Ryde St John's Road railway station

Ryde St John's Road is a railway station on the Island Line, and serves the town of Ryde, Isle of Wight. The station is 1.25 mi (2 km) south of Ryde Pier Head—the Island Line's northern terminus.

Ryde St John's Road
General information
Location	Ryde, Isle of Wight England
Grid reference	SZ596919
Managed by	South Western Railway
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	RYR
Classification	DfT category F2
History
Original company	Isle of Wight Railway
Pre-grouping	Isle of Wight Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Key dates
23 August 1864 (1864-08-23)	Opened as Ryde
5 April 1880	Renamed Ryde St John's Road
1 January 1967	Closed for electrification
20 March 1967	Reopened
3 January 2021	Closed for upgrade works
1 November 2021	Reopened
Passengers
2018/19	0.132 million
2019/20	0.116 million
2020/21	21,058
2021/22	38,994
2022/23	65,396
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

When the station opened in 1864,^[1] it was known as Ryde railway station, as it was the northern terminus of the Isle of Wight Railway at the time. Rather than a railway, a tramway continued northwards to where the current Ryde Pier Head railway station stands; the railway was extended to Ryde Pier in 1880.

Depot and signalling

Adjacent to the railway station is Ryde Traincare Depot: the Island Line's traction maintenance depot, where the maintenance and storage of the Island Line's Class 484 trains takes place. Since 1989, signalling for the Island Line has been centralised to the station's signal box.

Future developments

It has been suggested that the Isle of Wight Steam Railway might be extended from Smallbrook Junction to Ryde St John's Road in the future,^[2][3] but there are currently no official proposals.

Services

All services at Ryde St John's Road are operated by Island Line using Class 484 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:^[4]

• 2 tph to Ryde Pier Head
• 2 tph to Shanklin

These services call at all stations, except Smallbrook Junction, which is served only during operating dates for the Isle of Wight Steam Railway.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Smallbrook Junction Steam operating days only		Island Line Ryde to Shanklin		Ryde Esplanade
Brading

Gallery

• 
  Viewed from the footbridge, looking at platforms 2 and 3, along with the depot building
• 
  Looking south from the station's old footbridge; the Island Line's signalbox is visible on the right
• 
  Platform 1, looking towards Ryde tunnel and the northern terminus of the line: Ryde Pier Head
• 
  Ryde St John's Road station in 1971
• 
  Ex-LSW 0-4-4T outside St John's Road Locomotive Shed in 1954

References

1. "Ryde Pier celebrates 200TH Anniversary" (PDF). Ryde Social Heritage Group. July 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
2. "Is the future trams and steam trains into Ryde?". Island Echo. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
3. "Steaming back to Ryde after 50 years? Rail.co.uk assesses the plan and gives its verdict". Rail.co.uk. 18 January 2015. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
4. Table 167 National Rail timetable, May 2023

External links

• Train times and station information for Ryde St John's Road railway station from National Rail

50.724°N 1.157°W / 50.724; -1.157