RichardLong

I’ve never seen a photo of more than one vehicle on a ferry - and the boats were a lot smaller in those days. Interestingly, from the photos I’ve seen of the recent D Stock delivery it looked as if there would have been plenty of room for at least two vehicles on a single ferry. (But maybe weight is a factor?)

There’s a virtual look at the interior here: https://vivarail.co.uk/360s/SWR-261020_Interior/

In case anyone would like to win a signed copy of ‘Ryde Rail’, there’s currently a competition running on the Railcam website. http://news.railcam.uk/index.php/2020/11/15/all-change-for-island-line-competition-to-win-ryde-rail-by-richard-long/

This is from a Hattons newsletter dated July 2020 - they’re still stating availability from the first quarter of 2021.

Apparently, yes. My understanding is that curvature of the tunnel is a greater restriction than the height clearance.

The ex-Merseyside stock was considered in the early 1980s. In the sixties there would have been no redundant Merseyside or W&C stock available.

Does this help?

Received my first Hornby Terrier - W10 Cowes - yesterday and I have to say I'm very impressed with it. Ran flawlessly straight out of the box and looks absolutely beautiful.

I'm not disagreeing with any of this. I placed my order, for four of them, when they were announced and I have been waiting patiently, while doing plenty of constructive things, for the past five years or more. If they come one day that'll be great and if they never come it won't be the end of the world. However, I was responding to someone else's suggestion that they might be tired of people asking for progress reports. I have not chased-them up myself but I can't help thinking that if they gave an update that might well stop people from doing so (not to mention that it would also be good customer service). I'm not going to cancel my order and I am prepared to wait patiently but it would be nice all the same to know if the model is likely to appear in the next year or so, or whether it remains on the back-burner for the foreseeable future.

To be fair, if they posted an update with an honest assessment of where they're at and how much longer things might take (and whether the vehicles are ever likely to appear at all) people might stop asking for a while.

I can't see one on their website.

From Hornby - mind you, that was on Wednesday afternoon and nothing further yet to say it's actually been despatched.

Had an email yesterday to say the W10 I'd ordered was in stock and would be dispatched shortly

Everything I've read (except for this article) says five units so I'm assuming the Guardian journalist got it wrong.

Nice article about Island Line's tube trains in yesterday's Guardian - mentions my book as well https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/02/isle-of-wights-rattling-rolling-charming-ex-tube-trains-face-end-of-the-line

Nice article about the Island Line's tube stock in yesterday's Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/02/isle-of-wights-rattling-rolling-charming-ex-tube-trains-face-end-of-the-line

I have W9 on order from Rails and W10 on order from Hornby. At this stage I have no idea which one will arrive first...

Since Christmas is almost upon us I just thought I'd mention that 'Ryde Rail' is still available and currently only £14 from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1910809578/ Here's the review from the Railway Magazine:

Might be of interest:

I was talking about the models but in terms of real-life examples, a number of the four-wheelers that ended-up on the Isle of Wight in SR days had started life as six-wheelers on the mainland. Without looking it up I'm afraid I've no idea how long the wheelbase was.

Am I right in thinking the 6-wheelers are designed so that the centre wheels can be pulled-out, thereby creating an instant 4-wheeler?

Probably depends on whether or not they see Hattons 4-wheelers as a threat to sales of their existing product.

It's a shame the SR ones aren't air-braked for IOW usage. That said, I appreciate they aren't aimed solely at IOW usage and vacuum brakes are probably a better choice for a generic SR four-wheeler. It's not something that would stop me buying them and (if I'm honest) I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway.

My interest lies in SR-liveried 4-wheelers I could happily run behind IOW Terriers so If there were SR-liveried Stroudleys available I'd definitely buy some. I'd probably still buy *some* Hattons 4-wheelers as well, but not as many as I would otherwise.

Surely there's a proven market these days for small tank engines in attractive colourful liveries?