TALKS BEGIN FOR ISLE OF WIGHT STEAM INTO RYDE

Early discussions regarding steam operation into Ryde are looking positive, the Isle of Wight Steam Railway reports. The new holder of the South West Trains franchise - a joint consortium of First Group and Hong Kong firm MTR - is due to take over from Stagecoach on August 20, operating the 8½-mile Island Line from Ryde to Shanklin for a seven-year period. Initial meetings are being held with local stakeholders, including Isle of Wight Council, together with the preserved line - which has ambitions to extend steam services to Ryde over one line of the double-track formation from Smallbrook Junction, should Island Line’s passing loop be moved to Brading to allow a halfhourly service. IoWSR General Manager Peter Vail said: “It’s still very early days, but it’s looking hopeful and we’re confident that we can have a good relationship.” Conservative Parliamentary candidate Bob Seely has welcomed the First/MTR proposals, and has called for closed parts of the island’s former 55-mile network to be reopened, saying: “We are seeing branch lines being reopened elsewhere in the country. We must be ambitious in looking to do the same here on the island.”