Isle of Wight Steam Railway

Visited : Oct '01, Oct '04

Their Website :- Isle of Wight Steam Railway

Summary

Pleasant, friendly small railway with great little engines and carriages

Sites 

Havenstreet Station

Havenstreet

• Railway's HQ
• Small, ground level station building.
• Centre platform
• Large car park
• Museum
• Shop
• Children's Playground
• Granny Winters Pantry
• Fire Engine
• Camp Site

Wootton

• Eastern terminus
• Small ticket office
• Runaround loop
• Car Park
• On our second visit we parked here

Ashey

• Tiny halt with grass platforms
• Request stop only
• No road access

Smallbrook Junction

• Western terminus
• Modern small exchange station with the Island Line.
• Can only reach by train - no road or foot access.
• Has runaround loop for steam engine, but doesn't actually seem to connect to the main line.
• On our second visit we took an Island Line "Tube Train"

Ride

5½ miles taking 28 minutes each way.

Mainly through woodland, not that stunning.

Calbourne (W24)

Newport (W11) & Freshwater (W8)

Engines

Saw three beautiful little tank engines, all over a hundred years old.  Calbourne pulled us.  They also have two smaller engines called terriers - Newport and Freshwater.

Apparently they have three further tank engines and a three diesels.

Rolling Stock

Rode in four beautifully restored southern region carriages of differing periods.

Engine Shed

Not allowed in.

Museum

Small but tidy museum next to shop at Havenstreet.  You can press buttons to ring various station bells !

Shop

Good sized shop at Havenstreet.

Small number second hand books in an old carriage.

Catering

Granny Winters Pantry : Nice with good range of food. Plenty of seating both inside and out.  Mummy had a hot chocolate and could watch me in the playground.

Toilets

Small but functional.

Guide Book

None, but they do a nice nearly hour long video which Daddy bought.

Other Facilities

Playground at Havenstreet

Had a couple of vintage cars on display at Haven Street.  

Can get combined ticket with the Island Line, which is interesting in itself as it runs old London Underground tube trains.

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This page was last updated on March 31, 2005