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 The Isle of Wight has traditionally seen as a place for retirees and holiday makers. The Beatles song "When I'm Sixty-Four" mentions 'every summer we could rent a cottage on the Isle of Wight'. This non-threatening image is also used to comic effect by the Monty Python team in their 1976 sketch "Mr Neutron": Today the island maintains this image, while also being seen nationally as a destination for the 'sea and sandcastles' style of family holiday. In an episode of the TV panel game QI, Alan Davies described the Isle of Wight as still stuck in the 1950s. The