Cowes railway station
Cowes railway station | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Location | Isle of Wight |
| Owned by | Southern Railway (1923 to 1948) Southern Region of British Railways (1948 to 1966) |
| Managed by | Cowes and Newport Railway (1862-1887) Isle of Wight Central Railway (1887 to 1923) |
| Platforms | 3 |
| Key dates | |
| 16 June 1862 | Opened |
| 21 February 1966 | Closed |
Cowes Railway Station took pride in being the "prettiest station on the Garden Isle".[1] Opened in 1862, the very first on the island as part of the inaugural "Cowes and Newport" railway[2] it expanded to three platforms as the railway branched out towards Ryde in the years before the motor bus began to diminish trade.[3] In its time prosperous enough to have a WH Smiths bookstall, its latter years were considerably leaner as more and more people took their holidays abroad.[4] The station has long since been demolished[5] and today the area is a supermarket and municipal car park.[6]
In its later years Cowes station was notable for an unusual operating procedure. The engine would propel its empty carriages backwards up the 1 in 95 gradient towards Mill Hill and then ran forward and round the train using a crossover. The carriages were then allowed to run back down into the station by gravity, controlled by handbrake by the guard, and the locomotive was reattached to haul its train back to Newport and Ryde.[7]
| Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mill Hill | British Rail Southern Region IoW CR : Newport to Cowes line |
Terminus |
See also
References
- ^ Larry Watson, quoted in Once upon a line (Vol 4) Britton,A: Oxford, OPC, 1994 ISBN 0-86093-513-2
- ^ Paye, Peter (1984). Isle of Wight Railways remembered. Oxford: OPC. ISBN 0-86093-212-5.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - ^ Bennett,A Southern Holiday Lines in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight: Cheltenham, Runpast 1994 ISBN 1-870754-31-X
- ^ Steaming Through the Isle Of Wight Hay,P: Midhurst,Middleton, 1988 ISBN 0-906520-56-8
- ^ Gammell C.J "Southern Branch Lines": Oxford, OPC, 1997 ISBN 0-86093-537-X
- ^ Pomeroy, C,A Isle Of Wight Railways, Then and Now: Oxford,Past & Present Publishing, 1993, ISBN 0-947971-62-9
- ^ Kichenside, G. Isle Of Wight Album: Ian Allan, 1965
External links
50°45′44″N 1°17′56″W / 50.76222°N 1.29889°W
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