Isle of Wight Island line

[ikcdab]

Just had a good weekend exploring the Isle of Wight railways, national rail and the steam line.
We travelled the national rail line a couple of times and nowhere did I see any maintenance vehicles. There are sheds at St Johns Road, maybe the engineering vehicles were there. So how do they maintain the line? Maybe they just use road vehicles.
It is a short line with colour light signals but I was very surprised to see semaphores at St Johns Road. I assume this box controls the entire line, but with semaphores locally in the station area. Seems odd to leave just those ones. There was also a signalbox at Brading that seemed to have levers in it, I guess this is it of use?
Any info on these points would be useful.
Thanks.

 

[swt_passenger]

RRVs are generally used for normal activities. During the rolling stock changeover a lot of the shunting and delivery haulage was done by a ‘Unimog’ vehicle.

I believe one of the main track renewal/maintenance contractors has a small size tamper that is taken over on a flatbed truck by ferry periodically. There were photos of it in the main upgrade thread a few years ago, post #324, I think delivered by road to Sandown.

Island Line Upgrade updates

The Isle of Wight County Press does a daily travel news update on its website (www.iwcp.co.uk) which includes Islandline, although it is sometimes a bit slow to react to changes after the morning rush.

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Gloster]

Just had a good weekend exploring the Isle of Wight railways, national rail and the steam line.
We travelled the national rail line a couple of times and nowhere did I see any maintenance vehicles. There are sheds at St Johns Road, maybe the engineering vehicles were there. So how do they maintain the line? Maybe they just use road vehicles.
It is a short line with colour light signals but I was very surprised to see semaphores at St Johns Road. I assume this box controls the entire line, but with semaphores locally in the station area. Seems odd to leave just those ones. There was also a signalbox at Brading that seemed to have levers in it, I guess this is it of use?
Any info on these points would be useful.
Thanks.

I believe they use road vehicles, although a few years ago they brought a tamper in on a low-loader. St Johns Road controls the whole line; the box at Brading is a sort of museum now: it has been out of railway use since 1988. The semaphores at Ryde include fixed Distants.

 

[John Webb]

The Brading box is preserved and not in use for train control, as mentioned in posts above. Both station and box are Grade 2 listed, and looked after by the local Brading Council as a heritage centre and tea-room. The box is sometimes open to the public, but the Brading Council website is being restyled and I can't give you a link to the latest information about opening hours.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

We travelled the national rail line a couple of times and nowhere did I see any maintenance vehicles.

It is a short line with colour light signals but I was very surprised to see semaphores at St Johns Road. I assume this box controls the entire line, but with semaphores locally in the station area.

Should you be interested in the history of events over the Island, these are well covered in various forms, and I myself had some involvement in the late 80's/90's during the (previous) stock replacement, ex LT Standard stock out, 'new' 1938 stock in. The engineering operations at that time being in the hands of a couple of class 03 shunters. If any of that interests you, please PM me. Always keen to share memories with those who also have an interest in the Island's railways, my earliest memories being riding trains in to/out of Ventnor.

 

[Swaine]

What is the story behind the footbridges at Brading station?
There is the original attractive footbridge which is closed off.
Next to it is a temporary? footbridge which appears to be cobbled together with whatever happened to be lying around at the time. It’s an over engineered eyesore.
It appears to be inconsistent with the Grade 2 listing of the station area.

 

[Gloster]

A quick look at Island Echo comes up with the information that the temporary bridge was given planning permission for one year from March 2021 to allow the old bridge, which is Grade II listed, to be repaired, although it was only expected to be needed for six months. However, there have been problems (it is an Isle of Wight transport project, after all) and the permission has been extended several times, most recently to the end of next October. Don’t hold your breath about the work being completed by 31 October. Island Line, the present that keeps on giving…money away.

 

[hermit]

As far as I know the railway heritage museum in the Brading station building has not been open since the start of the upgrade project which did of course include the reinstatement of the passing loop and the reopening of the opposite platform. The Brading Town Council website says that it will not be reopening, which sounds rather final. Whether this is the result of the reconfiguration of the station (though I can’t see why it should be) or lack of volunteers or money, or for some other reason I don’t know.

Whatever the reason, it’s a great shame, as the museum and tearoom was a very pleasant place to visit, with a lot of interesting memorabilia, both railway-related and local to Brading. It was a very good use of the attractive station building. An entertaining feature was that a couple of very realistic wax figures, I believe from the defunct Brading Wax Museum, were placed on the (then-unused) opposite platform, one of them reading the County Press while waiting for a train.

The signal box was restored as a project led by a local architect. It still has the original equipment. When the museum was open you could visit the box for a fee of £1. One downside of the restoration was that the owls which used to roost there have moved elsewhere.

As for the very ugly ‘‘temporary“ footbridge, it is arguably a complete waste of money, as there is a footpath crossing at the Sandown end of the platforms, provided at considerable expense to give access to and from the down platform for those unable to use stairs.

 

[Sheridan]

I did manage to visit on a trip in 2023, I assumed it was just closed as it was still winter, but there were some contractors who had to open up the building to carry out some work and their supervisor said he didn’t mind me going in. I didn’t realise it was shut permanently, that’s a real shame and I might have paid more attention had I known!

 

[Sun Chariot]

... the temporary bridge was given planning permission for one year from March 2021 to allow the old bridge, which is Grade II listed, to be repaired, although it was only expected to be needed for six months. However, there have been problems (it is an Isle of Wight transport project, after all) and the permission has been extended several times, most recently to the end of next October

Well that makes two!
Bedhampton Station's ex-LSWR footbridge was closed early September 2023, for a "de-rust and repaint". The work stalled twice (once, admittedly, due to the complaints from residents living nearby) - then, in mid-January, structural corrosion was discovered; so nothing has progressed.

Footbridge work at Bedhampton

According to the signs the footbridge at Bedhampton is out of action until at least January, and looking at what's been done to it so far I can see why. At this point I wonder why they don't just demolish it and put a new one in. Maybe it's a listed structure?

www.railforums.co.uk

Speaking with SWR last week, I understand budget has been secured for the structural repairs and repainting. Time scale, indicatively, three months. As to when that starts...

 

[michael8]

The temporary footbridge has been installed because it is much safer than the barrow crossing.
The original footbridge will be renovated but the decision making has had to change on which parts to conserve and which parts to replace - I understand the foundations are an issue.
I think the latest plan is to replace the overline crossing with a new section.
The temporary footbridge has been there for a long time because of the developing understanding of the heritage footbridge construction
It is all positive, and will have a positive outcome - projects like this can take a long time to complete, but it is all for very good and justifiable reasons.

 

[Cymroglan]

Young Paul Clifton is reporting on BBC website:

“A railway line is to close completely for a month, and partly for nine months.
The 8.5 mile (13.7km) Island Line on the Isle of Wight from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin will close between 6 September and 6 October for “vital maintenance” according to South Western Railway.”
Full story at:

Isle of Wight: Island Line faces further closures

Buses will replace trains throughout the closures on the Isle of Wight.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[ikcdab]

I do wonder why we bother with lines such as this. If it can be totally closed at will for a month and busses put on instead, then why not just close it for good. If people can manage for a month then it's not a vital link.
I think that the railway company are just taking the Mick. I am sure this work could be done and keep the line open, but it is just easier to shut it completely. No thought about passengers at all.
How low things have sunk since May 1892.

 

[Gloster]

Closed entirely 6 September-6 October: Esplanade-Pier Head remains closed until early May. (I wouldn’t put money on these dates being kept: the record is not good.) Bus replacement, but this presumably means a change at Esplanade to and from a taxi.

But of course they won’t close it (yet). They’ve got to keep the consultants’ and contractors’ gravy train running until it can go no further. And I do not fancy the alternative of walking along Ryde Pier on a windy and stormy day with a high tide.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Any chance that whatever works they're doing will speed it up a tiny bit so the end-to-end twice-an-hour service can resume at last?

 

[Gloster]

Any chance that whatever works they're doing will speed it up a tiny bit so the end-to-end twice-an-hour service can resume at last?

It looks as though it is mostly bridgework, so probably not. Of course, preparing for a workable half-hourly service would be another opportunity for a lengthy closure…and another…and…

 

[michael8]

I'm really positive about this. Some really good projects will be taking place:

• track and bridge renewals between Ryde St Johns Road and Ryde Pier Head;
• renovation to the footbridge at Brading station;
• signalling work at Ryde;
• bridge repairs in Sandown;
• continued works on Ryde Pier.

I know the bridge works at Brading have taken a long time because I understand the design has now changed to replace the overbridge part.

 

[ikcdab]

Can someone help me with the signaling.
My assumption is that the whole line is controlled from St Johns. At the station there are semaphores. The rest of the railway is colour lights. Why were semaphores retained at st Johns and will they be swept away with this new upgrade?

 

[Gloster]

Can someone help me with the signaling.
My assumption is that the whole line is controlled from St Johns. At the station there are semaphores. The rest of the railway is colour lights. Why were semaphores retained at st Johns and will they be swept away with this new upgrade?

It is semaphores around St Johns Road, including the Distants for the station, although they are just the old Distants which can no longer be pulled (I believe) and have no glass where the green spectacle would be. I presume that it was just cheaper not to do anything, which has been the history of the line for years.

 

[Lucy1501]

Can someone help me with the signaling.
My assumption is that the whole line is controlled from St Johns. At the station there are semaphores. The rest of the railway is colour lights. Why were semaphores retained at st Johns and will they be swept away with this new upgrade?

The line is controlled from Ryde St John's signal box through a mixture of an eNtry eXit (NX) panel and a lever frame. Since SWR are responsible for the day to day operations of Island Line, it seems like a very good idea to keep it on the island itself without making it disappear into a ROC somewhere (not to mention the cabling nightmare that would be...)

The resignalling budget was for the addition of a new passing loop at Brading. It did not cover the replacement of semaphores in the Ryde area, and frankly, there is no need to. Linespeed is low so sighting isn't an issue, and replacing the semaphores could run into the millions (power supplies, new interlockings, replacing mechanical point detection with electrical, lamp proving, etc.). The semaphores will probably be around for decades to come. It's a simple case of if it ain't broke, don't fit it.

It is semaphores around St Johns Road, including the Distants for the station, although they are just the old Distants which can no longer be pulled (I believe) and have no glass where the green spectacle would be. I presume that it was just cheaper not to do anything, which has been the history of the line for years.

The distants at Ryde St Johns Road have never been worked. They've always been fixed distants. The linespeed is too low for it to matter, and the box used to work via key token to Brading and Haven Street on a regular basis, and common practise was to fix distants at token exchange points.

 

[The exile]

It is semaphores around St Johns Road, including the Distants for the station, although they are just the old Distants which can no longer be pulled (I believe) and have no glass where the green spectacle would be. I presume that it was just cheaper not to do anything, which has been the history of the line for years.

Although the number is obviously decreasing as the remaining pockets of semaphore signals are slowly eliminated, I would be interested to know whether there are any mechanically- signalled areas where this does not apply (semaphore close to the box, colour light further away). I doubt there are many….

 

[ikcdab]

Obviously a danger of going off topic here! Id go for Yeovil Pen Mill that is an oasis of semaphores in a desert of colour lights.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

The resignalling budget was for the addition of a new passing loop at Brading. It did not cover the replacement of semaphores in the Ryde area, and frankly, there is no need to. Linespeed is low so sighting isn't an issue, and replacing the semaphores could run into the millions (power supplies, new interlockings, replacing mechanical point detection with electrical, lamp proving, etc.). The semaphores will probably be around for decades to come. It's a simple case of if it ain't broke, don't fit it.

Quite so. Ryde box had two diagram panels last time I visited (long before the recent new loop), the main one covering Pier Head to clear of Smallbrook, and the newer addition (and associated interlocking etc) covering Brading and all points South there of. This was installed at the point in the late 80's when Brading, Sandown and Shanklin boxes were closed. This will have been updated/replaced(?) in relation to the more recent works at Brading I would guess, but can't comment specifically, not having been back to Ryde since the 90s!

On the cost front, just as an example, some few years ago (may be a decade?) there was a provisional plan to replace all the signalling at Salisbury, using new LEDs etc and also (possibly) providing new S&C London end, to provide a better access to the depot, by removing a good few of the timetabled shunts within station limits, all with a view to improving overall performance through the area. I can't comment on what may have actually changed (if anything?) in the intervening years, suffice to say, at the time in question the costing amounted to xx millions, and was deemed to be not worth pursuing. The expected cost outweighed any real time benefits.

 

[Lucy1501]

This will have been updated/replaced(?) in relation to the more recent works at Brading I would guess, but can't comment specifically, not having been back to Ryde since the 90s!

It is a brand new panel. The old signalling panel for the Sandown passing loop wasn't a "proper" signalling system in the slightest. It was train operated points, points indicators, and the box somehow working tokenless block to itself.

The line now has continuous train detection by axle counters, motorised points, and colour light signalling. One of the levers was taken out of use - 28 signal - which is now directly controlled from the panel. I've attached photographs that I took on an official visit.

 

[Chris125]

It did not cover the replacement of semaphores in the Ryde area, and frankly, there is no need to. Linespeed is low so sighting isn't an issue, and replacing the semaphores could run into the millions (power supplies, new interlockings, replacing mechanical point detection with electrical, lamp proving, etc.). The semaphores will probably be around for decades to come. It's a simple case of if it ain't broke, don't fit it.

Are you sure sighting isn't an issue? There's been a speed restriction approaching the signal protecting St Johns since the upgrade, delays Up trains by 30+ seconds.

 

[Sean Emmett]

All Island Line services cancelled. No info at Ryde Pier Head. Bus drivers unaware. Chaos.

 

[Gloster]

All Island Line services cancelled. No info at Ryde Pier Head. Bus drivers unaware. Chaos.

SWR website says minibuses running between Pier Head and Esplanade. Disruption expected until 12.00. There are no Islandline staff at Pier Head and, in my experience, Wightlink staff can’t/won’t help.

 

[Lewisham2221]

All Island Line services cancelled. No info at Ryde Pier Head. Bus drivers unaware. Chaos.

"Urgent repairs"

Incident: Island Line | National Rail

No trains between Ryde Pier Head and Shanklin. Find details of all current incidents on National Rail Enquiries.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

 

[Chris125]

The resignalling budget was for the addition of a new passing loop at Brading. It did not cover the replacement of semaphores in the Ryde area, and frankly, there is no need to. Linespeed is low so sighting isn't an issue, and replacing the semaphores could run into the millions (power supplies, new interlockings, replacing mechanical point detection with electrical, lamp proving, etc.). The semaphores will probably be around for decades to come. It's a simple case of if it ain't broke, don't fit it.

Just seen what looks like groundworks for new Up and Down signals south of St Johns, so I'd be surprised if we don't lose some semaphores in September.

Looks like the old shuttle line along the pier is being restored for the winter closure, presumably for road-rail machines to help with logistics - there's a new access gate next to the hovercraft pad.

 

[Jimini]

As advertised / mentioned above -- as of today we're back to rail replacement buses for the next month.

Lovely weather out there for a walk down the pier...