The Wenhaston Station Project

The Story So Far...

In December 2012 Suffolk Coastal District Council rejected the application by the Southwold Railway Trust to build a replica station and visitor centre on a site in the Suffolk village of Wenhaston, and to reopen a half-mile working railway including 22 chains of the original Southwold Railway trackbed.

Following consultation with the planning authorities, local residents and its own members, the Board members have decided not to appeal against this planning refusal unless our new, revised application is also refused. Instead a revised, scaled-down new proposal was submitted at the end of April 2013.

The Revised Wenhaston Station Proposal

The issues that caused the last application to be rejected included the size of the proposed visitor centre, the number of operating days and the size of the proposed car park. In order to address these points the new planning application includes:

• A revised station and track layout in order to reduce the impact of the railway on the greenfield site, and to overcome concerns about the floodplain of the River Blyth.
• Instead of a visitor centre, replicas of the two buildings that originally occupied the site - the station building itself and the Freeman coal shed.
• Operating for just 30 days a year.
• No car parking. All access will be by excursion bus travel, public transport (28 Anglian buses pass the site each day), foot or cycle. Only registered disabled visitors will be permitted to park on site, in keeping with the Trust's intention of encouraging environmentally friendly tourism within the Blyth Valley.

The railway will still operate over 22 chains of the original Southwold Railway track bed, will be built to 3ft gauge, and trains will ultimately be hauled by a replica Sharp Stewart 2-4-0 Steam locomotive "Blyth"

Land Purchase

The Southwold Railway Trust has raised sufficient finance and loans to be in a position to purchase the 31-acre Wenhaston site, which includes the 22 chains of trackbed. It has therefore been decided to proceed with the purchase, regardless of the outcome of the planning application, because this is a unique opportunity to ensure the preservation of a length of trackbed under the ownership of the trust.

This is a "now or never" decision, and even if no railway is built at this time, the route can still be enjoyed as a footpath until such time as the Trust succeeds with any future planning applications.

Further donations to help reduce our loans and secure a length of track bed under the ownership of the trust will still be much appreciated. Click here to find out more about the 22 Club, where you can help us by sponsoring any length of track from one inch to one or more chains!

To read more about this project download the Design and Access Statement (PDF 6mb)