Коувс және Ньюпорт темір жолының тарихы

The Cowes and Newport Railway was to be in length, running north to south along the west side of the River Medina. Authorised share capital was £30,000 (30000.0 in 1859 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years). A construction contract was let to Albert H. Fernandez, and the first sod was cut on 15 October 1859. The construction had been thought to be simple, but in fact the nature of the ground and the wet weather made the work extremely difficult. In December 1861, the contractor had to give up the work, and the company continued for a period managing the work directly. The C&NR itself had financial difficulties as the authorised share issue was considerably undersubscribed. The Cowes station abutted Cross Street, where there was a level crossing, over which the line continued as a tramway; engine run round movements had to cross the level crossing and use the tramway, contrary to stipulations in the authorising Act (The C&NR was later authorised to enlarge the station and close Cross Street. This work was done in early 1879). Notice boards at the Newport station made it clear that onward conveyance to London, via Cowes and Southampton, was a primary objective. The line was operated by a contractor, Henry Martin, for 50% of gross receipts at first, later 50% of net receipts. The Isle of Wight (Newport Junction) Act was given Royal Assent on 31 July 1868, to build a line from Newport to the Sandown station of the Isle of Wight Railway. The competing proposals were rejected; those who favoured a line from Newport to Ryde were disappointed, and continued the struggle. but it was not planned to pass through any major population centre that was not already rail connected, and the Company found it difficult to raise the money it needed for construction. Moreover, successive resignations of directors made continuity of progress difficult. The first sod was finally cut at Shide on 14 October 1870. Early in 1871, a prospectus was published offering preference shares, although the Company was not authorised to issue these, and this was soon followed by acrimonious and public name calling between the company and the Corporation of Newport. formerly in use on the London and South Western Railway. They had been inverted on the LSWR line, using the second running table. The rails were badly galled by the chairs and there were splits and bulges in the head. They had been cropped to 16 feet (5 m), and the head wear was not matched, so that the joints were uneven. The fishplate bolts were not long enough in many cases. Approval to open the line to passenger traffic was refused; the company tried to appeal against this, but failed; subsequent inspection visits took place on 31 July, 28 August and 26 September 1872, without success. A contract for the construction was awarded to Barnett and Gale on 1 October 1872. state that there was an Ashey Racecourse station, used only for race meetings, on the tramway, in use from April 1882 to about 1930. It seems likely that this is a mistake: the empty rolling stock for the excursions was stabled on the tramway during the racing, but there was no passenger station. The tramway is clearly shown on the mapping of the period, but no station is marked on any Ordnance Survey map in the relevant period. Writing in 1946, Jones describes the route from Newport to Ryde and states
Another climb brings the line to Ashey station, with its disused passing loop. Many years ago there was a racecourse nearby, and the extra traffic on race days was accommodated on the loop, and also on a siding which ran to a worked out chalk pit in Ashey Down. In the late 1920s the grandstands of the racecourse were destroyed by fire, and since then it has fallen into disuse.

At the grouping, the IWCR had 37 passenger coaches and 12 non passenger coaching stock vehicles. The passenger coaches comprised sixteen third class (allotted SR numbers 2441–2456), eleven composites (6347–6357), six brake thirds (4098–4103), three brake composites (6987–6989) and one first class saloon (7995). The non passenger coaching stock comprised six guard's vans (979, 990–994), six open carriage and baggage boxes (4385–4390) and one horse box (3369). One guard's van was described as a mail van.

There were 317 goods vehicles lasting to grouping in 1923. These comprised 251 open goods wagons (SR nos. 27976–28226), 45 covered goods wagons (SR nos. 46987–47031), nine flat trucks (59024–59032), eight cattle wagons (53380–53387), three brake vans (56035–56037) and one tar tank (61383). In addition to these, there were eight in departmental stock: four ballast wagons (62881–62884), two water tanks, one travelling crane (429S) and a match truck (429SM). The open goods wagons were also used for coal, and had carrying capacities ranging from The flat trucks included six designated as timber trucks – these had one or two transverse bolsters to support the load. The crane was hand operated, and could lift ; and the match truck was used to provide room for the crane jib when travelling.

The last steam trains on the Isle of Wight ran on the residual Ryde to Shanklin line on 31 December 1966. The steam locomotive W24 Calbourne and some carriages were purchased by an enthusiast group, and in 1971, the Isle of Wight Railway Co Ltd was formed to buy the length of track between Wootton and Havenstreet, operating steam trains as a heritage railway. In 1991 the line was extended to on the Ryde–Shanklin line, where a new interchange station was built, enabling passengers to interchange with Island Line trains.