Whippingham railway station was arguably the most underused station on an often sparsely used network. Built solely because of the need to have a station within close proximity to Osborne House, it is known that Queen Victoria did use the station on at least one occasion, on 11 February 1888, when she travelled from Whippingham to Ventnor and back for the opening of the National Consumption Hospital there. The station is also known to have been used by the young Lord Mountbatten. In its early days its passenger carrying status was ambiguous and, although always clean and tidy, never very busy.