Appeals and Fundraising

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 40th Anniversary Appeal' - Re-Creating an Edwardian Country Terminus in the Style of The Isle of Wight Central Railway

The once extensive Isle of Wight Central Railway is now all but extinct. Very few of the former buildings, structures and artefacts remain anywhere on the Island. However, the IW Steam Railway is fortunate to have been able to save and preserve one former IW Central locomotive, No. 11 ‘Newport’, and two goods van bodies.

Our 40th Anniversary Appeal will create a piece of living history, bringing to life another long-forgotten era in Island railway history

The Isle of Wight Central Railway

At its peak The Isle of Wight Central Railway (IWC) owned 29½ miles of railway line on the Island. The company was formally created in 1887 with the amalgamation of the Cowes and Newport Railway, the IW (Newport Junction) Railway, and the Ryde and Newport Railway – This latter railway included Wootton Station and what is now the 5-mile IW Steam Railway.

The IWC operated successfully during the latter part of Queen Victoria’s reign, through the Edwardian era and the First World War, until, together with all of the Island’s railways, it was absorbed into the Southern Railway in 1923.

Wootton Station

The section of line from Havenstreet to Wootton was constructed in 1873 as part of the Ryde and Newport Railway, and opened on Monday 20th December 1875. Wootton Station opened the following March, and was in a deep cutting alongside a three arch bridge carrying Beech Road (now Station Road) over the line. In 1907, a station masters’ house was constructed high above the station and to the east of the bridge there was a 110ft siding worked from a ground frame.

The station closed on Monday 21st September 1953, and the line closed to passengers in February 1966. Wootton lay dormant until 24th January 1971 when four trains moving the IW Steam Railway’s rolling stock to Havenstreet passed through.

Wootton has been the western terminus of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway since 1971. The original station site proved to be unstable due to the difficult clay subsoil, so the cutting was filled-in together with the whole area beneath Station Road bridge which still exists under the road.

The Steam Railway created its new terminus a couple of hundred yards to the east. The track layout was commissioned in 1977 and the current platform and structures, which comprise a former Ryde Pier-head booking office, a signalbox from Freshwater, and an old parcels van body, were added during the early 80s. Quaint but functional, these facilities were first opened to passengers in May 1986.

Under the Steam Railway’s Strategic Vision, it is now intended to restyle Wootton Station into a typical IWC terminus of the early 1900s.

Our 40th Anniversary Appeal is seeking to raise just £40,000 to make this a reality.

Creating an Isle of Wight Central Railway Country Terminus

The image at the top of this page shows an artist’s impression of our IWC Station (by railway artist Matthew Cousins), with former IWC locomotive No. 11 ‘Newport’ and a restored IWC van alongside the platform.

The building will be based on the former IWC station building which once stood at Havenstreet. It will contain a ticket office, waiting room and toilets. Mains services will be installed at the same time, and station lighting will help us achieve our ambition to introduce after-dark running on the Railway.

We wish to install traditional wooden post signals which currently do not exist anywhere on the Railway and indeed are very rare on any heritage railway. A new siding may be constructed incorporating a loading bay to display goods wagons for our visitors to inspect at close quarters, something that has never been possible before.

Finally, period advertising hoardings, signs, artefacts and other details appropriate to the era will all ensure we create a country terminus with a truly unique atmosphere.

The Appeal

How Your Help can Make a Difference

The Isle of Wight Steam Railway is a registered educational charity and all funds raised through this appeal will help meet our continuing objectives to preserve, to restore, and to educate.

The target for our 40th Anniversary Appeal is just £40,000

The successful completion of our Appeal will ensure that an important era in our Island’s once rich railway heritage is recreated, opening-up a lost chapter in Island history and furthering our Railway’s charitable objectives.

Will you help re-create an Edwardian country terminus for present and future generations to visit, learn from and enjoy?

Please send your donation to:

You can also donate using your credit card, by telephoning Liz King at the Steam Railway, on 01983 882204, 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 di.akers@iwsteamrailway.co.uk

Thank you for your support.

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

Download our Legacy leaflet.