Exhibition: ‘Once upon a time there were trains’

Ventnor once had two railway stations. And for something like 100 years, trains were the primary means by which visitors arrived in the town. The main line came in via a long tunnel under St. Boniface Down. It linked the resort with Ryde and the towns along the east side of the Island. The second line came from Newport and Merstone, terminating at a station behind Steephill Castle. The photograph here is of a Beyer Peacock 2-4-0 tank loco on the turntable at Ventnor’s main station circa 1910.