Place Sandown Station code SAN DfT category F1 Opened 1854 | Grid reference SZ593844 Managed by Island Line Trains 2011/12 0.298 million Number of platforms 2 | |
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Address Sandown PO36 9FE, United Kingdom Similar Brading railway station, Shanklin railway station, Ryde Esplanade railway st, Wootton railway station, Ryde Pier Head railway st | ||
Sandown railway station isle of wight
Sandown railway station is a railway station serving Sandown on the Isle of Wight, England. It is located on the Island Line from Ryde to Shanklin.
Contents
History
Sandown station is a double platform-faced through station. However, from the mid 19th until the mid 20th century it was a junction station, also served by trains to and from Horringford, Merstone, Newport and Cowes. These lines used to be run by separate companies, the Isle of Wight Railway (Ryde-Ventnor) and the Isle of Wight Central Railway (Newport-Sandown).
The adjacent land, which used to be occupied by coal-yards, is now a housing estate and the former Terminus Hotel pub opposite has long been a private house. The line from Ryde to Shanklin was constructed between 1862 and 1864, and opened to passenger traffic on 23 August 1864. The original station building was extended between 1870 and 1871 through the addition of a two-storey extension to act as station offices.
In 1923, with the Grouping, came the formation of the Southern Railway. This brought all the railway services on the island under one management, and considerable modernisation. At first, it did not affect the services offered, but eventually the line from Ryde gained a more frequent service whilst the Merstone line declined. One particular feature of the Merstone line was the School Train, which was subsidised by the local authority, and for a significant time meant that the line remained viable. When the line was closed, children from outlying villages going to the Sandown Schools were then transported by bus, the current situation.
Services
The present level of service is normally two trains per hour (tph) each way, which must pass at Sandown. However, due to the reduced trackwork at Brading, the frequency does not produce a predictable 30-minute service. Instead, in common with the rest of Island Line, trains run separated by a 20 or 40 minute gap.
This generally means that every hour, trains will pass at Sandown once. A journey from Sandown to Shanklin generally takes 6 minutes (although the published timetable allows 7), with a bus connection to Ventnor adding another 20 minutes. Trains to Ryde take about 10 minutes (to St. John's Road) or just under 20 minutes (to Ryde Pier Head).