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The Isle of Wight with the LTM Friends
In the Isle of Wight with the LTM Friends I take a trip organised by the London Transport Museum Friends to the Isle of Wight. The trip is in late February 2022 on a beautiful, sunny, day.
Click on a ‘thumbnail’ to view the photographs for this podcast:
Waterloo to Portsmouth and Southsea:
I have an early start to get to Waterloo where I collect my ticket for the train. We travel down the South West mainline to our first stop at Woking.
After leaving Working we head south from Woking Junction. Our route is through Guildford, Haslemere, Petersfield, under the South Downs and on towards Portsmouth.
We leave the train when we reach Portsmouth and Southsea station. You can get details of South Western Railway services here.
By Hovercraft to Ryde:
The party crosses the road and heads for the ‘Hoverbus’ stop. The bus takes us to the Hover Travel terminus for our rapid journey across the Solent to Ryde.
The ‘flight’ takes about 10 minutes, getting on and off seems to take longer!
On the Island Line:
Unfortunately our flight is late so we miss the train we’d planned to take from Ryde Esplanade station. Ryde Esplanade station is at the landward end of Ryde Pier. Trains travel to Ryde Pierhead where they meet the Wight Link ferries from Portsmouth Harbour.
Our journey to Shanklin shows how well the Island Line Class 484 stock runs. These new trains have been converted by Vivarail from London Underground D Stock trains.
Talking to a driver I hear that, if you didn’t know the stock was a conversion from the Underground, you’d think they were built for the Island Line.
Visit to Havenstreet:
We leave the train at Ryde, St Johns Road, and travel to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway at Havenstreet. After a soup and Ploughman’s lunch we have a guided tour around the site and spend time in the museum.
Many thanks to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway for hosting us on a day when there is no steam running.
We leave Havenstreet for our journey back to Ryde and the Hovercraft on our journey home.
Thank you to:
The London Transport Museum Friends, Mike Kay and the team at ATTC for organising such a great day; they also deserve special thanks for organising such beautiful weather.
London Transport Museum Friends:
The London Transport Museum Friends support the London Transport Museum. They are based in Covent Garden and also operate the ‘Depot’ in Acton.
Find out more about the museum here.
Members of the LTM Friends enjoy free admission to the Museum, discounts, early booking for the brilliant Hidden London tours and more. Interested? Click here to find out more.
Links:
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Music in this podcast:
Steam Railway is licensed from AKM Music.
© The MrT Podcast Studio 2022
