Isle of Wight Railways - rare images

[Deeps]

I have a long held fascination with the railways of the IOW and, like many students of the Islands history, I have a large number of books devoted to them. Occasionally I come across a photograph that does not appear in these books and it seems appropriate that such images should be made available for members on this web.

 

At the start of the year there was a forum discussion about coal yard arrangements on the Island and quite by chance Issue 100 of Island Rail News, the magazine of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, had a feature showing the coal yard at Freshwater. I gained permission from the IWSR to reproduce an image from the feature, on the associated thread, and it was well received.

 

Unfortunately, the thread was subsequently removed and the image went with it. Most of the typical photographs of Freshwater omit views of the goods yard area so a valuable resource was lost to our members.

 

It occurs to me that some members may also have rare images in their collections and it would be useful if they could be shown here for the benefit of other IOW railway modellers? It is quite likely that a number of images have already been posted but it would be convenient if they could be grouped together here to save endless trawling of the forums for information.

 

Therefore, I will kick it of with the aforementioned image of Freshwater Coal Yard, taken on 27th August 1948, and featuring LBSCR Saloon 6986. Copyright for the image is with the ‘IWSR B.Heaven collection’ and the image is not to be reproduced elsewhere without further permission:

 

 

 

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Have you looked on Flickr? Plenty of images there that can be used without the dreaded copyright fear.

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Or with the (C) copyright already embedded in the image.

 

 

[Deeps]

Copyright issues are certainly a worry, and I only mentioned it in relation to the picture shown, but the focus of my post is to encourage members to share some of the images they may have squirrelled away that depict scenes not covered in the various publications.

 

It could be views of station buildings taken from the roadside rather than on the platform, which is the norm. It could just be a picture of tools in a bucket leaning against the loco shed wall. This sort of information is useful for those wanting to recreate an accurate model of their chosen location. There may be hundreds of photographs not suitable for general publication because they happen to include too many members of the public or family members!

 

My own specific interest is the Freshwater Branch, and I make no apologies for seeking details of it. A prime example is the FY&N Railway office building, erected next to the entrance to its goods yard at Newport. There is a splendid view of it in the Oakwood Press book for the railway but none of the images or maps available seem to show its exact position.

 

I don't expect a flood of images to appear here but if you have one that is not covered by the numerous books of the Islands railways (I have at least 50) it would be appreciated if it could be shared here.

[Wickham Green too]

Probably too modern for you - and nowhere near the FYN - but I doubt there are lots of photos of 08 3569 : - 

 

Sandown : 21/6/86

[Deeps]

4 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

Probably too modern for you - and nowhere near the FYN - but I doubt there are lots of photos of 08 3569 : - 

 

Sandown : 21/6/86

Thank you. It took me few seconds to work out what it is; looks more like a prop from a James Bond film!

 

Yes, this is the sort of image that is unlikely to appear in a book (someone will now prove me wrong!) and could be useful for anyone modelling that period, although it’s at least 50 years too late for me.