Railways on the Isle of Wight Railways on the Isle of Wight There once existed a network of railway lines on the Isle of Wight. They were opened by several companies between 1862 and 1901, and all but the Island Line closed between 1952 and 1966. A further have reopened as the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. The first railway to be built on the island ran for a distance of . It was opened in 1833 on the Nash Estate near Yarmouth. Its usage is presumed to have been for transporting brickmaking materials to and from a jetty on the Solent, and it is not
Culture of the Isle of Wight Maitland", are set on the island. The isle has been the setting for several novels, including Julian Barnes's utopian novel "England, England", and detective thrillers such as "The Fallen" by Robert Rennick. It also features in John Wyndham's novel "The Day of the Triffids" and Simon Clark's sequel "The Night of the Triffids". The Iranian-born poet Mimi Khalvati was educated at Upper Chine School in Shanklin; many of her poems are about the island, especially in the book "The Chine". Sandown-based author Edward Upward sets part of his book "In the Thirties" on the Isle of Wight. The 1973 film