Places to Visit in Brading
Brading Station
The Town Council initiated a project (Gateways) with the aim of completely restoring the building to its former Victorian glory, to include in the long term the restoration of the eastern platform, its buildings and signal box. The building would be open to the public as a Railway Heritage Exhibition and Visitor Centre. The later, an effort to encourage people to come to Brading on the train and visit the many and varied interesting local attractions and to savour Brading’s rich heritage and environment.
Phase 1 was completed in March 2006; this was the restoration of the buildings on the western platform. Every effort has been made to restore as near to original as possible, taking into account modern day needs and sustainability. Grants have been secured from Leader +, South East England Development Agency and the Railway Heritage Trust. These will fund the restoration, maintenance and staffing of the building until December 2007.
Brading Station now houses a Visitor Centre and Railway Heritage Exhibition where people can view details of the history of the Isle of Wight Railway, gather tourist information, purchase gifts and refreshments and hire bikes to explore the Island on. At the end of 2007 this project will need to become sustainable, the Town Council with the support of the community can fund elements of the project but more funds will be required. All of the profit from these sales will be ploughed back into the project to help sustain it in the long term.
Phase 2 will (we hope) be undertaken in 2007 / 2008; this will be the restoration of the eastern platform, the buildings and the signal box. The area will also be landscaped.
The Town Council is aiming to become a “Green Town”. In 2006 the Station achieved a silver award in the Green Island scheme. Next year we wish to achieve Gold standard. Hence any activity at the Station will be, as far as possible, environmentally friendly.
Take a trip to Brading Station to view the fascinating Railway Heritage Exhibition and view this exciting project.
Contact details:
Brading Town Council
The Brading Centre
West Street
Brading
Isle of Wight
PO36 ORD
Tel: 01983 401770 or
01983 401222
email: townclerk@brading.gov.uk