Late News – Ryde to Smallbrook Junction reopens 1st August with refurbished London underground trains.
Where?
The Isle of Wight is a small island off the south coast of Britain, a favourite holiday destination and home to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. Easily accessible from London, it’s a 2.5 hour trip by train and catamaran which connects directly with the steam railway at Smallbrook junction. The Isle of Wight was once home to an extensive rail network, only a small 8 mile part remains.
This day trip starts at the huge London terminus of Waterloo with 24 platforms, the train you’re looking for is for Portsmouth Harbour board at the front of the train Here you’ll find the ferry to Ryde on the Isle of Wight but be prompt as the connection is only 7 minutes! It’s a pleasant 20 minute crossing to the Pier Head at Ryde where you’ll board a refurbished London tube train for the 10 minute trip to Smallbrook Junction where the steam railway have built a 1930’s style station. Here boarding the beautifully restored 80 year old carriages will take you to Haven Street, headquarters of the railway. Alight here while they clean the train and explore the workshops where they’re restoring steam engines and carriages.
It’s important to book ahead as the railway has limited capacity and does not run daily, also the station at Smallbrook has no access except between the steam. railway and the electric trains. Perfect for a nostalgic day out, for more information visit https://iwsteamrailway.co.uk/, for information how to get the steam railway and cheapest fares go to https://www.thetrainline.com/stations/smallbrook-junction.
Isle of Wight Rail – What the future holds
In July 2021, a report was published to restore railway links to Newport and Ventnor as part of a. government initiative to restoring your railway links closed in the 1960’s as part of the Beeching cuts. The Newport link would start from Blackwater near Sandown using existing railway trackbed and would be estimated to cost from £67 million. Journey times would be from 21-26 minutes from Ryde. The other scheme would be to extend the Island line from Shanklin to Ventnor costing around £46 million as a follow up project.
The local council published this early feasibility study known as a Strategic Outline Business Case following a grant from the Department for Transport in May 2020. If this is approved by the government, the next stage is to prepare a more detailed Business Outline Case, with construction to start possibly in 5 years time.
