Ryde Pier Head railway station is one of three stations in the town of

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 24,096 according to the 2021 Census. Its growth as a seaside resort came after the villages of Upper Ryde and ...

on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

. Situated at the end of the town's pier, it is adjacent to the terminal for the

Wightlink Wightlink is a ferry company operating routes across The Solent between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the south of England. It operates Roll-on/roll-off, car ferries between Lymington and Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, Yarmouth, and Portsmouth a ...

fast

catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

service connecting the island with

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

on the English mainland. Passengers can use this to connect with the rest of the

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, a group representing passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by ...

network at Portsmouth Harbour station, which is adjacent to the Portsmouth terminal. Through rail tickets for travel via Pier Head station are available to and from other stations on the Isle of Wight. These include travel on the catamaran service to or from Portsmouth as appropriate. Trains run down the eastern coast of the

Shanklin Shanklin () is a seaside resort town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, located on Sandown Bay. Shanklin is the southernmost of three settlements which occupy the bay, and is close to Lake, Isle of Wight, ...

(the Island Line), the last remnant of a network of railways on the island. Because of the restricted

loading gauge A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and k ...

, particularly through the tunnel under Ryde, services are operated by former London Underground stock. The ticket office at the station is run by Wightlink and not Island Line.

History

In 1880 the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exete ...

(LSWR) and

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR (known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton)) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at ...

(LBSCR) agreed to open a jointly-owned line north from Ryde St John's Road. Under the direction of LBSCR Chief Engineer Frederick Banister, the construction of the extension included a new tunnel and a third

Ryde Pier Ryde Pier is an early 19th century pier serving the town of Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England. It is the world's oldest seaside pleasure pier. Ryde Pier Head railway station is at the sea end of the pier, and Ryde E ...

to enable the line to reach a new station at Ryde Pier Head, which provided a connection with the companies' ferry services. When the LBSC/LSWR joint line opened, it was as a

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

section from Ryde St John's Road station through to Ryde Pier Head. There was a scissors crossover situated on Ryde Pier to allow trains to access all platforms. Sets of crossovers were installed at St John's Road to enable trains to change from the joint line's left-hand running to the single-track sections on the

Isle of Wight Central Railway The Isle of Wight Central Railway (IoWCR) was a railway company on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. It was formed in 1887 by the merging of three earlier railways, the Cowes and Newport Railway (opened 1862), the Ryde and Newport Railway (ope ...

's Newport line and the Isle of Wight Railway's Shanklin line (now known as the Island Line). The station originally consisted of three platforms in the form of a pair of islands; a fourth track was added later, opening in 1933. The station was rebuilt on electrification of the remaining line in 1967, and the new layout consisted of two tracks with three platform faces. One of these tracks is now out of use, so only one platform currently operates. This is the track which runs along the western side of the pier; a double track section commences immediately to the south of

Ryde Esplanade railway station Ryde Esplanade railway station serves the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight, and forms part of the Ryde Transport Interchange. Located on the sea front, it is the most convenient station for the majority of the town. Ryde Esplanade is also the ...

. As of May 2019, the condition of some of the station buildings led to criticism that it was not a sufficiently welcoming sight for visitors to the island. There were also significant concerns that the age and condition of the Victorian railway pier would mean the line between the Esplanade and Pier Head might have to be abandoned, as it was not seen as economical to renew the pier based on passenger numbers. However, noting that if the pier railway were to close the rest of the Island Line would serve little purpose and therefore also likely close,

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

have agreed to fund £5m worth of renewal work on the pier, as the government makes a £26m investment in new trains and track for the route. From 2021 onwards, the Pier Head (and the rest of the Island Line) is served by new

Vivarail D-Train The Vivarail D-Train is a family of multiple units Remanufacturing, remanufactured by Vivarail for the British rail network. They are converted from London Underground D78 Stock, originally manufactured between 1978 and 1981 by Metro-Cammell. Tw ...

Class 484 EMUs, converted from

London Underground D78 Stock The London Underground D78 Stock, commonly referred to as D Stock, was a type of sub-surface rolling stock which operated on the District line of the London Underground, except on the Wimbledon station, Wimbledon to Edgware Road tube station (C ...

Stationmasters

*John Henry Astridge 1880 - 1884 (also station master of Ryde Esplanade) *James Langworthy 1884 - 1894 (also station master of Ryde Esplanade) *William Percy Froud 1895 - 1905 (afterwards station master at Portsmouth Town and Portsmouth Harbour) *T.J.D. Russell 1905 - 1906 *George Henry French 1906 - 1930 (also station master at Ryde Esplanade) *Malcolm J. Bucket 1930 - 1931 (formerly station master at Fratton, also station master at Ryde Esplanade and Ryde St John's) *H.E. Millichap ca. 1935 - 1941 (also station master at Ryde Esplanade and Ryde St John's) *T.F. Thompson 1941 - 1949 *T. Rowley Cliff ca. 1951

Services

As of May 2022, trains run to

hourly between 05:45 and 21:49, though on Monday to Friday, there are two two-hour gaps in service. A late evening train additionally calls at stations to St John's Road. Weekend services are hourly all day.

passenger ferry services run every hour for most of the day, but are reduced to 2 hourly intervals in the late morning / early afternoons, with the last sailing from Ryde Pier Head at 20:52 daily.

Gallery

File:Ryde Pier IOW with Steam train and electric tramcar geograph-2658644-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg, Steam train and electric tramcar in 1965 File:PRPHDome77.JPG, Familiar Dome File:PRECrpk84.JPG, Car park behind File:PDino trn76.JPG, Dinosaur train at Ryde Pier Head File:2007 1002 IoW Train.JPG, Dinosaur train at Ryde Pier Head File:PLtwRES81.JPG, Looking towards Esplanade station File:PRPHMS74.JPG, Eastern view File:Interior of Ryde Pier Head station, September 2007.jpg, Foyer File:Train approaching Ryde Pier Head station in 1969.jpg, Class 485 Unit 042 in 1969 File:Ryde Pier Head in June 2021.jpg, Ryde Pier Head in June 2021 the raised part is for the new trains. The station will have level boarding.

References

External links

{{coord, 50.739, N, 1.160, W, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Railway stations on the Isle of Wight DfT Category E stations Former Portsmouth and Ryde Joint Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1880 Island Line railway stations (Isle of Wight) Railway stations serving harbours and ports in the United Kingdom Ryde 1880 establishments in England