Simulator train travelling through St Lawrence

Train running between Ventnor West, via Newport to Freshwater (sadly just a simulator video)

Can you imagine what getting around the Isle of Wight would be like if huge chunks of the railway line hadn’t been disassembled?

Well, luckily for all of us, we don’t just have to imagine it. Someone has gone to the great trouble of creating the railway as it was back then and another has made a video of it.

Five-minute video
The five-minute video below shows the line running between Ventnor West, via Newport to Freshwater.

It’s perfect to have a little watch of while you’re eating your lunchtime sandwich or a drinking a cup of tea.

The disassembly of IW train line
You can cast you imagination back to the pre-1960s, when the Isle of Wight had 56 miles of track across it, linking north to south, east to west with regular passenger and freight trains running all over the Island.

This was all before the Beeching Report recommended the axing of it, wrought its terrible destruction.

The video
Well, we are where we are now, so just sit back and have a watch of the video.

We spotted the following station and places:

Ventnor West
Godshill
The line joins with the Sandown line
Blackwater
Shide
Newport
Pass through Hunny Hill and Lukely Brook
Carisbrooke
Watchingwell
Yarmouth
Freshwater