The Freshwater, Yarmouth and Newport Railway was a railway line on the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
, United Kingdom, connecting
Freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
and
Yarmouth to
Newport. It was intended to connect the thinly populated west of the island, and it opened in 1889. At Newport it relied on the existing
Isle of Wight Central Railway
The Isle of Wight Central Railway (IoWCR) was a railway company on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. It was formed in 1887 by the merging of three earlier railways, the Cowes and Newport Railway (opened 1862), the Ryde and Newport Railway (opened ...
's
station, but trains entering it had to shunt back from the junction. The IoWCR worked the line until 1913.
The line was never commercially successful, and a break with the IoWCR in 1913 obliged the FY&NR hastily to build its own
Newport station and acquire locomotives and rolling stock while in receivership.
After the
Southern Railway absorbed the FY&NR in 1923, the SR developed holiday traffic, but it was highly seasonal and the heavy losses resulted in the line's closure in 1953.
Concept and construction
![FY&NR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/FY%26NR.png)
By 1880 the Isle of Wight was well supplied with railways in its eastern and northern areas, connecting
Ryde
Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
with
Newport and
Cowes
Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floa ...
, and Ryde and Newport with
Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake in between. Together ...
and
Ventnor
Ventnor () is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, from Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface Down, and built on steep slopes leading down to the sea. ...
. The more beautiful, but more thinly-populated west was untouched. Newport was the industrial centre on the island, and its geographical position on the
River Medina
The River Medina is the main river of the Isle of Wight, England, rising at St Catherine's Down near Chale, and flowing northwards through the county town Newport, towards the Solent at Cowes. The river is a navigable tidal estuary from Newpor ...
made it a natural connection point. The Cowes and Newport Railway had a junction station there.
In 1868 a Bouldnor, Yarmouth and Freshwater Railway was proposed, but it did not proceed.
[Alan Blackburn and John Mackett, ''Freshwater, Yarmouth and Newport Railway'', Forge Books, Bracknell, second edition 1988, ] In 1872 a Freshwater, Bouldnor and Newport Railway was promoted;
Bouldnor
Bouldnor is a hamlet near Yarmouth on the west coast of the Isle of Wight in southern England. It is the location of Bouldnor Battery, a gun battery emplacement.
Bouldnor is located on the A3054 road, and public transport is provided by buse ...
is a hamlet a mile or so east of Yarmouth; this venture was unsuccessful.
[Michael Robbins, ''The Isle of wight (Newport Junction) Railway'', in the Railway Magazine, October 1959]
A parliamentary bill was submitted for a line connecting
Freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
and Newport, and this received
royal assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
on 26 August 1880,
authorising the ''Freshwater, Yarmouth and Isle of Wight Railway''. Share capital was £100,000.
[E F Carter, ''An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles'', Cassell, London, 1959] The new company was encouraged by support from the London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...
, which operated a ferry service from Lymington
Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...
on the mainland to Yarmouth. There were many wealthy residents in the area to be served, and some also expressed support for a railway which, they believed, would facilitate their journeys to the mainland.[K Westcott Jones, ''The Freshwater, Yarmouth and Isle of Wight Railway'', in the Railway Magazine, May and June 1947]
The line was surveyed between 1883 and 1885, a second Act of 20 August 1883 was passed having authorised a further £42,000 of share capital. Construction started in 1886. The relaxed pace of events indicates a serious failure to generate share subscription.[Carter gives the authorised capital including 33% loans in both cases.][
The line was laid out so as to avoid major engineering works, at the expense of many curves and steep gradients; there was a trestle viaduct in length at Hunny Hill, Newport, and a concrete viaduct over the ]Newtown River
Newtown River is a large natural inland harbour located on the Isle of Wight's northwestern coast, named after the nearby village of Newtown. It is sometimes also referred to as Newtown Creek.
Newtown Harbour is the name given by Natural ...
. The line was constructed with passing loops at Carisbrooke
Carisbrooke is a village on the south western outskirts of Newport, Isle of Wight and is best known as the site of Carisbrooke Castle. It also has a medieval parish church. St Mary's Church (overlooking Carisbrooke High Street with views to the ...
, Ningwood
Ningwood is a village on the Isle of Wight. It is on several lanes about three miles east of Yarmouth in the northwest of the island. According to the Post Office to 2011 Census population of the village was included in the civil parish of Shalf ...
and Yarmouth. The line was opened for goods traffic on 10 September 1888 and for passengers on 20 July 1889.
Opening
An inaugural train was run on 10 August 1888 hauled by an 0-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...
tank engine that had been used by the contractor constructing the line, and named ''Freshwater'' for the occasion. For this demonstration run the locomotive pulled a single mineral wagon fitted with seats. A revenue earning goods train ran from Newport to Freshwater with two wagons of coal on 1 September 1888.[
Passenger operation had to be approved by the ]Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
and Major General Hutchinson visited the line on 2 May 1889 to inspect it. Reservations were expressed about some of the works, and an undertaking was required from the Board as to rectification; after some delay the approval was given, and a ceremonial opening took place on 11 July 1889, followed by a full public operation from 20 July 1889.[
]
The line was worked by the Isle of Wight Central Railway
The Isle of Wight Central Railway (IoWCR) was a railway company on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. It was formed in 1887 by the merging of three earlier railways, the Cowes and Newport Railway (opened 1862), the Ryde and Newport Railway (opened ...
for 53.625% of gross receipts, but the FY&NR remained responsible for maintenance of the infrastructure. The junction with the Cowes and Newport line was on the Cowes side of Newport station, and faced Cowes, so that the FY&NR trains running to Newport had to run round at the point of junction and run back to the station. (The Board had been required to give a formal undertaking that propelling without running round would not be carried out.[ After many years a dispensation was procured from the ]Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
permitting propelling for the short distance between the junction and the station.)
End of the working agreement
From the outset the working agreement between the FY&NR and the IoWCR was contentious, due to the supposed inadequacy of structures and earthworks, for which the IoWCR was unwilling to accept the liability. The IoWCR may have suggested that a third-party contractor take that responsibility, for the FY&NR wrote to the IoWCR stating that "the principle of our line being maintained by any other person than the working company is not feasible. We find that there is no such case in the whole railway systems of Great Britain."[Letter from FY&NR to IoWCR prior to July 1889, partly quoted in Blackburn, page 11]
Whether the FY&NR did the maintenance by direct labour or by contract, it was inadequate from the outset. There were also several disputes about charges for the use of stations. A further review of the working agreement in 1896 resulted in a 14-year arrangement, by which the IoWCR got 45% of traffic receipts.[
In 1910 that agreement expired, and the IoWCR was once more concerned that renewal of the working agreement committed them to steeply rising expenditure due to life expiry of much of the original FY&NR equipment, and discussions took place over the future working charge. In 1911 an 18-month agreement was settled, in which the IoWCR took 75% of receipts, their obligation including most infrastructure maintenance. The FY&NR agreed but was unhappy, and sought advice from ]Sam Fay
Sir Sam Fay TD (30 December 1856 – 30 May 1953), born in Hamble-le-Rice, Hampshire, England, was a career railwayman who joined the London and South Western Railway as a clerk in 1872 and rose to become the last General Manager of the Great Ce ...
of the Great Central Railway
The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...
, who had a residence on the island. Fay recommended that the FY&NR should work its own line, and the FY&NR decided to proceed on that basis, procuring some passenger coaches from the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway
The Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway (MSJ&AR) was a suburban railway which operated an route between Altrincham in Cheshire and Manchester London Road railway station (now Piccadilly) in Manchester.
The MSJ&AR line operat ...
, then starting electric passenger services with new stock. The FY&NR gave notice that they would work their line from 1 July 1913, and that they would not use the IoWCR station at Newport (to avoid the toll for its use).
The FY&NR provided its own station, a short distance before the point of junction at Newport. Goods sidings too had to be provided there. White refers to the station as being "a small corrugated iron one" but he meant the booking office; the platform and the accommodation generally was remarkably extensive.[H P White, ''A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: volume 2: Southern England'', Phoenix House Limited, London, 1961] The IoWCR had acquired additional passenger coaches under the 1911 agreement, and the FY&NR were obliged under that agreement to buy them on. They had to issue debenture stock to pay for them.[
Blackburn and Mackett state:
]Some accounts of the events leading to the break between the two companies imply that it was the IWCR who took the initiative by banning the Freshwater Company's trains from Newport station, and even that they forced the FYN to run its own services by refusing to work the line. No evidence could be found to support these views. On the contrary it appears that the FYN were entirely responsible for the break. Naturally there was some opposition from the Central, and Harry Willmott, who owned some FYN stock, tried to organise some of the other shareholders to veto the proposal to build another station at Newport, but was unable to get sufficient votes. It also appears that after the break the IWCR did all they could to facilitate the exchange of passengers, luggage and parcels between the two stations.[Blackburn and Mackett, page 16]
The engine power the FY&NR procured now consisted of two locomotives only, indicating the limited volume of traffic it was running. They were second-hand 0-6-0 tank engines, dating from 1902 and 1876. The 1902 locomotive, no. 1, was the youngest to work on the Island and one of only two built in the twentieth century.[Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith, ''Branch Lines to Newport'', Middleton Press, Midhurst, 1985, ] No. 2 was only fitted with the vacuum brake and consequently could only work one set of coaches, which were similarly fitted. No 1 was dual fitted.[ In addition an open-sided Drewry petrol railcar seating 12 passengers was obtained, working from 1 July 1913.][C F Dendy Marshall, revised by R W Kidner, ''History of the Southern Railway'', Ian Allan Limited, Shepperton, 1963 revised edition 1982, ]
These expenditures pushed the FY&NR into insolvency almost immediately, and Fay was appointed by the receivers to manage the line, and in fact he assisted in getting hold of the rolling stock.[ Allen and MacLeod suggest that Fay's interest was in the possible ]Solent
The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay to ...
tunnel.[P C Allen and A B MacLeod, ''Rails in the Isle of Wight'', second edition, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1986, ] In fact from this time the FY&NR was operated practically as a remote branch of the Great Central Railway.[
The arrangement of the station, some considerable walking distance from the IoWCR station, was very inconvenient to through passengers changing trains at Newport. This resulted in complaints to the Railway and Canal Commissioners, who put pressure on the companies to ameliorate the situation, and from 1914 most FY&NR passenger trains resumed using the IoWCR station, although running beyond that point remained discontinued.
]
A Solent tunnel
In 1900 a proposal was put forward to construct a tunnel under the Solent
The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay to ...
connecting the FY&NR with the mainland network at Lymington
Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...
. The idea got as far as an authorising Act of Parliament of 1901, incorporating the South Western & Isle of Wight Junction Railway. Nothing came of the scheme, but it was revived in 1913 as a means of reviving the finances of the FY&NR. However raising the capital for the works was problematical, and the onset of World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
put paid to the idea.[
It was suggested again after 1923, but at the time the Southern Railway had invested heavily in piers and ferryboats, and were opposed to the idea; the local authorities too considered it unacceptably expensive.][ In fact in 1932 Dendy Marshall wrote to ''The Engineer'' magazine, proposing a tunnel with a revival of the atmospheric system. In a smooth-walled tunnel; there would be trains of "one carriage fitted with about half a dozen transverse fins of ]india-rubber
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...
nearly fitting the tunnel". Powerful fans would propel the vehicle at up to .[Letter from Dendy Marshall partly quoted in Blackburn, page 13]
Grouping of the railways
After World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
the Government considered the future of the railways of Great Britain, and passed the Railways Act 1921
The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...
. In a process referred to as the "grouping", this set up four new railway companies which were to take over nearly all the existing companies. The Southern Railway absorbed all lines on the Isle of Wight from 1 January 1923, except for the FY&NR. The compensation to shareholders was to be negotiated, and although the FY&NR was in receivership, it argued that its prospects were good because of the hoped-for Lymington tunnel connection, and it attempted to obtain a better financial settlement. The negotiation dragged on and it was not until 1 August 1923 that the transfer took place. During the hiatus period, the FY&NR trains had to revert to using the separate station at Newport, with renewed inconvenience to passengers.[
The Southern Railway brought new vigour to the railways of the island, and a new Tourist Express was laid on in the summer months, with limited stops, linking Freshwater with ]Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake in between. Together ...
. This started as the ''East and West Through Train'', a name shown on carriage roofboards in 1932, and it proved a considerable success. In the following year further trains of this type were run, and the previous year's East and West Through Train was extended from Sandown to Ventnor, and named ''The Tourist'' in the public timetable. A through fast train from Ryde
Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
to Freshwater was also introduced, the first such for twenty years.[ The crossing loop at Ningwood was lengthened to in 1936 to accommodate these services, while the loops at Carisbrooke and Yarmouth were removed.][
In the summer of 1939 there were thirteen trains in each direction with extra trains on Saturdays, and eight each way on Sundays. The journey time was about 37 minutes.][
]
The final years
The traffic on the line had always been highly seasonal, and the thin population in its area meant that the financial situation was precarious. Road transport of passengers and goods became increasingly dominant from the 1930s and further accelerated after World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and the losses on the line were unsustainable in the face of the low volume of custom. The line closed on 21 September 1953. The locomotive used on the final journey was ''Alverstone'', built in 1891 and brought to the Island in 1926.
Stations
The line opened on 20 July 1889 and closed on 21 September 1953.
* Freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
;
* Yarmouth;
* Ningwood
Ningwood is a village on the Isle of Wight. It is on several lanes about three miles east of Yarmouth in the northwest of the island. According to the Post Office to 2011 Census population of the village was included in the civil parish of Shalf ...
;
* Calbourne & Shalfleet;
* Watchingwell; opened 20 July 1889 as a private station for Sir John Stephen Barrington Simeon; publicly advertised in 1923 and 1924;
* Carisbrooke
Carisbrooke is a village on the south western outskirts of Newport, Isle of Wight and is best known as the site of Carisbrooke Castle. It also has a medieval parish church. St Mary's Church (overlooking Carisbrooke High Street with views to the ...
;
* Newport (FY&NR station); opened 14 July 1913; closed 1 August 1923; intermittent use from 1914;
* Newport; Isle of Wight Central Railway (former Cowes and Newport Railway) station.[M E Quick, ''Railway Passenger Stations in England Scotland and Wales—A Chronology'', The Railway and Canal Historical Society, 2002]
Gradients
The first section of the line from Freshwater followed easy gradients, but then a climb of 1 in 64 followed for a mile, and that was the ruling gradient for of largely switchback (sawtooth) profile to beyond Watchingwell. After the summit a descent of the same gradient followed for into Newport.[
]
Locomotives
Rolling stock
Until June 1913, the FYNR was worked by the IWCR. At the termination of the agreement, the IWCR sold five passenger coaches and 31 goods vehicles to the FYNR, and these all lasted to grouping in 1923.
The ex-IWCR passenger vehicles were insufficient, so the FYNR bought seven more secondhand from the Great Central Railway
The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...
, and a four-wheeled Drewry petrol railcar was also bought in 1913. At the grouping, the FYNR had 12 passenger coaches and one railcar. These comprised five third-class (allotted SR numbers 2457–61), four composites (SR nos. 6358–61), two brake thirds (SR 4104–5), one brake composite (6990) and one railcar (2462).
The goods vehicles bought from the IWCR comprised 26 open goods wagons (allotted SR numbers 28227–52), four covered goods wagons (SR nos. 47032–5) and one brake van (SR 56038). The open goods wagons were also used for coal, and had carrying capacities of . Four or five of these were converted into cattle wagons by the FYNR, and soon after the grouping the SR reconverted them back to open wagons, replacing them with proper cattle wagons from the mainland.
Current situation
Former station buildings:
* Freshwater is now demolished and occupied by a garden centre
A garden centre (Commonwealth English spelling; U.S. nursery or garden center) is a retail operation that sells plants and related products for the domestic garden as its primary business.
It is a development from the concept of the retail plant n ...
* Yarmouth is now a café
* Ningwood and Watchingwell are private houses
* Calbourne and Carisbrooke have been demolished.
Former locomotives
* No. 2 "Freshwater" is now preserved on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway
The Isle of Wight Steam Railway is a heritage railway on the Isle of Wight. The railway passes through of countryside from to station, passing through the small village of Havenstreet, where the line has a station, headquarters and a depo ...
as W8 "Freshwater".
See also
*Railways on the Isle of Wight
There once existed a network of railway lines on the Isle of Wight, which operated both as a self-contained railway network, and as links to ferry services between the island and the South coast of Great Britain. The routes were opened by sever ...
Notes
References
External links
Railscot
{{Authority control
Pre-grouping British railway companies
Rail transport on the Isle of Wight
Railway companies established in 1880
Railway lines opened in 1888
Railway companies disestablished in 1923
Southern Railway (UK) constituents
1880 establishments in England
British companies established in 1880
1923 disestablishments in England
British companies disestablished in 1923