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Regent Street, SHANKLIN, PO37 7AR

Shanklin Railway Station is the present terminus of the Island Line from Ryde, (although the line used to continue to Wroxall and Ventnor). The Island Line operates between Ryde and Shanklin, serving Smallbrook Junction, Brading, Sandown and Lake intermediate stations. It has always been the Isle of Wight’s main line, even when the Island boasted a complex 53-mile rail network with 36 stations and halts. The first services between Ryde (St Johns) and Shanklin, with intermediate stations at Brading and Sandown, ran on 23 August 1864. Most of the island's rail network was closed in the 1950s and 1960s leaving just the line from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin. This line was electrified using the third-rail system and electric train services replaced the steam-hauled trains in 1967 along what became known as “the island line”.

Recording that the station http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4628758 opened on 23rd August 1864.

The western terminus of the Island Line.

Signs in this traditional British Railways style have recently been erected at stations on the Isle of Wight. Signs of this type were used throughout the network in the 1950s, colour coded according to region - green being the Southern colour. They began to be replaced from the mid-1960s when British Rail adopted its corporate image (although some locations retained their old signs well into the 1970s). Today, original signs in this 'sausage' style in good condition sell for considerable sums of money.

The train has just completed the 24 minute journey south from Ryde Pier Head station, a distance of 13.7km. Services are operated by former London Underground stock built in the 1930s, powered by electricity from the third rail (the one furthest away from the platform).