well away from potential developers.
In January 1971 the group were given just 1 week’s notice to move everything to Havenstreet before the scrap merchants started to lift the track. There were lots of obstacles to overcome, with trains needing to run over 5 miles of heavily overgrown track which had closed 5 years earlier. At Wootton, torrential rain had washed away part of the trackbed, leaving the rails suspended above a sea of mud.
John Woodhams, who as a 15-year-old schoolboy had worked to clear vegetation from the line but now drives the trains at the steam railway, explains:
“Until the first train had got across, nobody really knew whether it was possible.
“After all the uncertainty and destruction we’d experienced at Newport, there was a feeling of hope and new beginnings that we could establish a railway at Havenstreet.”
4 trains ran that day, hauling the society’s carriages and historic wagons to their new base. The final train departed in darkness, whistle blazing as it crossed the Medina viaduct for the last time, signalling the end of 109 years of railway history at Newport.
Unfortunately, the national lockdown meant that the planned celebration event to mark the 50th anniversary had to be cancelled. Instead, a small ceremony was held at Havenstreet to mark the occasion, watched by thousands of supporters online. The day saw the return to steam of the line’s flagship locomotive, number 24 Calbourne, which had hauled the trains in 1971.
A series of events have been planned to celebrate the steam railway’s 50th birthday, including a gala weekend in June, and guided walks along the Island’s former lines.
Further details of the last train from Newport are available at https://iwsteamrailway.co.uk/heritage/the-last-train/.
One of the best If not ‘the’ best attractions here.
Well done all who make this possible to enjoy both past workers and present.
Many congratulations. Everyone involved over the past 50 years should be given a big pat on the back. Hopefully, one day, they will be able to extend the line all the way into Newport. And just imagine how many customers would there would be if the holy grail of a Steam Train running from the pier head at Ryde through to Newport were to be achieved.
Why not connect to the Shanklin/Ryde line and make it a real tourist heritage railway, then people would have real reason to use it.
I think that the steam engines can’t run on the same rails as electric trains, for the distance would be different, and the electric would be dangerous.
IF you mean use steam instead of the current electric trains, imagine the long Winter early spring late autumn, when fewer use the railway, the cost in coal, maintaining old engines, and the schedule would be impossible to make it pay.
IF they had kept the same width rail and perhaps converted a couple of old steam trains to battery power, by having one carriage as the battery container, then, maybe it would pay, and be a first, but, at the time, I guess no one ever thought a battery train would ever leave the living room floor.
The rails are the same, with both using the ‘standard’ gauge of 4 ft 8½ inches, and I don’t suppose the live third rail would be an issue, unless contact could be made with the steam train. It should also be relatively easy to connect the line to the Island Line, Whether or not SWR would want steam trains on their railway is another question though.