Cowes railway station

Opened in 1862, the very first on the island, as part of the inaugural "Cowes and Newport" railway,{{cite book |title=Isle of Wight Railways Remembered |last=Paye |first=Peter |location=Oxford |publisher=OPC |year=1984 |isbn=0-86093-212-5}} it expanded to three platforms as the railway branched out towards Ryde in the years before the motor bus began to diminish trade.{{cite book |last=Bennett |first=A. |title=Southern Holiday Lines in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight |location=Cheltenham |publisher=Runpast |date=1994 |ISBN=1-870754-31-X}} In its time prosperous enough to have a WH Smith bookstall, its latter years were considerably leaner as more and more people took their holidays abroad.{{cite book |title=Steaming Through the Isle of Wight |last=Hay |first=P. |location=Midhurst |publisher=Middleton |date=1988 |ISBN=0-906520-56-8}} The station has long since been demolished{{cite book |last=Gammell |first=C. J. |title=Southern Branch Lines |location=Oxford |publisher=OPC |date=1997 |ISBN=0-86093-537-X}} and today the area is a supermarket and municipal car park.{{cite book |last=Pomeroy |first=C. A. |title=Isle of Wight Railways, Then and Now |location=Oxford |publisher=Past & Present Publishing |date=1993 |ISBN=0-947971-62-9}} The footbridge was salvaged and moved to Medstead and Four Marks railway station on the Watercress Line heritage railway.

In its later years Cowes station was notable for an unusual operating procedure. The engine would propel its empty carriages backwards up the 1-in-95 gradient towards Mill Hill and then run forward and round the train using a crossover. The carriages were then allowed to run back down into the station by gravity, controlled by handbrake by the guard, and the locomotive was reattached to haul its train back to Newport and Ryde.{{cite book |last=Kichenside |first=G. |title=Isle of Wight Album |publisher=Ian Allan |date=1965}}

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• Mr. Phillips until 1869{{cite news |author= |title=Vaccination Officer for Newport District Appointed | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000495/18690206/083/0012 |newspaper=Hampshire Advertiser |location=England |date=6 February 1869 |access-date=25 July 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
• William Alford ca. 1879 - 1885{{cite news |author= |title=Cowes. Awfully Sudden Death | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000170/18850214/014/0006 |newspaper=Isle of Wight Observer |location=England |date=14 February 1885 |access-date=25 July 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
• J.R. Thomas from 1885{{cite news |author= |title=Newport | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001960/18850221/054/0004 |newspaper=Isle of Wight County Press and South of England Reporter |location=England |date=21 February 1885 |access-date=25 July 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
• William B.S. Greenwood 1889{{cite news |author= |title=Newport | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002100/18890110/068/0004 |newspaper=Isle of Wight Times |location=England |date=10 January 1889 |access-date=25 July 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} - 1891 (formerly station master at Newport)
• George William Ranger 1891 - 1894 (formerly station master at Yarmouth, afterwards station master at Newport)
• Thomas Henry Tutton ca. 1896 - 1913{{cite news |author= |title=Stationmaster Change | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000290/19130111/149/0005 |newspaper=Portsmouth Evening News |location=England |date=11 January 1913 |access-date=25 July 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
• Samuel Urry 1913 - 1914 (formerly station master at Freshwater)
• Henry L. Hill 1914 - ca. 1938
• Francis E. West 1944{{cite news |author= |title=Rowlands Castle Gifts to Stationmaster | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001973/19441027/074/0005 |newspaper=Hampshire Telegraph |location=England |date=27 October 1944 |access-date=25 July 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} - 1952 (formerly station master at Rowlands Castle, afterwards station master at Alton)

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{{Disused Rail Start}}

{{Rail line|previous=Mill Hill |route=British Rail
Southern Region
IoW CR : Newport to Cowes line |col={{BR(S) colour}} }}

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• List of closed railway stations in Britain

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• [http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/c/cowes/index1.shtml Picture of closed station in 1970]

{{Ex stations on the Isle of Wight}}

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Category:Disused railway stations on the Isle of Wight

Category:Former Isle of Wight Central Railway stations

Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862

Category:Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1966

Category:Beeching closures in England

Category:1862 establishments in England

Railway station

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