Old Railways

Many years ago the Isle of Wight had a large rail network, running from Ryde to Ventnor (in the South) and all the way to Yarmouth and Freshwater in the West. These were the days of steam trains - popular and used by many people in their hayday but then all of a sudden the popularity disappeared. The picture shows one former rail line near Yarmouth.

The Isle of Wight railway c.1948.

Now, all the tracks have been removed apart from the Ryde to Shanklin route, which has a former London Underground train running it! There is one line still using steam, from Smallbrook to Wooton, running during the summer (The Havenstreet Railway).

The Isle of Wight railway c.2006

Personally I think its quite sad that all the railways were lost over the years. It would have been a very pleasant experience, taking the train all over the Island instead of having to ride in noisy buses on the bumpy Isle of Wight roads.

View Satellite Image of location @ Google Maps
You can clearly follow the old track.

View Satellite Image of Havenstreet Railway @ Google Maps
With one of the steam trains in the station!