The Last 1938 Tube Trains on the Isle of Wight

[Music] 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 [Music] 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 [Music] and get a shot of the demo from the street later [Music] 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 [Music] 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 [Music] 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 [Music] time [Music] 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 [Music] you

Channel: Geoff Marshall

Views: 286,038

Rating: 4.9549584 out of 5

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Id: DWuebB1zO18

Length: 14min 24sec (864 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 21 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Pinkjasmine17]

Forever sad that i couldn’t ride these in the U.K. :(

Edit: I meant I wish I could have visited the Isle of Wight to ride these while I lived in the U.K.