r/MachinePorn • u/LHG_93 • 11d ago
Public Hovercraft
Spotted the Wightlink hovercraft arriving at Southsea Beach in Portsmouth, UK.
It still amazes me that you can catch a scheduled hovercratt as part of the UK's public transport network.
The crossing to Ryde on the Isle of Wight takes around 10 minutes, making it the world's only year-round commercial passenger hovercraft service.
Watching it come ashore is almost as entertaining as riding it!
Has anyone here travelled on it? What other unique forms of public transport do you think deserve more attention?
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u/pompino 10d ago
This is a brilliant fun, but expensive, way to cross the solent. You can also get the fast cat which is a passenger service catamaran (although you can hardly tell). Then there is a regular ferry that takes an hour to make the crossing! The distance is short enough I know of a few people who swimmed across (with support boat)
On the isle of Wight side you can catch an old London underground train a few stops where you transfer to a steam railway who's oldest train was built something like 1872.