Isle of Wight Railway Ken West

[roythebus]

Sad news from Chris Taggart of the Isle of Wight railway who advises me that his father-in-law Ken West passed away in his sleep yesterday evening.

 

Ken was one of the last of the steam age drivers on the Island. He drove the last train to Ventnor; the last train to Cowes; the first steam train this century...a real character. He's been ill for quite a while with cancer. Last time I met him was at the steam show, in the beer tent as usual chatting over a pint with a couple of ex Nine Elms men. He was in his early 80's, but was still able to get out on the track for a turn on his beloved Calbourne.

 

Rest in peace.

[Jon Fitness]

Sad news indeed. I may be wrong but as I understood it, he was the last chap alive who had worked on every part of the Island's former railway system. I met him once and he was a real gentleman.

Jon F.

[roythebus]

You may well be right there in Ken's workings. ISTR he joined the SR just after the war and worked at Newport and Ryde sheds, so yes, he would have worked every part of the island system. There was a guard who had a similar background, but he sadly passed away a couple of years ago.

 

His daughter Liz is a guard; her husband Chris is a fireman amongst other things, and a couple of years ago we had Ken as driver, Liz as guard and Chris as fireman on the same train, with a total railway service of about 150 years!! Ken's wife Margaret still helps in the Havenstreet catering department.

[Trevellan]

I somehow missed this thread in February and only discovered the sad news today when I received the latest copy of Island Rail News. Given the recent passing of some celebrities, mentioning a railwayman might seem unimportant, but to many of us Ken represented a piece of railway history. According to the obituary in IRN, Ken joined the railway in July 1944 and retired in 1993. I first met him in March 1986, when he offered me a cab ride after I had photographed his train at Ryde Pier Head just a few minutes after stepping off the ferry. It was a great start to my visit and I now know that this generosity was afforded to many other enthusiasts over the years. That day I travelled with him from Pier Head to Shanklin, then back to Sandown. Later the same day I got another trip from Sandown to St John's Road, where he finished his duty. The photograph below was taken during this visit.

 

 

I saw him briefly on a few occasions after that, but it was not until June 2003 that I caught up with him properly on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. On that occasion he was the duty driver on Royal Engineer and we were able to have a brief chat while he topped up the oil in the Westinghouse pump at Havenstreet. I was also able to grab this picture of us, even though he joked "you have to pick a day when I ain't got me teeth in!"

 

 

RIP Ken.