To allow the railway's collection of Victorian and Edwardian carriages to be kept undercover, away from the effects of weather and vandals, a rolling stock storage and display building has been built at Havenstreet.

A four-road shed, with each road capable of storing four bogie coaches or their equivalent, amounting to a total size of 75 by 25 metres[3] has been built, and track work is currently[when?]

However most of these lines were relatively poorly maintained and had a low level of traffic, reflecting the general isolation and poverty of the island.

These factors meant that the island's railways could rarely afford to acquire new locomotives or rolling stock and instead relied on using already elderly equipment transferred from the mainland.

Then, in 1971, the Isle of Wight Railway Co. Ltd. was formed to buy the 1+1⁄2-mile (2 km) length of track between Wootton and Havenstreet.

It is unlikely that the full extent will ever be restored as there is now a road on the site of Newport station and houses have been built on another part of the former line.

However a stretch of trackbed from Wootton to the outskirts of Newport at Halberry Lane is still free from development and could in theory be used in the future.

Another possible extension is one from Smallbrook Junction to Ryde St John's Road station,[4] using one of the two Island Line tracks on this stretch.