484001 at Ryde St JohnsIsland Line liveried 484001 arrives at Ryde St Johns with 5U22 10.15 Shanklin - Ryde St Johns ECS move 13.10.22 As part of my trip to the South Coast in October, I decided to return to the Isle of Wight so on Thursday 13th October, I made my way from my hotel in Eastleigh by train to Portsmouth and Southsea, where due to a slight delay on my train, I'd unfortunately missed the bus to the Hoverport by 2 minutes.   After a very quick taxi ride to the Hoverport at Southsea, I joined the queue for the crossing over to the island.

The journey by Hovercraft over the Solent to Ryde was very swift and comfortable, reaching Ryde in 7 minutes and luckily, Loganair had a 30% off voucher code when booking flight tickets so the journey was a good deal cheaper than normal.   On arrival at Ryde, I made my way to Ryde Esplanade station to catch the Island Line train out to the IOW steam railway. Unfortunately due to a bridge strike, the trains were cancelled for at least an hour, however there was a replacement mini bus running.

I took the mini bus up to Ryde St Johns and visited the Bus Museum.   The bus museum was interesting to see with plenty of different types of bus and plenty of historical displays showing the history of Southern Vectis on the island and is less than 5 minutes walk from Ryde St Johns and is on some of the bus routes.

After I had visited the museum, I walked back to Ryde St Johns and by this time, they were getting ready to resume the train service, with 484001 arriving from the Shankin direction, 002 was stabled in platform 3, 004 and 005 were stabled in the yard and 003 was in the maintenance sheds.   001 was then reversed back out of platform 1, crossed over and entered platform 2 where the service was resumed heading towards Shanklin.   I got off at Smallbrook Junction and crossed over to the IOW Steam Railway.  Smallbrook Junction is a small halt that is only accessible by rail and as such is only open with the steam railway is open.   It only has basic facilities but that does include a waiting room,  so with around 30 minutes to wait on the steam train coming, I sat and read  my Kindle so the time passed quite fast!

41298 at Smallbrook JunctionBritish Railways Black liveried Ivatt 2MT 41298 is seen running round it's train at Smallbrook Junction 13.10.22 All too soon, British Railways Black liveried Ivatt 2MT 41298 arrived with a rake of beautifully restored Southern 4 wheeler compartment stock.  The interior of the carriages was of an excellent quality with the period notices and adverts really adding to the experience as did the very comfy deep sprung seating in the compartment.    It is a lovely scenic journey through the Wight countryside up to Wooton with the train passing through Havenstreet non stop heading up the line.   After a 10 minute turn around at Wooton, the train returned eastwards to Havenstreet, the main hub of the railway. 

Having a bit more time to spend at Havenstreet this time (only had 10 -15 minutes last time), spent some time looking round the shop, the carriage workshops where there were a couple of 4 wheeler coaches in for restoration, then up to Train Story, where I spent an hour wandering round taking photos. Of particular interest to me were the old Ryde Pier trams and Island line liveried 483007, which I had a good look around!   I then went back outside to watch British Railways Green with wasp stripe ends liveried D2059 'Edward' shunting Southern liveried 'O2' class W24 'Calbourne' into a different siding in the yard.  I then went over to the cafe at the other side of the line to have some lunch. At this point the sun came out and despite it being October, it was actually really warm so I sat out in the sun while I waited on the train back to Havenstreet.  

484001 at Ryde PierIsland line liveried 484001 is seen heading along the pier towards Ryde Esplanade with 2D41 15.45 service Ryde Pier Head - Shanklin 13.10.22 Once at Havenstreet, again having travelled back there onboard 41298, I boarded 484001 and headed up to Shanklin, then on the next working back to Ryde Esplanade.   I then walked along the Pier to photo 484001 heading back towards the Esplanade then walked round to the footbridge to photo 484002 arriving with the peak time working from Shanklin, then walking round to the tunnel mouth to catch 002 departing again.

I then decided to catch a bus to see a bit more of the island so I caught the service 3 bus out as far as Ventnor, which was definately worthwhile for the absolutely stunning views of the coastline south of Shanklin! Unfortunately due to timing, I had to get off one bus and catch another straight back but this time I got off at Brading and walked back to the station to photo it and to catch the cross over of the 2 units there.   I caught 001 out to the Pier Head for some final photos there before it closes for refurbishment, then back to Esplanade.   Finally in the darkness, I caught some photos of 002 at Esplande station from the footbridge as I made my way back for the 7pm hovercraft back to Southsea, then the Hoverbus back to Portsmouth Harbour for my return journey back to the hotel in Eastleigh!