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Click on the thumbnails to see the full pictures
| The Isle of Wight lies off the south coast of England and is easily reached with short ferry crossings from Southampton to East/West Cowes, Portsmouth to Fishbourne/Ryde and Lymington to Ryde. Bus services are, in the main, operated by Southern Vectis, now part of the Go Ahead Group. Further information on Southern Vectis and its history can be found in our book Southern Vectis, 75 Years serving the Isle of Wight. These pictures are copyright Paul Savage. Note: By
viewing these photographs you signify your agreement to the terms of
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Now part of the Isle of Wight Bus Museum collection is this rare Duple-bodied Bristol RESH coach, previously No 301 in the Southern Vectis fleet. It is seen at Mottistone during the Museum Running Day on 16 October 2005.
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Richard Newman, author of our Southern Vectis book, is an avid preservationist. One of the gems in his collection is the former SV No 563, and ECW-bodied Bristol LD dating from 1956.
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The pride of the Southern Vectis fleet is this 1939 Bristol K5G open-topper. It has served with Southern Vectis ever since and still sees occasional use on service work.
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For the 2005 summer season the operation of the Dotto road trains at Ryde, Sandown and Shanklin was contracted to Southern Vectis. No 5610, normally allocated to Sandown, is seen at Shanklin Old Village wearing is bright orange colour scheme, similar to that worn by the SV open top fleet.
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The once-extensive Island railway network is very much reduced with just the Stagecoach-operated Island Line between Ryde Pier Head and Shanklin and the IW Steam Railway between Wootton and Smallbrook Junction. The Island Line services are operated with refurbished London Underground stock dating from 1938! Unit 007 is seen at Shanklin. |
The railway once continued beyond Shanklin to Ventnor. Nowadays the connection is by bus and WightBus, the bus operating arm of the local council, operate this Dennis Dart MPD, No 5862, on a rail link service from Shanklin to Ventnor and St Lawrence. |
The Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Public Limited Company, better known today as Red Funnel, was formed in 1861. Its Red Jet 2, seen here arriving at Cowes Pontoon on 22 October 2005, can accommodate 138 passengers and takes 22 minutes to travel between Southampton and Cowes at 33.5 knots. |
The mainstay of the Southern Vectis fleet is the Olympian, with both Leyland and Volvo badging. No 735 is seen here on 24 October 2005 at the temporary bus stops in Church Litten, Newport, which are in use during the redevelopment of the bus station site in South Street. |
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