THE LARGEST SMALL RAILWAY OR THE SMALLEST LARGE RAILWAY?
The Isle of Wight Steam Railway (IoWSR) celebrates its 50th anniversary on January 24, taking the first preservation era steam arrival at Havenstreet as the starting point. In this half century, the railway has taken ownership of 11 steam locomotives, its line and much adjoining land.
This is a very brief look at the IoWSR’s considerable achievements, providing a glimpse on a decade-by-decade basis of how they started out and achieved so much, winning many awards along the way (see separate panel on page 66).
While January 24 takes the starting point as the day when Adams ‘O2’ 0-4-4T W24 Calbourne hauled the group’s equipment along the closed line from Newport to Havenstreet, it could be argued that the story goes back nearly a decade earlier when 12-year-old Ron Strutt (who became IoWSR member No. 1) started the ball rolling, even if somewhat prematurely!
Origin
Iain Whitlam’s account (see separate panel on page 65) of how it all started describes those far off years when they tried to purchase an ex-LSWR ‘O2’ Class locomotive and stock from British Rail. The writing was well and truly on the closure wall by then and the Smallbrook to Cowes via Havenstreet and Newport section closed on February 21, 1966.
This purchase attempt was unsuccessful, but Iain Whitlam came up with the name Wight Locomotive Society (WLS), the precursor of today’s IoWSR.
W24 had been used in the electrification of the Ryde to Shanklin line in the first three months of 1967 and when the project was completed, was stored at Ryde depot. The remaining carriages and wagons were at Newport station with the rest of the steam fleet awaiting the cutters’ torch, who were wasting no time destroying this historic trainset.
Alongside W24 were a pair of ex-South Eastern & Chatham, plus three ex London Brighton & South Coast vehicles, later joined by some wagons and a crane. This collection formed the basis of the IoWSR traction and rolling stock.
British Rail demanded £900 for W24, which was seemingly out of reach until a chance conversation with David Shepherd resulted in him writing a £500 cheque that came after a another chance conversation, this time with Ian Allan.
Schemes
There were
