Late Island Line upgrade unlikely to include steam railway link for now
THE Isle of Wight Steam Railway (IOWSR) has had the latest in a decade of false dawns regarding its declared long-term strategic plan to reach Ryde St Johns.
The most recent opportunity to achieve that aim was linked with the 8½-mile electrified Island Line’s major three-month upgrade project that commenced in January which brought the withdrawal of the 1938 tube stock, three sets of which are to be preserved.
One proposal made was that the two lines would be physically connected at Smallbrook Junction for stock transfers and engineering trains associated with the electrified line upgrade. Installation of this connection was initially pencilled in for November but, six months later, Smallbrook Junction is still not a junction and remains just an interchange.
The switch and crossing to form the connection was understood to have been fabricated several months ago but had not, at the time of writing, been delivered to the island. Several of the Class 483 1938 tube stock carriages have left the island for scrapping and much of the trackwork has now been carried out.
However, in a presentation made on April 29 by OSL Rail, which undertook the infrastructure works, it was said that this connection will be delivered to Havenstreet for storage and may be installed when the Ryde Pier renovation project gets underway – likely to be in the next 36 months before the end of Control Period 6, the current Network Rail funding period.
A visit to all Island Line stations on April 17 and 20 revealed that the upgrade project was nowhere near completion in infrastructure terms, with only one of the new Vivarail Class 484 sets delivered so far, at Ryde depot.
It seemed unlikely that the project will be completed before the already-revised opening date of mid-May, six weeks after originally envisaged. When asked if the revised opening date would be met, a spokesman for South Western Railway which operates Island Line, said: “I’m not in a position to add anything to what we’ve already said on the opening, however, we are hoping to be able to give firmer timescales shortly.”
The opening delay could hit the IOWSR’s 50th anniversary gala on June 4-6, as passengers will not be able to travel to Smallbrook on the electric train service but instead must use a dedicated bus link from Ryde Esplanade.
South Western Railway has donated Class 483 unit No.483007 to the IOWSR and it will be unveiled at this event at Havenstreet.