Vectis postal service Vectis postal service The Vectis postal service was a postal service set up during the national postal strike of the United Kingdom in 1971. This was amongst a number of local delivery services which flourished during the strike. The service was set up by a group of Ryde business men, led by R.W.Cawdell, C.C., who acted as head postmaster for the service. It covered an area encompassing the whole of the Isle of Wight. At peak the service handled over 1500 items of mail daily. The national postal strike ended on 8 March 1971, and with it the local service.
Island Line, Isle of Wight of Ryde Tunnel is 10 inches too low for standard National Rail vehicle types to clear. Since the reopening of the line in 1967, former London Underground Tube stock has been used. The initial trains were formed of so-called Standard Stock, made up into four and three-coach sets (with one spare vehicle, normally kept at Ryde depot), designated "4-VEC" and "3-TIS" in the British Rail Southern Region electric multiple unit classification system. (The classification letters were a pun on the Roman name for the island, "Vectis", also reflected in the name of the island's nationalised bus company, Southern Vectis, which