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With modern road transport it can be difficult
to realise that until the 1950's the railways were the major form of
transport of goods and even the confines of the Isle of Wight a fleet
of several hundreds of wagons were required to carry the traffic on
offer. The majority were used for carrying coal from Medina Wharf to
local merchants at many of the stations but wagons for boats, cattle,
chalk, coke, containers, horses, oil, road vehicles, sand and gravel,
sugar beet, timber and general merchandise have all been required on
the Island over the years. The Isle of Wight Steam Railway collection
reflects this diversity and in addition to ex-Island stock acquired
in the early days has been supplemented with suitable vehicles from
the mainland, either as representative of a type or for specific engineering
requirements. The historical details of a selection of our more interesting
vehicles can be found on this page.
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| 429S
- 5 ton 6-Wheel Crane (Midland Railway built circa 1860) & 429SM -
Match Wagon (London and South Western Railway) |
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The crane was amongst a quantity of stock
purchased by the Isle of Wight Central Railway from the Midland Railway
in 1912. The match wagon is believed to be of London and South Western
Railway origin, its date of construction is unknown.. Both vehicles
were acquired for the VECTRAIL scheme, when this foundered ownership
passed to the Wight Locomotive Society in 1971. That this old crane,
still having grease axelboxes, survived into preservation is remarkable
and it saw much use during the early days of the Steam Railway being
particularly active during the construction of Wootton Station. It has
now been honourably retired from active use.
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| 56046
- London & South Western Railway 10 ton Road Van (built
1898) |
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Although a Goods Brake Van this vehicle is
designated a 'Road Van' as it is fitted with a pair of large hinged
doors each side to enable light goods and parcels traffic to be carried.
A total of fourteen were transferred to the Island between 1925 and
1938. 56046 remained in BR service until December 1966 when it was acquired
by the Wight Locomotive Society. It was moved by road from Ryde St Johns
to Newport in July 1967 to join the remainder of the preserved rolling
stock then in store at the old station. 56046 has seen extensive use
on the Steam Railway and during 1997 was completely rebuilt in the Railways
workshop at Havenstreet.
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| 46924
- London, Brighton & South Coast Railway 10 ton Goods Van, Ex-Cattle
Wagon (built 1922) |
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Six Brighton cattle wagons
were transferred to the Island between 1927 and 1929 to replace withdrawn
Island Company types, but were soon found to be in excess of requirements.
Three were rebuilt in 1935 as Covered Goods by planking over the open
portions of the sides and used principally for Passengers Luggage in
Advance. 46924 was condemned in 1948 and transferred to the S &
T Dept as stores van 1066S. It remained in this role until 1966 when
it was secured for preservation by the British Railways Board along
with three other goods vehicles. After transfer to the mainland it was
held in store with other National Collection items, initially at Fratton
and then at Preston Park, Brighton. 46924 has now returned to the Island
on long term loan from the National Collection and has been restored
to Southern Railway livery.
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| 55710,
55724 - Southern Railway 15 ton Goods Brake Van (both built 1934) |
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The main type of standard Southern Railway
'Pillbox' goods brake van had a tare weight of 25 tons but a small batch
of fifty were built in 1934 with a tare weight of only 15 tons for lightly
laid branches. Two of these 15 ton vans were transferred to the Island
by BR to replace the London and South Western Railway Road Vans following
electrification of the Ryde-Shanklin line, the intention being that
one could be marshalled at each end of any Engineers train. It was found
that in practice only one was necessary and so DS55710 was condemned
in 1984 and purchased for use on the Steam Railway. DS55724 has now
also been acquired and arrived at Havenstreet during July 2000, Restoration
to SR livery followed during 2001.
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| 59038/34/45/49/50
- London, Brighton & South Coast Railway 10 ton Single Bolster Wagons
(built 1907-1911) |
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Twenty examples of this type of wagon were
transferred to the Island between 1928 and 1930, nine being for the
specific use of the Engineers Department at Newport although all of
the survivors were moved into departmental stock in 1960. Their final
official use was to transport new conductor rails from Medina Wharf
to the Ryde-Shanklin and timber for renewal work to Ryde Pier. 59050
was fully restored in the Railways workshop at Havenstreet during the
summer of 2000 and 59034 during 2002.
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| 483700/01/25/33
British Railways 13 ton Dropside High (all built 1949) |
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built by British Railways at Ashford Works to a Southern Railway design.
All were transferred to the Island in the early seventies as replacements
for the ageing fleet of London, Brighton and South Coast Railway dropside
wagons. In their turn these wagons were also made redundant and found
their way to Havenstreet. Two have been repainted into Southern Railway
livery and a third, 483700, has undergone a full restoration sponsored
by the Railways Coal Merchants, Hocknulls of Cowes whose livery it now
carries. |
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| 3713
- London, Brighton & South Coast Railway 10 ton Goods Van |
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saw extensive service on the Isle of Wight and which was not saved for
preservation in 1966 was the LBSCR 10 ton goods van. No Island examples
remain and only two mainland ones are known to exist. The IWSR has purchased
LBSCR number 3713 from the Tenterden Rolling Stock Group, who are based
at the Rother Valley Railway, Robertsbridge, East Sussex; this van spent
many years as a store on Belvedere Marshes, Kent until purchased about
1978 by members of the Kent & East Sussex Railway. During the 1990's it
was moved along with several other items of rolling stock to Robertsbridge
where it has lain since. Although derelict it is capable of restoration
and will fill a gap in the IWSR's collection of historic goods vehicles
to represent a type that was a common sight on the Island from 1927 until
the end of steam; in fact one, number 46951, was used as an adaptor wagon
to test the new electric stock for clearances. |
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| 27730
- London Brighton & South Coast Railway 10 Ton Open Goods |
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10 Ton Open Goods No. 27730 was built by
the Southern Railway in 1928 to a London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
design. A need to replace the motley collection of life expired open
wagons inherited from the old Island railway companies led the Southern
Railway to transfer a batch of nearly new LBSCR 10 Ton Opens across
to the Isle of Wight in the early 1930s, Eventually 475 wagons of this
type, including 27730, made the journey across the Solent. Following
withdrawl from service 27730 found a home on the Bluebell Railway where
it remained until being donated to the IWSR for restoration. The work
to rebuild the wagon was completed in the railway's Heritage Lottery
Funded Carriage & Wagon Workshop in 2007.
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