Cowes railway station

Cowes railway station was a railway station in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England. It 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 Smith 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]

Cowes railway station
The station in 1963
LocationCowes, Isle of Wight
England
Grid referenceSZ496960
Platforms3
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Pre-groupingCowes and Newport Railway (1862-1887)
Isle of Wight Central Railway (1887 to 1923)
Post-groupingSouthern Railway (1923 to 1948)
Southern Region of British Railways (1948 to 1966)
Key dates
16 June 1862Opened
21 February 1966Closed
A 1914 Railway Clearing House map of lines around The Isle of Wight.
Train from Ryde Pier Head in 1965
The site of the former station in 2018, now occupied by a Marks and Spencer store. The blue wall plaque near the centre of picture reads:
ISLE OF WIGHT STEAM RAILWAY
The site of
Cowes Railway Station
1862-1966
RECORDING THE ISLAND'S RAILWAY HISTORY

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 run 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
  1. Larry Watson, quoted in Once upon a line (Vol 4) Britton,A: Oxford, OPC, 1994 ISBN 0-86093-513-2
  2. Paye, Peter (1984). Isle of Wight Railways remembered. Oxford: OPC. ISBN 0-86093-212-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. Bennett,A Southern Holiday Lines in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight: Cheltenham, Runpast 1994 ISBN 1-870754-31-X
  4. Steaming Through the Isle Of Wight Hay,P: Midhurst,Middleton, 1988 ISBN 0-906520-56-8
  5. Gammell C.J "Southern Branch Lines": Oxford, OPC, 1997 ISBN 0-86093-537-X
  6. Pomeroy, C,A Isle Of Wight Railways, Then and Now: Oxford,Past & Present Publishing, 1993, ISBN 0-947971-62-9
  7. Kichenside, G. Isle Of Wight Album: Ian Allan, 1965


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