Ventnor West railway station

The station was opened on 1 June 1900 as the final addition to the railway network on the Isle of Wight. It opened as Ventnor Town but was renamed in 1923 by the Southern Railway.

Built on the former stables of the Steephill Castle estate, the station was inconveniently situated for the town, being some distance west of the town centre and 168 feet above sea level. Consequently, it never lived up to the expectations of the operators and was an early casualty of the pruning of the railway network. Plans were made to extend the line beyond the station to a new terminus, closer to the town centre. Continuing to run along Park Avenue, the Ventnor Central Terminus would have been sited where Park Avenue meets Zig Zag Road – opposite the Royal Hotel. However, the combination of newly built housing on the proposed formation along Park Avenue and the company's ailing finances meant this scheme was never realised. If it had, it would have provided a very convenient alternative to the Isle of Wight Railway's Ventnor station, located high above the town, and this may have turned around the fortunes of this otherwise very sleepy branch. Today the main station building is still standing, surrounded by modern housing in Castle Close.

Wikipedia