''The Tourist'' was a

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

run by the Southern Railway on the railway lines of the Isle of Wight. It was set up in 1933 as an extension of the original ''East and West Through Train'' from the previous year. It was the only named train 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 ...

,Allen & MacLeod p.62 and one of the very few express trains. The original ''East-West'' train started from , then called at , , Newport, and before terminating at . A change of locomotive was needed at Newport as the Newport-Freshwater line's bridges could not take the weight of a locomotive other than the A1 "Terrier" class. When extended as ''The Tourist'' the train started from

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. ...

but a locomotive change was still required. By 1934, it called at before Shanklin, but the stops at Merstone and Carisbrooke were removed. As bridges were also strengthened to allow the

LSWR O2 Class The LSWR O2 class is a class of 0-4-4T steam locomotive designed for the London and South Western Railway by William Adams. Sixty were constructed during the late nineteenth century. They were also the last steam engines to work on the Isle of ...

to haul the train throughout, the train was now much faster, completing the full journey in 1 hour and 17 minutes.Allen & MacLeod p.65 The train was withdrawn for the duration of

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 ...

, but resumed immediately on

VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

.Gordon Nicholson, Isle of Wight Acting Assistant (Southern Railway) in Allen & MacLeod p.75 However, by September 1953 the line from Newport to Yarmouth and Freshwater was closed, spelling the end for ''The Tourist''.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tourist (Train) Named passenger trains of the Southern Railway Named passenger trains of British Rail Rail transport on the Isle of Wight Railway services introduced in 1933