Isle of Wight Page

The Isle of Wight for those unaware of its existence is basically the remains of a what was a river delta formed by the Southampton Water many, many moons ago but is now an island less than half an hours trip across the Solent. My wife Kim spent most her youth on the IOW and it was there that we originally met at the "Extra Hour" motorcycle rally where I had just cobbled my T120 together from a box of bits to MOT in 2 sleepless days. My wife's parents, sister and nephew still live there so we still get to visit on occasions although nowadays in the comfort of the car.

I more recent visits we have concentrated on seeking out as many remains of the unique Isle of Wight Railway which like the island was a microcosm of the British Isles. For such a small island it had four different companies originally until they were eventually absorbed by the Southern Railway. Until then the little "02" engines pottered and sometimes thrashed around the branch lines of the entire system. There have been many railway books written about the IOW mainly because it was so unique in providing a  genuine "Royal" service with what was basically the leftovers from the mainland.

The following will eventually contain the information I have so far gathered about the Isle Of Wight Railway :-

During my last visit I managed to visit all the remaining parts of operational track (not very hard nowadays) and virtually all the abandoned locations some of which are so far lost in time that you would never guess they were there without a well detailed OS map. I have drawn a map of the system. All links to drawings should now be supported by a Java viewer but you will need to have a Java enabled browser to view them.

View the Isle of Wight Railway Map.

Books worth reading :-
Once Upon A Line by Andrew Britton volumes 1-3.