HAVENSTREET ‘GRAND PLAN’ IS OFF THE STARTING BLOCKS

New locomotive shed and entrance building are part of proposed £5m development.

WE’RE GATHERING TOGETHER EVERYTHING WE WANT FOR THE NEXT 20 YEARS INTO ONE COHESIVE PLAN STEVE OATES

Astrategic land purchase has marked the first step in the Isle of Wight Steam Railway’s £5 million ‘Grand Plan’ for its Havenstreet headquarters. The 2.4 acre plot beyond the area known as ‘Griffin’s Field’ which houses the ‘Train Story’ stock shed, plus one acre of woodland between ‘Griffin’s Field’ and the overflow car park, will allow an extension of the headshunt serving ‘Train Story’ – and thus permit more track to be laid for upgraded locomotive facilities. A new engineering workshop and boiler shop, as well as a new running shed – all with public viewing areas – will give the IoWSR the capability to undertake major overhauls such as that of LBSCR ‘E1’ 0‑6‑0T No. W2 Yarmouth (B110 Burgundy). The existing two‑road workshop, built in 1980, could then be used either by the Carriage & Wagon Department or as a diesel maintenance depot. An improved museum and storage facility will also be added to ‘Train Story’, says director Steve Oates: “There’s a lot of stock still outdoors, and our museum offering is not quite how we’d like it to be. “So we want more covered accommodation for ‘Train Story’, and a large element of that is to house the key museum artefacts, have space to rotate temporary exhibitions… everything a great museum should be doing.” A full topographical land survey of ‘Griffin’s Field’ has been carried out, and long‑standing IoWSR member and railway civil engineer Graham Deegan has produced a track plan to fit the “tight geometry” of the area. Now the railway will obtain estimates for the construction costs, before exploring sources of external grant funding. Moving the steam shed is part of the plan to “tidy up” the area around Havenstreet station, explains Mr Oates. A new two‑storey entrance building, between the car park and shop – constructed in brick and designed in period SR style, similar to the Carriage & Wagon workshop – will incorporate a booking office and the railway’s administrative offices. The current offices – constructed under temporary planning consent in 1990 – can then be demolished. This, said Mr Oates, will “open up the vista” from the platform, leaving the “star exhibit” of the original station building (and lamp hut) in more ‘rural’ isolation, as it looked in steam days. Educational facilities currently located in the office buildings will also be moving, to an extended building which will also house extra catering space, while a ‘barn‑ like’ structure will be built in the field used for special events, in preference to hiring marquees. Mr Oates summed up: “We’re gathering together everything we want for the next 20 years into one cohesive plan, making sure that it’s what we need, and double… no, triple‑checking that it’ll all fit.”