Brading railway station

Brading railway station is a Grade II listed[1] railway station serving Brading on the Isle of Wight, England. It is located on the Island Line from Ryde to Shanklin. Owing to its secluded countryside location, it is one of the quietest stations on the island.

Brading
National Rail
Brading station seen with the restored passing loop and second platform
General information
LocationBrading, Isle of Wight
England
Coordinates50.678°N 1.139°W / 50.678; -1.139
Grid referenceSZ609868
Managed byIsland Line
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeBDN
ClassificationDfT category F2
History
Opened23 August 1864
Original companyIsle of Wight Railway
Post-groupingSouthern Railway
Key dates
1 January 1967Closed for electrification
20 March 1967Reopened
28 October 1988Signal box & platform 2 closed, removal of passing loop
3 January 2021Closed for upgrade works
1 November 2021Reopened; passing loop reinstalled, recommissioning of platform 2
Passengers
2017/18Decrease 45,848
2018/19Decrease 42,170
2019/20Decrease 32,842
2020/21Decrease 4,276
2021/22Increase 10,410
Listed Building – Grade II
FeatureBrading Railway Station Main Building
Designated14 April 1986
Reference no.1034363[1]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station was opened in 1864 by the Isle of Wight Railway on their initial Ryde-Shanklin line. In 1882 it became a junction station, when the Brading-Bembridge branch line opened as part of the Brading Haven reclamation scheme. The branch line closed to passengers in 1953 and completely in 1957.

Under Southern Railway ownership, the passing loop was extended southwards from Brading to Sandown in 1927, forming a second section of double track on the Island Line.[2]

Brading was one of the last stations on the British Rail network to retain gas lighting, with the fittings converted to mercury vapour usage in 1985. As of 2010 some of the fittings were still in use, now using compact fluorescent bulbs.

Brading station, 1985
A Class 483 train at Brading in August 2020. Over 80 years old at the time, these units were retired in January 2021 and replaced with Class 484 units later that year.

Brading signalbox closed on 28 October 1988, and the passing loop at Brading station was removed, meaning that only one platform remained in use. This meant trains could no longer run at even 30-minute intervals on the line.[3] By 1998 the signal box and branch platforms were very overgrown and the buildings were threatened with demolition. In August 2007 Brading Town Council announced a plan to revamp the exterior of the station buildings and former signal box, and have used grants and volunteers to gradually reopen different parts of the station, with the whole of the station and signal box fully opening to the public in March 2010 for the first time in 40 years. Both the signal box[4] and main station building[1] are Grade II listed, along with the station building on the east platform,[5] the footbridge,[6] and the station house.[7]

The current footbridge was installed in the late 1990s, as part of Railtracks Station Regeneration Programme - the original bridge was no longer safe. The replacement is an identical copy of the original, which was taken to the McAlpine collection in Oxfordshire.

Reinstatement of passing loop

An announcement on 16 September 2019 confirmed that a passing loop would be reinstated at Brading to allow trains to run at regular half-hourly intervals.[8] £1 million to fund building the passing loop was to be from local sources[8] with £300,000 from the Isle of Wight Council and the remainder from local businesses through the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership.[9] A second platform would be opened to passenger use, according to the brief given to potential contractors for the work on the upgrade[10] and the level crossing to the south of the station would be upgraded to give step-free access to the southbound platform.[11] This work was completed in 2021.[12]

Facilities
Exterior of station in 2017

The restored signal box and station buildings are now home to a heritage centre, café, museum and a Tourist Information Point,[13] along with a bike hire shop.

No railway staff are present at the station, with tickets available from an automatic machine or from the guard on board the train.

Services

All services at Brading are operated by Island Line using Class 484 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[14]

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 National Rail Following station
Island Line
Steam operating days only
Disused railways
Terminus   British Rail Southern Region
   St Helens

References
  1. Historic England, "Brading Railway Station Main Building (1034363)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 26 June 2017
  2. Hardy, Brian (2003). Tube Trains on the Isle of Wight. Harrow Weald, Middlesex: Capital Transport. p. 9. ISBN 1-85414-276-3.
  3. Hardy, Brian (2003). Tube Trains on the Isle of Wight. Harrow Weald, Middlesex: Capital Transport. p. 37. ISBN 1-85414-276-3.
  4. Historic England, "Brading Railway Station Signal Box (1034364)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 26 June 2017
  5. Historic England, "Brading Railway Station Main Building on East Platform (1291364)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 26 June 2017
  6. Historic England, "Brading Railway Station Footbridge (1365330)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 26 June 2017
  7. Historic England, "Station House (1219685)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 26 June 2017
  8. "£26m announced for Island rail line". 16 September 2019.
  9. Bex Pearce (16 January 2020). "£1m raised through Solent LEP and IW council unlocks £26m investment for Island Line". On The Wight. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  10. "Isle of Wight — Island Rail Upgrade". Bidstats. 24 September 2019. Archived from the original on 6 May 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  11. Stuart George (22 January 2020). "Hear latest on buses, trains and road travel from Isle of Wight Bus and Rail Users' Group meeting". On The Wight. Archived from the original on 22 January 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  12. "Isle of Wight rail line reopens 10 months after £26m overhaul". BBC News. 1 November 2021.
  13. "Brading Station Visitor Centre". Archived from the original on 5 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  14. Table 167 National Rail timetable, May 2023
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