It should be borne in mind that both the LSWR and LBSCR had vested interests in the Island mainly in the form of trafficking tourists between there and the mainland. This text isn't being presented as a potted railway history but it is worth mentioning that both railways had early aspirations to access the island via Portsmouth and Ryde even though the facilities at the the latter were hopelessy inadequate. The issue was complicated somewhat where joint agreement was concerned between the two companies by the fact that the LSWR also had island access via its facility at Stoke's Bay which the LBSCR resented.

Not only was there that long-running dispute but there was also one on the island itself over the Ryde Pier Tramway, a horsedrawn service from St.John's Road to an inadequate pier facility to the east of the one we know today. The IoWR's Ryde terminus was at St. John's Road and subsequent entry to Esplanade and the new Pier Head stations were by the use of running powers over the joint LSWR/LBSCR line.

As hinted at above, the mainland companies tired of the island politics and obtained an Act of Parliament to construct a modern pier facility with a station and the intermediate one at Esplanade together with the tunnel between there and St. John's Road station.

The story doesn't end there as the LSWR later used its facilities at both Southampton and Lymington to gain access to the island as well as accessing it via Cowes instead of Ryde. The LBSCR, in the end, had to be content with just the Portsmouth to Ryde service.

• Ryde Pier Head Via Portsmouth.
• Newport Via Portsmouth and Ryde.

• Cowes Via Southampton (3 variations)
• Ryde Via Portsmouth
• Totland Bay
• Yarmouth Via Lymington

It should be borne in mind that IoW labels are acquired by collectors, not just of luggage labels, but also in the context of anything relating to the island's transport system. This factor has also contributed to a general shortage of the genre

It's worth pointing out here that these labels, particularly those from Waterloo, are remarkable survivors as they were still extant in the label racks at Waterloo station in the late 1950's to which this writer can attest as some in his own collection were acquired directly from that source. The remarkable aspect is that many of them are via Stokes Bay which closed to traffic in 1915 and yet they stayed in situ for all those years.

The labels themselves fall into the same categories as the white labels detailed elsewhere but they were printed on what is now mainly mauve paper although the clener examples suggest that the original colour was quite a rich purple. The majority of the survivors have faded badly and have turned to a brownish biscuit colour at the edges. That is, if there are any complete edges.

All the islands's stations are named on this group of labels plus Alum Bay and Totland Bay but what excites greater interest is the diversity of routings stated on them: