Last stop Arreton for a retired Island Line rolling stock

Last stop Arreton!

Article and the photograph By Toby Brown of the Isle of Wight Observer. 

A piece of Island history is being lovingly restored to its former glory at Holliers Park in Arreton

Nina on 004

The retired Island Line rolling stock, number 04, which first took to the tracks on London's Northern Line back in 1938, was delivered in May of this year to the new owners in a state of disrepair.

Having stood idle whilst Island Line was upgraded, the train succumbed to graffiti and vandalism and sadly faced the same fate as many of the Island's class 483 s, in being shipped off to the scrapyard.

So what possessed Holliers Park to buy a derelict old train? Manager, Nina Gregory, explained: "I wanted to preserve a part of the Isle of Wight's history, and as I grew up in London and remember riding on these when I was younger, it also holds a bit of special history for me too.

"After Covid hit us all we had to reduce seating capacity in our double-decker bus café. I wanted to add more so thought to myself, "What's bigger than a bus?" and when I found 004 was available I jumped at the chance!

"Getting it in was a bit of a tight squeeze, but the team at Reid Freight were brilliant, and it will give us extra spaces for people to eat, in keeping with the overall transport theme.

The train is currently undergoing extensive renovations and will eventually be restored to full Island livery at one end with original London Underground livery at the other.

It will also house a small museum showing the train's start to life on the London Underground then onto the Island, including information on the restoration from start to finish. The train is expected to be open to the public in early to mid-2022.

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Hopefully, once it is open I will post pictures of the fully refurbished train!