Freshwater, Yarmouth and Newport Railway

At Newport it relied on the existing Isle of Wight Central Railway's station, but trains entering it had to shunt back from the junction.

The line was never commercially successful, and a break with the IoWCR in 1913 obliged the FY&NR hastily to build its own Newport station and acquire locomotives and rolling stock while in receivership.

After the Southern Railway absorbed the FY&NR in 1923, the SR developed holiday traffic, but it was highly seasonal and the heavy losses resulted in the line's closure in 1953.

Newport was the industrial centre on the island, and its geographical position on the River Medina made it a natural connection point.

[1][5] The new company was encouraged by support from the London and South Western Railway, which operated a ferry service from Lymington on the mainland to Yarmouth.

There were many wealthy residents in the area to be served, and some also expressed support for a railway which, they believed, would facilitate their journeys to the mainland.

An inaugural train was run on 10 August 1888 hauled by an 0-6-0 tank engine that had been used by the contractor constructing the line, and named Freshwater for the occasion.

[6] The line was worked by the Isle of Wight Central Railway for 53.625% of gross receipts, but the FY&NR remained responsible for maintenance of the infrastructure.

The FY&NR agreed but was unhappy, and sought advice from Sam Fay of the Great Central Railway, who had a residence on the island.

The FY&NR gave notice that they would work their line from 1 July 1913, and that they would not use the IoWCR station at Newport (to avoid the toll for its use).

White refers to the station as being "a small corrugated iron one" but he meant the booking office; the platform and the accommodation generally was remarkably extensive.

Naturally there was some opposition from the Central, and Harry Willmott, who owned some FYN stock, tried to organise some of the other shareholders to veto the proposal to build another station at Newport, but was unable to get sufficient votes.

[10]The engine power the FY&NR procured now consisted of two locomotives only, indicating the limited volume of traffic it was running.

[6][9][12] These expenditures pushed the FY&NR into insolvency almost immediately, and Fay was appointed by the receivers to manage the line, and in fact he assisted in getting hold of the rolling stock.

[11] In fact from this time the FY&NR was operated practically as a remote branch of the Great Central Railway.

This resulted in complaints to the Railway and Canal Commissioners, who put pressure on the companies to ameliorate the situation, and from 1914 most FY&NR passenger trains resumed using the IoWCR station, although running beyond that point remained discontinued.

In 1900 a proposal was put forward to construct a tunnel under the Solent connecting the FY&NR with the mainland network at Lymington.

[6] It was suggested again after 1923, but at the time the Southern Railway had invested heavily in piers and ferryboats, and were opposed to the idea; the local authorities too considered it unacceptably expensive.

The compensation to shareholders was to be negotiated, and although the FY&NR was in receivership, it argued that its prospects were good because of the hoped-for Lymington tunnel connection, and it attempted to obtain a better financial settlement.

During the hiatus period, the FY&NR trains had to revert to using the separate station at Newport, with renewed inconvenience to passengers.

Road transport of passengers and goods became increasingly dominant from the 1930s and further accelerated after World War II, and the losses on the line were unsustainable in the face of the low volume of custom.