The Isle of Wight Steam Railway's Civil Engineering Department has taken advantage of the winter shut-down period to carry out major work at Wootton Station. The objective has been to relocate the Single Line Points approximately 50 meters towards Havenstreet Station and then extend the loop along the track bed of the former Wootton Siding, allowing the station to handle longer trains with bigger locomotives and accommodate a future platform extension.

Two views of the approach to Wootton Station. The siding is still in place in the May 2007 view of W37 'Invincible' approaching the station. Packsfield Crossing can be seen in the background of both pictures. The Single Line Points have been moved a distance of 50 meters towards the crossing.

Preparatory work started in November 2007 with the removal of the remains of the Wootton siding, isolated from the running lines during an earlier realignment of the Single Line Points in 2004. As soon as the mid-winter train service was finished a possession of the Wootton Single Line was taken and work commenced. The Single Line Points were quickly removed and the running line stripped back to Packsfield Crossing.

Preparation of the former siding track bed included the installation of a plastic membrane and a layer of sand to aid drainage.

The formation on which the siding had stood was very suspect and has constantly moved over the years so major stabilisation and drainage work, including the use of a sand and plastic membrane layer under the track ballast, has been carried out. The platform road and run round loop are now being extended towards the new position of the points. The opportunity has been taken to renew rail and sleepers through Packsfield Crossing and provide a more hard wearing road surface for road users.

Seen from the windows of the currently redundant signal box, the sleepers for the loop are laid out towards Packsfield Crossing.

In addition to lengthening the loop the work has enabled the sharp curve out of the loop to be eased and provided a level base for the Single Line Point which previously straddled the transition of the 1in 70 gradient to the Level of the Loop, a situation which has caused constant maintenance problems over the years. The existing signalling arrangements for Wootton Station have been abolished and will be replaced with a basic ground frame operation similar to that at Smallbrook Junction. The extensive work, carried out by a combination of the Railway's paid and volunteer staff, will be completed in time for the first trains of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway's 2008 operating season on Thursday 20th March. For more detailed reporting and photographs of the work at Wootton Station visit Track Pack, the Civil Engineering Departments monthly on-line newsletter.

Work in progress on Packsfield Crossing (above) and the finished job (below).