Her Majesty The Queen visited the Isle of Wight Steam Railway on Wednesday, 19th May 2004. On a gloriously sunny day, Her Majesty arrived by road at Wootton Station and boarded the Royal Train for the journey to Havenstreet Station.

On arrival at Havenstreet Her Majesty, accompanied by IW Rly Co. Chairman John Suggett and Chief Executive and General Manager Hugh Boynton, is introduced to the young winners of an Isle of Wight County Press competition to meet The Queen.

The Royal Train was headed by 1876-built London, Brighton and South Coast Railway A1x Class 'Terrier' No.W8 'Freshwater'. The Queen travelled in the First Class compartment of 1887 built London Chatham and Dover Railway carriage No.6369, transferred to the Isle of Wight in 1924 as part of a push-pull set on the Ventnor West branch. Upon withdrawal in 1938, its body was used as a summer house at Newtown, near Yarmouth and sported a thatched roof! The carriage was rescued and painstakingly restored to running order by the volunteer craftsman at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway in the 1990s.

Her Majesty makes her way along the platform past Royal Train engine W8 'Freshwater'.

On arrival at Havenstreet, Her Majesty toured the station which, with its original signal box, waiting room and platform, recreates the past glories of this former Southern Railway rural halt. On reaching the new Carriage and Wagon Workshop Her Majesty, escorted by IW Rly Co. Chairman John Sugget and Chief Executive and General Manager Hugh Boynton, met staff and volunteers who help to maintain the vintage locomotives and carriages. Following a short speech of welcome by project leader and IW Rly Co. Director Brian Bell MBE. Her Majesty unveiled a plaque to commemorate the official opening of the workshop facility, built with the aid of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

Passing through the Station Yard en route to the C&W Workshop.

The Royal Visit and the formal opening of the Carriage and Wagon Workshop, was a major honour for this award-winning organisation. During the visit Her Majesty experienced at first hand the fruits of hundreds of thousands of hours of preservation work to retain and operate a small piece of the Island's once extensive network of steam operated railways.

Her Majesty listens as Project Leader Brian Bell MBE makes the speech of welcome.

The Royal opening of the Carriage and Wagon workshop marks the conclusion of Phase 1 of the IW Steam Railway's imaginative Carriage and Wagon Restoration Project, and signals the beginning of Phase 2, in which the £700,000 project, which has been part funded by a grant of £483,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), will see nine more historic vehicles returned to use over the next ten years. The Railway raised partnership funding over five years to achieve the remainder of the costs.

Her Majesty signs the Visitors Book.

The visit was a significant milestone in the Railway's 33 years of Island railway preservation. The Queen followed in the footsteps of her uncle, the late Lord Mountbatten, who visited the Railway in the 1970's, and her husband HRH The Duke of Edinburgh who visited the Railway in August 2001. On both their visits Lord Mountbatten and Prince Philip took the controls of steam locomotive No. 24 'Calbourne' for a trip up the line to Wootton station and back!

The visit over, Her Majesty makes her way to the Royal Car.

IWSR member Martin Longhurst has published a personal account of the Royal Visit on the paddlesteamers.com website.