The Isle of Wight Railway Retention Association met Transport Minister Ernest Marples on 29th July 1964 to persuade the Government not to close the remaining Isle of Wight railways. The delegation presented a petition against the closure of the lines from Ryde to Ventnor and from Ryde to Cowes, signed by 82,000 people. The petition was so heavy it required 2 people to carry it. The meeting attracted national newspaper publicity, and the delegation were interviewed by the BBC. Mr Marples was also shown a film showing how important the lines were to the Isle of Wight by the size of the crowds arriving in Ryde. The Island delegation stressed that the Isle of Wight had suffered during the holiday season through adverse publicity about the closure of the railways. The Transport Minister congratulated the Island on its wonderful effort to keep their trains and said that no railway would be axed unless he was absolutely certain that the roads were adequate to take the traffic. If it was found that it would cost more to build and improve roads, then the lines would remain. The railway lines from Ryde to Cowes and from Shanklin to Ventnor were closed on 31st December 1966. The railway between Ryde and Shanklin remains in operation to this day – some of the time at least…
ON THIS DAY: ISLE OF WIGHT DELEGATION MET TRAVEL MINISTER TO SAVE ISLE OF WIGHT RAILWAYS 60 YEARS AGO
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Nowdays we have the Ferry shambles, let’s hope
the 2 New MPs can sort out the problem, otherwise
we are going in the same direction of the Railway shambles.
Marples was the Minister responsible for destroying the railway network. Beeching too the blame. Marples was up to all the usual Tory tricks, was caughht with his pants down, killed off public services with no regard to the impact of the service users and spent his final years running away from 30 years worth of unpaid taxes. Not much has changed really.
How quaint! No thought for the environmental costs of building roads, and pollution from cars, in those days.
The irony was that the IWRRA – Isle of Wight Railway Retention Association – was born in Ventnor, by local businessmen acutely aware that the railway link to Ryde, and thence to Portsmouth, London and the potential holidaymakers from the Midlands and North, was vital for the economy of Ventnor and its holiday industry,
It was the creation of Sidney Conbeer – one time Labour parliamentary candidate for the Island.
In the event however, it was the Ventnor-Shanklin rail link that was cut, and by a Labour Minister of Transport, Tom Fraser MP, and subsequently confirmed by his successor Barbara Castle MP.
Now, if they had left the link to Ventnor intact……….
Mr Marples of Marples Ridgeway ,a major player in road construction. good to see corruption was alive and well back then. nothing changes.
I like the forward thinking comment from the then transport minister that no railways would be closed unless he was absolutely certain the road infrastructure could cope. How short sighted was that? Given some of the scandalous stories surrounding the reasons for axing the line through to Ventnor, the transport minister must have been wearing special glasses.
When we wind the clock forward to today, how short sighted were these people back then, not just on this island. Look at the vast amounts of money given to HS2 to form a direct route north from London, when short sightedness closed the Great Central in the late 60s. It wasn’t needed as there were other routes already better suited.
Ventnor all over again.