Bill Barton |  |
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William (Bill) Barton, 1904-1996, left school when he was 13 and joined the Isle of Wight Central Railway as an apprentice to the Signals and Telegraphs (S.& T.) and Permanent Way department. His day to day work involved the maintenance and repair of overhead telephone and telegraph lines, and any circuits which controlled signalling. We recorded Bill at his Shanklin home in 1984. |
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 Newport in 1924. Just out of frame at top right is Newport Station and snaking its way across the picture is the line to Sandown. A massive brick viaduct took the line across what is today’s Coppins Bridge roundabout. |  The drawbridge has been slid back to allow a boat, "The Match" to pass through on its way to Cowes and the Solent. |
 This is the drawbridge referred to by Bill in the recording. Just outside Newport Station, it carried the Newport to Ryde line - next stop Wootton. |  Cowes Station in the early sixties, the terminus of the Cowes to Ryde line, seen here from the Granville Road Bridge. Today a housing complex and a Marks and Spencer supermarket occupy the site. |