The Island Line, currently operated by Stagecoach, is an unique British Mainline Railway for a number of reasons.
The Isle of Wight is the only place outside the London area where you can ride daily on genuine London Underground trains.
The 'Tube' trains used were built by Metropolitan-Cammell as far back as 1938 and are by far the oldest stock in regular passenger service.
They would previously have seen use on either the Bakerloo or Northern Line and having been converted from 4 to 3 rail operation are now class 483.
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The Isle of Wight needs to be reached by ferries from the mainland and as a result it is the only 'mainline' railway in Britain
that travels out along a pier to Ryde Pier Head. The Line runs to the resort of Shanklin a distance of nearly 9 miles.
Train No 002 is seen here at Smallbrook Junction on August 30th 2003.
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Photo from James & Martin's Picture Collection Copyright 'Jampics' m.hawkes7@ntlworld.com