Appeals and Fundraising
Rolling Stock Storage Building – Can You help?
Our Strategic Vision sets out our ideas for the next 20 or so years. During that time, we are planning many developments around the railway.
The first of these is a Rolling Stock Storage and Display Building to be built at Havenstreet, enabling the railway's unique and historic collection of Victorian and Edwardian carriages to be kept under cover when not in service, away from the harmful effects of sun, wind and rain. The plan is for a four road shed, each road capable of storing four bogie coaches or their equivalent, with a total size of some 75x25 metres. This will provide a covered storage and display facility for all of the railway's restored locomotives, carriages and wagons, including items scheduled for completion during the next 15 years under the Heritage Lottery Fund assisted Carriage & Wagon restoration programme.
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Griffins Field seen from the west end of Havenstreet Station. The single line to Wootton is to the right, the Rolling Stock Storage Building will be built on the open ground to the left. -
In a recreation of the Victorian era of rail travel, A1x 'Terrier' Class W8 'Freshwater' at the head of the unique London, Chatham and Dover Railway Push-Pull set. All of these historic railway vehicles are at least 110 years old and will benefit from the protection provided by the Rolling Stock Storage Building.
It is planned that construction will be in the form of a two bay pitched roof structure with a dividing firewall down the centre. The building will be an "off the peg" agricultural barn formed of plastic coated steel cladding over a steel portal frame. It is estimated that having the rolling stock under cover will halve the time currently spent on maintenance which obviously means far more time to spend on restoring yet more historic railway vehicles for service on the railway. Another major benefit is that the building will have public access, giving visitors the opportunity to view the achievements of the railway's restoration teams at close quarters, which is not always possible at present as carriages are often stored in sidings away from publicly accessible areas.
The railway intends to apply to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant to cover 80% of the £815,000 it is estimated the building and associated trackwork will cost. An appeal for the 'matching funding' of at least £135,000 was launched in 2006, and by October 2009 had raised £105,000. The application to the HLF is now under way and planning permission has been granted.
This project is the Isle of Wight Steam Railway's largest since the three mile long extension to Smallbrook Junction was opened eighteen years ago and will be a major step forward for the Railway and its visitors. The Heritage Lottery Fund as we know it is likely to come to an end in the next few years so it is vital that the railway's part of the money is raised as quickly as possible.
Please send your donation to:
Isle of Wight Steam Railway Rolling Stock Storage Facility Appeal
The Railway Station
Havenstreet
Ryde
Isle of Wight
PO33 4DS
or you can donate online by clicking HERE. If you are a tax payer, we can increase the value of your contribution by reclaiming the income tax you have already paid on the sum donated by using the Gift Aid scheme. Please download a Gift Aid form, and when completed please e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Please also consider remembering the Island's unique Steam Railway in your will and help ensure it can continue to educate, inform and inspire future generations