Railway

Newchurch Station

A railway line was built through Newchurch in 1875.

Newchurch was on the central line from Sandown to Merstone via Horringford. From Merstone the railway connected up to Newport and from there west to Freshwater and north to Cowes. The line from Merstone also went south to Ventnor where the Isle of Wight Railway came down from Ryde via such places as Brading, Sandown, Shanklin and Wroxall. From Brading there was line out to Bembridge.

The line followed the route of the brook at the bottom of the Shute crossing the road to Langbridge. The gates of the level crossing can just be seen across the road in this postcard.

The photograph shows the gates closed and the station which is not much more than a wooden shack. The railway was single track and single platform, with a small siding for coal trucks at the station. Newchurch station was originally built using the canopy from the station at Pan Mill in Newport. It was rebuilt in 1930.

	The railway was very busy and was a lifeline for many people. It was used by passengers to go to shopping, in particular to Newport on market day. It was also used for the transport of vegetables and produce to market. Milk was collected in churns and taken to Portsmouth (via the ferry). Flowers (in particular Chrysanthemums) were grown in the Newchurch valley and transported to Covent Garden, in London, for sale. Washing was also brought from the boarding houses in Sandown to be washed and returned by train. The large, flat laundry baskets used to transport the laundry became known as flaskets.
	The railway also brought all the daily newspapers which were collected and put in the Newchurch reading room in Langbridge. In the early 1900's the building opposite Langbridge Chapel housed the Newchurch Reading Room. This was an establishment for men only where they could read the daily newspapers.
	The 8.26 train from Alverstone to Newchurch was a very busy train with all the children going to school in Newchurch after the Alverstone school was closed.

The station was hit twice in the Second World War, once in October 1940, when the track was damaged by a night bomb and the second time in May 1944 when a high explosive bomb landed on the track approximately 150 yards from the station on the Sandown side causing damage to the roof of the station.

The line between Sandown and Newport via Newchurch was shut in 1956. The line has subsequently been removed and the station demolished. A bungalow has been built on the site of the station, appropriately named Newchurch Crossing. There is now a bridleway/footpath along the old railway track.

Newchurch Station

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