Old London Underground Trains on the Isle of Wight – Ryde Railway in the 1980s

Ryde & Ryde Pier Head in the 1980s – When London Underground Trains Ran on the Isle of Wight.

Step back to the Isle of Wight in the 1980s and experience one of the most unusual railways anywhere on the British Rail network – the fascinating railway between Ryde Pier Head and Shanklin.

During the 1980s, passengers arriving by ferry at Ryde Pier Head could climb aboard trains that had originally been built for the London Underground. Classes 485 and 486 were formed from former Underground Standard Stock dating from the 1920s and early 1930s, making them some remarkably elderly trains by the time of this film.

We take a nostalgic look at Ryde Pier Head and Ryde Esplanade, where these wonderful old electric trains rattled across the famous pier above the waters of the Solent before disappearing through Ryde Tunnel and continuing towards Ryde St John’s Road, Brading, Sandown and Shanklin.

Towards the end of the decade, another generation of former London Underground trains began arriving on the Island. These 1938-built trains became British Rail Class 483 and would eventually replace the Classes 485 and 486.

For railway enthusiasts, the Isle of Wight in the 1980s really was something special – old Underground trains, British Rail blue and grey, the arrival of Network SouthEast, Ryde Pier and a railway seemingly from another age.

Do you remember travelling on these old trains? What memories do you have of Ryde and the Isle of Wight railway in the 1980s?

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