Back from gone away.

We're back, after a holiday in sunny and charming Italy. Obviously no volunteering done during the last two weeks, but let's see what we can find.

A look over the fence - Island Line.

During our visit to the IOW a few weeks back, we took a trip on the last operating stub of the island's once comprehensive railway system. This is the Island Line, an 8 1/2 mile length on the former eastern side line from Ryde pier head to Ventnor, where it once ended on a ledge on a cliff after emerging from a tunnel!

Sadly the last bit to Ventnor could not be saved back in 1967, and today the operating section terminates two stations earlier, at Shanklin. As so often in the history of the island's railways, it is operated with second hand stock. Today this is class 484 stock, which replaced the ancient 1938 LT tubeline stock in 2021.

Isle of Wight No 32 at Ventnor, c1961 (crop) Neil Herapath

 

Thanks to Neil Herapath of the Friends of Winchcombe Station we can show you a glimpse of what it was like at Ventnor a few years before the line was trunkated, and electrified.

In the background you can see the cliff, which was dug away to provide a level area for the station site.

Loco No.24 Calbourne is preserved on today's steam railway.

Below now is a map of the system as it exists today, electrified with third rail and operated by class 484 units (formerly London Transport D78 stock that ran on the District line, heavily modified by Vivarail.)

You can see that there is a joint station at Smallbrook junction with the IOW steam railway, although the two do not actually join their tracks.

Former London tube line stock is used because Ryde tunnel is too low for normal profile trains. The tunnel was built to allow pier head trains under a road, so is in fact very shallow.

 

As we were staying at Sandown, we were able to join the line at Sandown station. This is a bit of a walk out of town, the reason being the steep slope away from the beach, which turns into a veritable cliff at Shanklin and Ventnor.

 

The station is not manned, and has had its platforms raised to meet the cills of the new stock.

You can see the electric third rail on the tracks, which supplies the trains with 750v current. Class 484 002 took us to Ryde pier head.

We had never seen the pier before, and were surprised at just how extensive it was. It's raison d'etre is the fact that there is a considerable area of shallows out from the coast, before the water is deep enough to accept the steamers from the mainland. The pier is nearly half a mile long, the second longest in the country. The beams in the foreground supported a tramway that ran up and down the pier, but that no longer functions. To the left, off camera, is the pedestrian part of the pier, and at the rear, by the dome, is the railway station and passenger ferry terminal. So it's quite a big structure.

Ryde pier head station, with the unit that brought us there (484 002) waiting in the only platform road. Two other platforms to the right are out of service.

Some people, we heard, complain about the irregularity (or indeed too strict regularity, not waiting for incoming boats) of the trains, but the Island Line is essentially single, with passing loops, and a delay to one train can quickly discombobulate the timetable.

This reminds us of the GWSR, also single track with passing places, where we heard a woman at Broadway trying to prevent the train from leaving (on time) because her husband was parking the car...

On the head of the pier, where the boats moor, there are still vestiges of when this was an important transit point for goods and luggage.

The cast iron plate on the crane says: THE CHATTERIS ENGINEERING Co Ltd, 2637 - Chatteris, Cambs - 1925.

A surprising visitor to Ryde was this hovercraft. It is the last hovercraft service in the country, and crosses the Solent in just 10 minutes. It carries quite a lot of people too, we counted about 80 getting off.

In the background are two of the famous Palmerston forts, built in the 1860s to protect against a landing by the French. They worked; no French troops ever landed here.

Rather than take the train, we decided to walk the length of the pier, which also made a lineside shot of 484005 possible. If we are not mistaken, these trains still carry the whistle they had with LT.

 

 

This is the 'Hoverport' - just a beach really - right by the start of the pier. From a footbridge over the railway you get a great view of both modes of transport, hover and rail.

From the same footbridge you can also catch the trains coming out of Ryde tunnel. You can see how shallow it is - just to get you under the promenade really. It's the low roof of the tunnel that drives the need for lower profile trains - which you find second hand on the London Underground.

This is 484002 just arriving

The passing shot shows it arriving at Ryde Esplanade, where the line turns sharp right to get on to the long pier.

This non railway shot - hope you don't mind - shows how close to the mainland the IOW really is. In the foreground is the pier, and across the Solent you can see the white Spinnaker tower in Portsmouth.

We liked Ryde. Sandown on the other hand was depressing. There were several abandoned hotels. Shanklin, a half hour walk along the shore, immediately felt better. Strange.

Another shot of 484002 arriving at the curved Esplanade station. The service was about half hourly, it felt as if there were two units shuttling up and down.

There's a guard on board that will also sell tickets (e.g. no ticket machine at Smallbrook).

Looking out of the window as we pass the depot at St Johns we can see 484003 and 004 relaxing in the sun. So 002 and 005 were handling the service that day? Where is 001?

Our last picture on the Island Line adventure shows Brading signal box. As far as we know it is not in operation, but what a nice view of it. It would have controlled the junction for the Bembridge branch.

It would be lovely to extend the Island Line the last two stops back into Ventnor. Lack of money is an obvious reason why not. The other, we heard, was a water pipe laid through Ventnor tunnel, although that would surely not be an unsurmountable obstacle?

Here's a map to give you an idea of what is involved.

Class 117 DMU now for sale.

A bit of a surprise but for the cognoscenti, but the operational class 117 DMU has been put up for sale a few days ago.

Here is the official advertisement:

https://www.gwsr-dmu.co.uk/class-117-set-l425-for-sale/

As you will know, all the motive power on the GWSR is privately owned, so this is a decision made by the owners. The 3 car unit does feature in our timetable though, so it will be interesting to see what will replace it.

One option would be the class 122 'Bubble car', which is currently being restored. The exterior is complete, the interior not yet.

Wednesday a week ago with the Usketeers.

The fence build continued, blogging or not, but luckily we had Dave who took a few pictures to record what they did.

The project continued, now revolving around the final post, and where it was to be located. We checked this with those in the know, and it was decided to locate it next to the temporary gate, but without Postcrete, so that it could be moved as desired when the actual proposed sliding gate is put in. This is currently not going to happen as the plc does not have the money for it, unless we find a sponsor?

The ugliness with the Heras fencing has to resume here, as the temporary steel mesh gate is still being used. To give the wobbly thing stability it was attached to the post and rail fence just put in.

We have in store two replica GWR cast iron crests for the new gate, they just need a gate to go on.

This is the same shot, but from the opposite side.

Modern signage, put up recently, shows the way.

The last shot taken Wednesday a week ago shows not only the top end of the new post & rail fence, but also several of the intermediate posts that Paul has started to put on. Although we have had to work with modern softwood, those intermediate posts have lessened the twisting and bending that tends to happen with unseasoned wood, and it all looks quite robust now.

Today with the Usketeers.

A nasty surprise for those that were used to wandering round in sandals, shorts and a T shirt in 37 degrees C - 8 degrees C this morning! On came jumper, orange jacket and a beanie hat. Welcome home....

But you do get to see your mates again, and after a while, we did miss them. So it was great to be back, and get on with the job.

The first thing of note was the scaffolding that has been erected at the north end of the Toddington station building. We were delighted to learn that this is to enable the reconstruction of Toddington's missing third chimney. This was a single chimney, which served the fireplace in the stationmaster's office below. (Sadly, about 12 years ago that slate fireplace was ripped out and the stationmaster's office, and original booking office, were combined to make a double room which is used by today's shop.)

Toddington in 1958 or 1959.       H.C. Casserley, Tony Harden collection.

The car outside, a 1935 Morris 12/4 light saloon, belongs to the photographer, and still exists today.     

The three chimneys served fireplaces (all in slate) for the stationmaster, the booking office, the first class waiting room, and the general waiting room. Only the last named is anything near original today, we have a lot of catching up to do. 

Just for comparison, here is a photograph taken by long standing PWay member John Lees in 1982. The chimney has already gone.

Our best guess is that it was removed by BR after the closure to stopping passenger services. The plinth that remains has a slight lean to it, so the chimney was probably no longer perfectly vertical.

Another interesting view can be taken from the footbridge, early in the morning when the sun is still behind the camera.

During the day two members of our C&M department went up there to discuss the source of appropriate bricks for the reconstruction, and we asked their permission to join them for a chat, and a photograph.

You can see that the remaining flue has been covered by a slab of 2x2.

The Broadway P2 project has the right sort of bricks for this (imperial facing bricks, weathered) and very kindly agreed to lend 150 examples to allow the rebuild to start.

During our 2 week absence in Tuscany and Liguria Neal was very busy, and we can see a second truss well advanced in the 'greenhouse'.

Other signs of his work were these central elements of the trusses, which have been welded up (L) and drilled for rivetting (R). 

Neal also supported John at Broadway with the brick laying, which also continued (see below).

Now on to the Usketeers.

The basic post and rail is now in place, and the current job is the fitting of the intermediate supports, two to a section.

The top end is complete, and looks very neat. Yours truly spent the day giving the completed sections a second coat of creosote. This will protect the wood further, but one of the main aims is to make it look darker, as it was.

At the end of the day we were up to the tree in the foreground, a bit over half way. You can see the difference in colour here, with the upper end darker.

Paul, Dave and John fitted several more intermediate posts, then spent the rest of the time perfecting this corner, which was initially only roughly bolted up.

The ends of the rails were cut at angles to make the fit better.

A minor discovery was made underneath the fence, during painting. This is the bottom of a small GWR coffee cup. From our experience by the goods shed at Broadway, where a lot of broken china was dumped during GWR days, the full text, in red here, would have been: GWR RESTAURANT CAR.

After the end of the day we dropped in at Broadway, to see how far John had got.

The answer was that he had done very well. The fourth of five plinth courses is complete, and so is most of the fifth. So much so that John has made a little start on the plinth header bricks that go on top.

When the Usketeer team has finished the fence in 2 or 3 weeks, they will assist with the internal block laying here, so that John is not completely on his own with all the brick laying.

Neal also gave us a useful site update. During the non running days in November the two empty coal wagons will be brought back, a 3 ton mini digger hired in, and with the company's little dumper we will then remove the remaining surplus spoil, and dig out the foundations for the bottom of the steps, and possibly for a small wall to run along behind them.

The assembly of the canopy on site will then take place a year hence, during the next non-running period.

Here is an updated overview of the brickwork, as it was today. The piles around the building are now all plinth header bricks, ready for the next stage.

After a very successful day and a great feeling of progress all round, our happiness was dashed by...

... the discovery of yet another modern sign, this one affixed directly on to our heritage station building. 

Why do we trash the very thing that we are trying to sell? Our jaw just dropped at the perceived need to spoil the replica building with a warning about E-scooters.

The signage explosion started about a year ago, and is clearly not over yet.