The Freshwater, Yarmouth and Newport Railway was a railway line on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom, connecting Freshwater and Yarmouth to Newport. It was intended to connect the thinly populated west of the island, and it opened in 1889. At Newport it relied on the existing Isle of Wight Central Railway's station, but trains entering it had to shunt back from the junction. The IoWCR worked the line until 1913.
The line was never commercially successful, and a break with the IoWCR in 1913 obliged the FY&NR hastily to build its own Newport station and acquire locomotives and rolling stock while in receivership.
After the Southern Railway absorbed the FY&NR in 1923, the SR developed holiday traffic, but it was highly seasonal and the heavy losses resulted in the line's closure in 1953.
Concept and construction
By 1880 the Isle of Wight was well supplied with railways in its eastern and northern areas, connecting Ryde with Newport and Cowes, and Ryde and Newport with Sandown and Ventnor. The more beautiful, but more thinly-populated west was untouched. Newport was the industrial centre on the island, and its geographical position on the River Medina made it a natural connection point. The Cowes and Newport Railway had a junction station there.
In 1868 a Bouldnor, Yarmouth and Freshwater Railway was proposed, but it did not proceed. In 1872 a Freshwater, Bouldnor and Newport Railway was promoted; Bouldnor is a hamlet a mile or so east of Yarmouth; this venture was unsuccessful.
A parliamentary bill was submitted for a line connecting Freshwater and Newport, and this received royal assent on 26 August 1880, authorising the Freshwater, Yarmouth and Isle of Wight Railway. Share capital was £100,000. The new company was encouraged by support from the London and South Western Railway, which operated a ferry service from Lymington on the mainland to Yarmouth. There were many wealthy residents in the area to be served, and some also expressed support for a railway which, they believed, would facilitate their journeys to the mainland.
The line was surveyed between 1883 and 1885, a second Act of 20 August 1883 was passed having authorised a further £42,000 of share capital. Construction started in 1886. The relaxed pace of events indicates a serious failure to generate share subscription.
The line was laid out so as to avoid major engineering works, at the expense of many curves and steep gradients; there was a trestle viaduct in length at Hunny Hill, Newport, and a concrete viaduct over the Newtown River. The line was constructed with passing loops at Carisbrooke, Ningwood and Yarmouth. The line was opened for goods traffic on 10 September 1888 and for passengers on 20 July 1889.
Opening
An inaugural train was run on 10 August 1888 hauled by an 0-6-0 tank engine that had been used by the contractor constructing the line, and named Freshwater for the occasion. For this demonstration run the locomotive pulled a single mineral wagon fitted with seats. A revenue earning goods train ran from Newport to Freshwater with two wagons of coal on 1 September 1888.
Passenger operation had to be approved by the Board of Trade and Major General Hutchinson visited the line on 2 May 1889 to inspect it. Reservations were expressed about some of the works, and an undertaking was required from the Board as to rectification; after some delay the approval was given, and a ceremonial opening took place on 11 July 1889, followed by a full public operation from 20 July 1889.
The line was worked by the Isle of Wight Central Railway for 53.625% of gross receipts, but the FY&NR remained responsible for maintenance of the infrastructure. The junction with the Cowes and Newport line was on the Cowes side of Newport station, and faced Cowes, so that the FY&NR trains running to Newport had to run round at the point of junction and run back to the station. (The Board had been required to give a formal undertaking that propelling without running round would not be carried out. After many years a dispensation was procured from the Board of Trade permitting propelling for the short distance between the junction and the station.)