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hello
i think i picked the wrong day to come
only because
it's pouring down with rain i'm on the
isle of wight behind me
is the last running because the others
are in a
pretty bad state of repair as we'll
discuss to ride the 1938 stock
x tube trains from here to shanklin on
the olive white the iron line for one
last time
before they go at the end of this year
this is your last chance to ride the
tube trains
on the olive light
but before we take our journey today
let's have a little history
the isle of wight once had a much more
extensive network of railways with the
first line of the island being opened
between cows and newport in 1862
that was followed by a separate company
opening up their railway in 1864 between
ryden shanklin
which was extended to ventna in 1866.
it was in 1875 that the connection
between ride in newport was made
and then by 1879 the line between
newport and sand down was in place
in 1882 a short spur off to bembridge
was also built to be followed by a new
major railway in 1889
heading west out of newport that went to
yarmouth and freshwater
and then the last rally on the island to
be built was an extension south of
newport that went to a new
separate station at vetner that was
completed by 1900
and although some of these have fallen
by the wayside by the 1950s
it was of course with the beaching cuts
in the 1960s that the axe really fell
leaving just the ride to shank then line
even though that was also recommended
for closure
a small part of the ride to newport line
still also exists today
as the isle of wight steam railway
uh vicky and i of course didn't come
here in all the stations 2017.
also not with me that day remember it
was my friend chris
hello you live in portsmouth on the
mainland so it's literally just over do
you come on the hovercraft
as well indeed as we call it and we'll
chat to you about your memories of the
isle of wight and
riding these trains and stuff there's
only one unit running seven is in the
depot being patched up
eight is running six is dead apparently
and the new ones what clothing were
there are the new ones four
four fours you've seen the photo haven't
you yeah
one's here on the island somewhere it is
all right
if you want to know more about the old
district line trains that have been
converted to run on the island line
and there's a whole other video you can
watch here where i spent the day
vibra out the company working on them
and chatting to them about
how their battery-operated trains work
the link
is in the description below
somebody told me is this true that the
maquette is actually x
metropolitan line is it like a really
old net line
the little flat down seats are still
here with the old
network southeast livery remember that
so i'm just gonna
it's gonna perch
so chris is out behind the line today my
friend martin who
has been on my videos before he's uh i
think he's gonna get on upgrading
i've just seen on twitter got word that
matt streeton who is the voice of
gtr trains is also here
riding the line out with his friends
just for one last batch we're gonna have
trouble with the
look at the raindrops on the lens i'm so
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sorry
so we've picked a real day for it
because it is raining although actually
kind of rains and then it kind of stops
and then it rains a little bit more and
then it stops again a minute ago it was
chucking it down
but we're gonna have some fun because
i'll put a link in the description
there is something called railcam live
uh they
uh it's my friend simon they stick up
rao cams we can watch live user trains
all over the place uh and he stuck one
on the roof of the royal esplanade hotel
so that we can all watch it's raining
again we can all watch
the last 38 stocks rumbled by
and so i've told people that i'm about
to go on and wave
so uh i can't hold my camera and my
phone
so we'll try and do it okay okay so
we're walking out now
chris and martin are here where do you
think it is do you think it's up there
so if we just
so this is the moment i'll cut this with
the footage so simon give me the footage
you cut that footage with this footage
it'll be awesome and we'll just wave i
hope you're zooming in right now simon
keep your distance please
triple wave that's it it's really
raining can we go and get the train
please
that's it bye
saint john's road still raining over
there
is that six or seven in the depot i'm
gonna try and come back
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and get a shot of the demo from the
street later
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it's so bumpy i love it the noise of the
noise of the engines the engines of
course what was revolutionary about
these trains
uh on the underground in 1938 that they
were the first trains
to have all the engines all the gubbins
underneath the floor before that
the 1920s standard stock like half the
front carriage was taken up
by the engines and the isle of wight
actually had those trains people just
think it was these chip trains but
actually this is the second lot of tube
trains
back in the 1960s when they got rid of
steam it was the old 1920s
underground standard stock that came
across the island
and ran here for many years steam trains
had run on the island from the start in
1886 right up until the end of 1966.
here a service is shown in the last week
of their operations
at which point 1920s london underground
standard stock
took over the working of the line and
ran for almost 70 years
until the early 1990s which is when the
current 1938 tube trains which are now
being replaced
were brought over and started their life
on the island
what's your favorite memory or the thing
that you'll miss about the 38s chris
it's it's their absolutely appalling
kind of ride it's it's lovely and bouncy
and you know it's a bit like coming up
the northern line from morden to
uh getting to just lots of bounce these
are the first trains
that i can remember riding on the
underground as a child
um and i i remember coming on these just
before they were phased out
i've made it to braiding uh my friend
martin is here but i've also met
somebody else called james james you're
a local
i am so you live on the island so you've
ridden these trains for how many years
well i've been here 15 years now but
i've been commuting quite a lot recently
um yeah pretty much every day if i have
to go up the pier are you gonna be sad
about the old trains are you excited
about the new ones
a bit of both really i really love the
38 stock
uh but it's quite interesting to see
different underground trains here
and can you tell us because i understand
they're going to
move the footbridge and reinstate the
passing loop here at braiding is that
correct
yes so i'm for my understanding we're
going to get the new passing loop back
here so the other platform will come
back into use
i understand that the foot crossing at
the south of the station
will now be at the north of the station
instead
taking shelter under the footbridge
you're saying it's
so old now they only let one person on
it at a time because occasionally the
signal box
is open up for people to visit the other
speculation we've heard
is that as well as the passing loop
reinstate in the second platform here
they might also upgrade the bay platform
the third platform and maybe park
one of the old trains in there to sort
of add it as an attraction to the signal
box but then we've also heard
that the eppington ongar railway might
be getting one of the 38 units and
they'll keep on running so there'll
always be a 38 unit
running up there i'm sure you can
speculate this to your heart's content
down in the comments please do
i've caught up with martin we've come to
get a shot
of the tunnel because saint john's is
just down there
as we discussed earlier the tunnel was
built later and they've had issues over
the years with
tunnel clearance and and leakage the
tunnels used to flood regularly
so they uh raised the track bed to try
and ease the flooding problems
which obviously restricted the height of
the stock which is why they have to use
the tube stock they do
contrary to popular belief apparently
the district line stock will fit
but the issue was the width more than
the height but
they must have overcome it so yes
you got an umbrella i wish i did
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do you think the one nearest us there is
that's nine four x three double o nine
and the one outside of it right at the
back is four eight three double o
two two so where's number seven seven
will be in the shed looking
immaculate and pristine if you listen
very oh it's stopped just as i hit
record
from inside the shed of the depot you
could can hear that the compressor
of the viva rail d78 unit so it's in
there
the new train is in there you just can't
see it
you know one thing they haven't got and
that's proper strap hangers so this is
the closest you can get
to like grabbing a strap hanger handle
and
bouncing along it's so bouncy
with it still pouring down we went to
the end of the line at shanklin
to shelter from the rain and grab a cup
of tea
we had to wait an hour for the next
train when the line is upgraded next
year with the new trains
it'll be possible to run a much improved
half hourly service
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it's uh it's after half three so john's
down below
the sun is setting down there on the
other side of the bridge it's a
train that's got a little bit of
graffiti on it the good news
is that it's stopped raining hooray uh
and uh we're just gonna
walk down to esplanade from here we'll
probably get dark
and there's another familiar face that i
need to go
and catch up with so actually at the uh
on the day that we've come i'm so glad
this stopped raining
the uh the catamaran the fast cat isn't
running
uh the trains are running to the pier
head
for no reason to my right the most
amazing sunset is happening i've taken a
quick walk
along the pier uh and i just want to
stress
this is it this is your last chance to
see slash ride
the 1938 tube trains uh we're told the
first weekend of january i think it's
jamie the second
is when the line closes for three months
should be back up and running in april
2021
with the d trains so if you want to ride
the old trains you're running out of
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time
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matt's turned up can we see matt in the
dark so matt the voice of gtr
matt why did you come out to see the
train for the last time and the train is
there literally timed it just to say
goodbye and have one last ride on this
this uh this vintage lovely 1938 stock
had to have to come out and just
i mean it's it's just so sort of unique
you know the fact that these were
running around
during the war and that you know what
they're 80 82 years old now
and just with their lovely sort of wood
paneling and just oh they're just
yeah so one of a kind shame to see them
go but you know they are
they need to they need to retire my feet
are wet
and it's really cold and it's dark and i
want to go and have some dinner but nice
to see you yeah nice to see you as well
so time to go home and a trip back to
the mainland on the hovercraft
which by the way is the last remaining
commercial public craft service left
anywhere in the world
and alongside the pier head which
stretches out into the water
with the old tube trains soon to be
replaced by the new old tube trains
running alongside the last day of
operation for the old 1938 stock is set
to be the 3rd of january 2021
after which the line will close
completely for 12 weeks
with its schedule to open again with the
new trains in april
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you