Isle of Wight

[IST]

We spent a week in London with my wife in March and traveled to Isle of Wight. As I drove on the Island Line a lot in a train simulator, I was curious how it looks like in the real world and really wanted to travel on a 72 years old tube train. I made a post about this tour here. Text is in Hungarian, but there are a lot of pictures, so maybe it worth to watch it. We started in London and went to Shanklin via Portsmouth and Ryde Pier Head. On the back route we walked to Sandown on the seaside and traveled by train only from Sandown railway station. It was a very good trip and we had an excellent weather also.

You can see a Class 483 and me on the attached picture.

[westfalen]

Great photos. I'll be there myself in exactly five weeks. I'm hoping to get to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway as well. Looks like you had good weather, I hope I am as lucky.

 

There's something not quite right about a train that's not much taller than you are.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Seeing this lot reminds me of a trip to the Island back in about 1994. In those days the class 483 stock was still in NSE livery, and there were still locomotives on the Island...at that time the Isle of Wight was the last outpost of the class 03 shunter.

 

I took a number of pictures along the route, including the blue 03 - 03079 - at Sandown and the NSE example - 03179 - at Ryde depot. Incidently 03179 is still in service, although now allocated to a depot in north London. 03079 was preserved near York. Hope people don't mind my posting a few here...

 

The class 483 units are good fun to travel on, although with a massive replacement program taking place on the LU lines, it has been suggested they may be replaced in the future by ex-Piccadilly line stock.

 

The steam railway is a very pleasant trip, and if you are lucky you may get to travel behind either their ex-LSWR class O2 or ex-LBSCR Terrier tanks, both of which were mainstays on the island in steam days for many years.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

The Isle of Wight does seem to be quite a popular subject on this forum, so I thought a couple of shots of my visit earlier in the week might fit in here. The purpose was a visit of one of Mrs Dreyfus' cousins from Holland...thought we would show him something very English...

 

Although this is an old topic, there isn't much point starting a new one as the subject matter is essentially the same.

 

Our trip was the full length of the line from Ryde to Shanklin on unit 004. There are normally two trainings running thsi service, one a single two-car train and the other a four-car set made up of two units. By chance, 004 was our steed for both legs of the journey, with 006 and 007 operating the opposite diagram. Also by coincidence, 004 was the set operating the single unit diagram on my last visit in 1994.

 

Some may already know that the livery these units carry is essentially the livery they were delivered to London Underground in, way back in 1938 - except there was no yellow warning panel. Despite their age, they are extremely well maintained and are in good condition both internally and externally. That said, in places the track work is a little suspect with the result that the ride can be a little rocky.

 

Back at Ryde, we have another big plus for the Isle of Wight - the Ryde to Southsea (Portsmouth) hovercraft.

 

 

I love the hovercraft...plenty of noise and activity, and the fact they can make that crossing in ten minutes flat is quite impressive...

[IST]

Great photos! I should go back again and try this hovercraft thing. 

[westfalen]

A few shots from my visit in May. I did a run over the Isle of Wight Steam Railway while I was there.

[westfalen]

A few more.