The railways of the Isle of Wight can be broken down into the following parts (see the map posted earlier):
Ryde to Ventnor (Shanklin to Ventnor closed 1966)
Ryde to Cowes (Closed to passengers in 1966, final closure 1971)
Newport to Sandown (Closed 1956)
Newport to Freshwater (closed 1953)
Merstone to Ventnor (West) (Closed 1952)
Brading to Bembridge (Closed 1953)
The Ryde to Cowes and Ryde to Ventnor lines would have served a population over 100K, the existing lines serve about half of that. There is a large amount of tourist traffic on the remaining stretch of line between Ryde pier head and Shanklin.
