Island Line Upgrade updates

[hermit]

East - west journeys (say Sandown to Freshwater) always involved a change in Newport, except for the one-a-day through ‘Corridor Train’ in summer. So never that fast.

 

[VEP3417]

i went from yarmouth to ryde and had to change bus once each way, nearly missing the bus the first time as the bus dosnt stop at the bus station in newport, it stops round the corner and relies on you knowing you have to walk to the bus station to catch the next one...which i was un aware of till i asked couldnt be easy could it

 

[Gloster]

i went from yarmouth to ryde and had to change bus once each way, nearly missing the bus the first time as the bus dosnt stop at the bus station in newport, it stops round the corner and relies on you knowing you have to walk to the bus station to catch the next one...which i was un aware of till i asked couldnt be easy could it

REPLY: Yarmouth-Newport is half-hourly, and Newport-Ryde is every ten minutes (every fifteen on Sundays). The Yarmouth buses are temporarily (during COVID) stopping 100 yards away in Church Litten to avoid a pinch-point in the bus station, which is slightly hidden from the station. The Ryde buses still use their normal stand in the bus station.

 

[VEP3417]

just catches you off guard thats all, no signs or anything laid out for visitors to the island

 

[A0wen]

Well, everything west of Newport closed to passengers in 1953, and everything south of Newport in 1956, so I don't think Beeching can be blamed for either.

You can't let facts get in the way of anti Beeching prejudices..... This is Railforums after all!

In all seriousness, your post shows why these forums need a 'like' button.....

 

[DelW]

You can't let facts get in the way of anti Beeching prejudices..... This is Railforums after all!

In all seriousness, your post shows why these forums need a 'like' button.....

Thanks

Beeching is obviously a bogeyman, but I think that sometimes people forget that plenty of lines closed before, as well as some after, his era!

 

[A0wen]

Thanks

Beeching is obviously a bogeyman, but I think that sometimes people forget that plenty of lines closed before, as well as some after, his era!

And not only that, there were no shortage of lines the good Doctor said to retain and BR did the opposite. My personal favourites of those are Beeching recommended keeping Woodhead and Matlock - Manchester and closing Hope Valley. BR did the opposite. Beeching recommended keeping the GC mainline, BR did the opposite.

 

[Gloster]

The County Press is reporting that £10 million is to be spent on a transport hub at Ryde. This appears to consistent of a walk/cycle way on the old tramway, reconfiguration of the railway and bus stations, more cycle ways and paths, and...new toilets.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The County Press is reporting that £10 million is to be spent on a transport hub at Ryde. This appears to consistent of a walk/cycle way on the old tramway, reconfiguration of the railway and bus stations, more cycle ways and paths, and...new toilets.

The toilets there are absolutely disgusting, so that's good! Rest of it sounds good to be honest, it's all a bit dilapidated.

 

[swt_passenger]

The County Press is reporting that £10 million is to be spent on a transport hub at Ryde. This appears to consistent of a walk/cycle way on the old tramway, reconfiguration of the railway and bus stations, more cycle ways and paths, and...new toilets.

Here’s the link to the article:

Ryde Pier tramway transformation as £10 million Transport Hub project revealed

A £10 million investment will see the creation of the long-awaited Ryde transport hub and the transformation of the old pier tramway, into a…

www.countypress.co.uk

 

[Meerkat]

Here’s the link to the article:

Ryde Pier tramway transformation as £10 million Transport Hub project revealed

A £10 million investment will see the creation of the long-awaited Ryde transport hub and the transformation of the old pier tramway, into a…

www.countypress.co.uk

Does anyone who has seen the state of the tramway metalwork believe you can build a walkway complete with a roof (why does it need a roof - isn’t the railway there for those who don’t fancy the walk?) within that budget?

 

[Chris125]

With the pedestrian pier recently restored and investment in the railway pier coming, Ryde Pier is going to look great in a few years time... though that canopy is a tad brutal looking given the listed structure alongside.

Now it's just esplanade station letting the side down, it needs more than a 'reconfiguration' I fear while SWR's community funding for a cafe/restaurant has yet to produce a planning app AFAIK?

Does anyone who has seen the state of the tramway metalwork believe you can build a walkway complete with a roof (why does it need a roof - isn’t the railway there for those who don’t fancy the walk?) within that budget?

If it's anything like the others then the cast iron legs should be fine and it's just the steelwork above that needs renewing. A canopy seems a bit of a stretch though, but presumably they've done the calculations?

 

[Meerkat]

If it's anything like the others then the cast iron legs should be fine and it's just the steelwork above that needs renewing. A canopy seems a bit of a stretch though, but presumably they've done the calculations?

It’s really really rusty! And access isn’t great.....

 

[Bletchleyite]

Does anyone who has seen the state of the tramway metalwork believe you can build a walkway complete with a roof (why does it need a roof - isn’t the railway there for those who don’t fancy the walk?) within that budget?

It had a temporary walkway on it in 2010 or thereabouts before while the road was being done up. Seemed fine then.

 

[Chris125]

Update: No canopy over walkway, according to caption.

"Artist impression by Rainey Petrie - but the Council say the walkway won't be covered"

It’s really really rusty! And access isn’t great.....

Access will be an issue, but the upcoming Network Rail work to the railway pier presents an obvious opportunity as they may well renew that deck too.

 

[Meerkat]

It had a temporary walkway on it in 2010 or thereabouts before while the road was being done up. Seemed fine then.

That was 10 years of rusting ago!

 

[Chris125]

That was 10 years of rusting ago!

It won't bother the cast iron.

 

[Meerkat]

It won't bother the cast iron.

It looks pretty rusty, and not very cared for!

 

[sem34090]

I think you might be fighting a losing battle my friend...

Cast Iron is probably more resilient than you imagine; I didn't see any serious structural faults in the tramway pier when I was over there earlier this month, although I admit that I didn't look too closely and am not an engineer!

 

[reddragon]

I think you might be fighting a losing battle my friend...

Cast Iron is probably more resilient than you imagine; I didn't see any serious structural faults in the tramway pier when I was over there earlier this month, although I admit that I didn't look too closely and am not an engineer!

Cast Iron is not as resilient as it looks!

Steel visibly rusts and layers of rust form & fall away, holes appear and you can see what is happening. Wrought Iron is very similar in that way.

Cast iron corrodes much slower, c 0.5-1.0 mm per 10 years on average. Whereas Steel creates iron oxide (rust), cast iron turns to graphite (much weaker than cast iron) but is invisible corrosion. Also the corrosion follows the impurities in the iron, such as perlites, corroding deep into the structure unseen.

I can tell you having done so, when you shot blast a cast iron bridge element that looks as good as the day it is cast, sometimes it removes the surface rust but sometimes you are left with very little actual metal.

Unfortunately there is no NDT techniques that yet are proven to work, we have tried. The result can often be a bridge refurbishment becomes a renewal at 10x the cost.

What will happen here, is it will go one way or another once they start detailed structural inspections of the ironwork, but if it was OK 10 years ago, only 0.5 - 1.0 mm of corrosion would have occurred and if treated it will be OK for the lighter loads. If nobody really checked 10 years ago, someone might have a shock.

 

[VEP3417]

the toilet block is in a bit of a funny out the way place, out of the station/round the back/across a road/walk through a cafe forecourt then its next to that....really convenient but yes the station/condition is stuck in the late 60s era, hopefully they dont modernise it too much as i quite liked that

 

[Gloster]

About a dozen years ago there was a plan to replace the ramshackle collection of buildings at Esplanade.

This ran out of steam around 2009 after, if I remember correctly, around £700,000 had been spent on preliminary surveys, although I don’t know if they looked at the state of the tramway.

Again, if I remember correctly, one reason for the plan dying away was because the original limited plan of a railway booking office, bus information office, tourist office, toilets and a couple of retail outlets grew into a three storey ‘iconic’ building with a restaurant and art gallery.

I think there were also problems over the ownership of some of the land.

 

[hermit]

As far as I recall, the plans were for a modernised transport interchange at Esplanade; the disused tram track wasn’t involved. And the project was indeed finally pulled because of disagreements between the different landowners on the site.

For all the antique charm of the present accretion of buildings, there’s obviously a case for spending money on providing a 21st century interchange at Esplanade. I’m less sure that it’s worth spending money on a new walkway on dodgy pier supports. I’ve often walked down the existing pier, usually unwillingly when a train has been missed or cancelled, and have never felt remotely unsafe, especially since the introduction of the 10mph speed limit. And I doubt whether there’s a great untapped market of holidaymakers wanting to stroll up and down the pier for fun.

 

[Gloster]

Some years ago I was walking back up the pier on a Saturday afternoon.

Ahead of me were a young couple who looked as though they were on the way to a wedding reception. She stopped several times to take off her shoe to adjust it, while he kept on walking despite her calls for him to stop.

On about the fourth time that this happened, she hurled the shoe after him. It was a good shot and landed just to the right of his feet, and then bounced in front of him.

Whether he did it deliberately or just didn’t have time to react, but his foot made contact and over the side it went. The tide was in.

Totally irrelevant, but amusing (to me) at the time.

 

[Meerkat]

As far as I recall, the plans were for a modernised transport interchange at Esplanade; the disused tram track wasn’t involved. And the project was indeed finally pulled because of disagreements between the different landowners on the site.

For all the antique charm of the present accretion of buildings, there’s obviously a case for spending money on providing a 21st century interchange at Esplanade. I’m less sure that it’s worth spending money on a new walkway on dodgy pier supports. I’ve often walked down the existing pier, usually unwillingly when a train has been missed or cancelled, and have never felt remotely unsafe, especially since the introduction of the 10mph speed limit. And I doubt whether there’s a great untapped market of holidaymakers wanting to stroll up and down the pier for fun.

Making the walk better will just take business away from the railway, though it will actually make the walk much worse as you are further from the sea between a railway and a road! I wonder if they want to increase the speed limit on the roadway and want to get the cyclists and pedestrians out the way??

 

[Gloster]

Wightlink has never struck me as being particularly interested in passengers who do not arrive in either a taxi or a private car.

 

[Meerkat]

Wightlink has never struck me as being particularly interested in passengers who do not arrive in either a taxi or a private car.

What more do you want them to do for train passengers?

 

[Chris125]

Making the walk better will just take business away from the railway, though it will actually make the walk much worse as you are further from the sea between a railway and a road! I wonder if they want to increase the speed limit on the roadway and want to get the cyclists and pedestrians out the way??

I can't see it making any real difference to the railway tbh, it will still be a long exposed walk - what it will do is improve first impressions of Ryde and the Island, perhaps even encourage tourists to wander up it? I think the lower speed limit for road vehicles was introduced as much for structural reasons as pedestrian safety so that's highly unlikely to change.

 

[swt_passenger]

All the recently discussed proposals for the tram pier are a bit of a sideshow with respect to the agreed upcoming alterations to the railway. I wouldn’t say they’re irrelevant, but they’re not really what this thread was about...

 

[Chris125]

All the recently discussed proposals for the tram pier are a bit of a sideshow with respect to the agreed upcoming alterations to the railway. I wouldn’t say they’re irrelevant, but they’re not really what this thread was about...

I wouldn't call it a sideshow - there's money for the station too and it will complement, if not integrate, with upcoming work by SWR and Network Rail.