IOW 2020 - Day 3: Steam Railway and Dinosaur Isle

The summation of today is dinosaurs of the tracks, and tracks of the dinosaurs!

The plan for today was first a trip on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, then moving on to visit Dinosaur Isle after a picnic lunch. Like almost all attractions at this time we had to pre-book so that numbers can be maintained at a level that allows social distancing, so having decided on the 1050 train from Havenstreet station, we made our way inland to the HQ of the Steam Railway.

Today the only “mainline” service on the Island is from Ryde to Shanklin and the plan is to go for a ride on this line later in the week, but the 5-miles used today by the Steam Railway is part of the original Ryde to Newport and Cowes line that was closed by British Railways back in 1966 following the Beeching Report. The line runs from Smallbrook Junction in the east of the Island near Ryde, to Wootton a few miles north of Newport and the current Covid-19 service is a round trip from Havenstreet, first to Smallbrook then non-stop to Wootton before returning to Havenstreet, taking around an hour. As it’s almost Halloween and also halfterm the railway had a Wizard Week theme and the kids were both given an activity pack on the platform, so spent most of the journey colouring in, stickering and playing with toy spiders. Whilst the kids were very happy, this did also take quite a bit of our attention too and the journey seemed to go by very quickly!

Paloma enjoying the train ride colouring in a monster!

Forrest and an 8-legged friend!

The loco running round at Wootton station.

I was in for a fright when getting back to our carriage!

Back at Havenstreet station.

Once back at Havenstreet we explored the site including the Train Story Discovery Centre with a few interactive activities for the kids and the chance to take a look at some of the other rolling stock of the railway.

Paloma the engine driver.

Forrest the fireman.

Forrest enjoyed the singing witches and wizards.

We had a 2pm arrival time booked at Dinosaur Isle so set off with plenty of time for a picnic once in Sandown before making our way to the museum. The journey took us up high and past the Brading Down viewpoint so we made the spontaneous decision to stop and have our picnic there, but stayed in the car to avoid the 40mph winds blowing across the island!

Dinosaur Isle is a purpose built museum, designed to resemble a pterosaur, that is run by the Isle of Wight council with the mission “To be a national centre of excellence in the conservation, interpretation and acquisition of the Island’s dinosaurs and diverse geological heritage.” The museum heads back in history, from the relatively recent times of the woolly mammoth to the earliest dinosaurs with many examples of the fossils found on the island.

The Isle of Wight is home to a number of unique dinosaur discoveries and the museum includes partial and near complete dinosaur skeletons, including holotypes of Neovenator and Eotyrannus.

One of the star exhibits, the almost complete neovenator.

It’s always difficult to take in all the information at museums with the kids wanting to move on from exhibit to exhibit, and with a number of the interactive child friendly activities not available due to Covid-19 restrictions it was even more so today. We are not sure if it is because of this or if it is standard practice but we did receive a really nice activity pack which kept the kids entertained once back at the Hut. In total we spent about 30 minutes in the main museum, a lot less time than we anticipated, although we did then spend about the same in the gift shop!

A selection of smaller fossils, such as ammonites, found on the island.

The main space in the museum.

With the weather taking a turn for the worse any thoughts of a wander on Sandown beach to look for some fossils were scuppered, so we headed back to Harry’s Hut, the self-catering cottage that we’re staying in via Shanklin, Ventnor and the coast road. The accommodation is compact, but perfect for a short mid-week stay with a double and twin room, plus a large open plan kitchen / living area. We’ve cooked in each night, today it was the British classic of sausage and mash!

Blogged by Matt.