Brading railway station is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

serving

Brading The ancient 'Kynges Towne' of Brading is the main town of the civil parish of the same name. The ecclesiastical parish of Brading used to cover about a tenth of the Isle of Wight. The civil parish now includes the town itself and Adgestone, Mor ...

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 Is ...

, England. It is located on the

Island Line Island Line or Island line may refer to: * Island line (MTR), one of the lines of the MTR metro system in Hong Kong * Island Line, Isle of Wight, a railway line on the Isle of Wight, England ** Island Line (brand) Island Line is a brand of the ...

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 ...

Shanklin Shanklin () is a seaside resort and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, located on Sandown Bay. Shanklin is the southernmost of three settlements which occupy the bay, and is close to Lake and Sandown. The sandy beach, its Old Village ...

. Owing to its secluded countryside location, as well as its single operational platform from 1988 to 2021, it is one of the quietest stations on the island.

History

The station was opened in 1864 by the

Isle of Wight Railway The Isle of Wight Railway was a railway company on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom; it operated of railway line between Ryde and Ventnor. It opened the first section of line from Ryde to Sandown in 1864, later extending to Ventnor in 1866. ...

on their initial Ryde-Shanklin line. In 1882 it became a junction station, when the Brading-

Bembridge Bembridge is a village and civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to the implausible claim by some residents that Bembridge ...

branch line opened as part of the Brading Haven reclamation scheme. The branch line closed to passengers in 1953 and completely in 1957. Under Southern Railway ownership, the passing loop was extended southwards from Brading to Sandown in 1927, forming a second section of

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

on the

. Brading was one of the last stations on the British Rail network to retain

gas lighting Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly ...

, with the fittings converted to mercury vapour usage in 1985. As of 2010 some of the fittings were still in use, now using

compact fluorescent A compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), also called compact fluorescent light, energy-saving light and compact fluorescent tube, is a fluorescent lamp designed to replace an incandescent light bulb; some types fit into light fixtures designed for inca ...

bulbs.

Brading station geograph-3269034-by-Ben-Brooksbank

Brading signalbox closed on 28 October 1988, and the passing loop at Brading station was removed, meaning that only one platform remained in use. This meant trains could no longer run at even 30-minute intervals on the line. By 1998 the signal box and branch platforms were very overgrown and the buildings were threatened with demolition. In August 2007 Brading Town Council announced a plan to revamp the exterior of the station buildings and former signal box, and have used grants and volunteers to gradually reopen different parts of the station, with the whole of the station and signal box fully opening to the public in March 2010 for the first time in 40 years. Both the signal box and main station building are

, along with the station building on the east platform, the footbridge, and the station house. The current footbridge was installed in the late 1990s, as part of Railtracks Station Regeneration Programme - the original bridge was no longer safe. The replacement is an identical copy of the original, which was taken to the McAlpine collection in Oxfordshire.

Reinstatement of passing loop

An announcement on 16 September 2019 confirmed that a passing loop would be reinstated at Brading to allow trains to run at regular half-hourly intervals. £1 million to fund building the passing loop was to be from local sources with £300,000 from the

Isle of Wight Council The Isle of Wight Council is a unitary authority covering the Isle of Wight, an island in the south of England. It is currently made up of 39 seats. Since the 2021 election, there has been an 'Alliance' coalition administration of Independents, ...

and the remainder from local businesses through the Solent

Local Enterprise Partnership In England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) are voluntary partnerships between Local government in England, local authorities and businesses, set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to help determine local econom ...

. A second platform would be opened to passenger use, according to the brief given to potential contractors for the work on the upgrade and the

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

to the south of the station would be upgraded to give step-free access to the southbound platform. This work was completed in 2021.

Stationmasters

*John Ballard ca. 1866 - 1867 *George Humby ca. 1868 - 1871 (afterwards station master at Shanklin) *William Wetherick from 1871 (afterwards station master at Ventnor) *George William Corbett ca. 1874 - 1911 *William Whemay 1911 - 1924 *H.J. Attrill ca. 1931 - 1941 (afterwards station master at Sandown)

Facilities

The restored signal box and station buildings are now home to a heritage centre, café, museum and a Tourist Information Point, along with a bike hire shop. No railway staff are present at the station, with tickets available from an automatic machine or from the guard on board the train.

Services

As of May 2022, there are two trains in each direction per hour during the peak and one during the off-peak. Services call at all stations except

Smallbrook Junction Smallbrook Junction railway station is a railway station on the Isle of Wight, England. It is unusual because it has no public access but exists purely to provide a connection between two rail systems. Another similar station is Manulla Junction ...

, which operates only during steam operating dates and times, and only one service an hour calls at Ryde Pier Head. Since the reinstatement of the passing loop, trains to Ryde leave from platform 1 and trains to Shanklin leave from platform 2.

References

External links

{{Isle of Wight Transport Railway stations on the Isle of Wight DfT Category F2 stations Former Isle of Wight Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1864 Island Line railway stations (Isle of Wight) Grade II listed buildings on the Isle of Wight Brading