The station site at Woody Bay was acquired in the mid 90s, basic restoration work (mostly on and in the building) took place over the next few years.

Turf was scraped off the trackbed in August 2001. Work also went ahead on the building of a visitors car park.

The main construction of the railway started in 2002 with the base ballast going onto the formation. Track laying started that summer by hand with volunteers.

The construction of the engine shed was a few months behind track laying, but was completed in advance of opening to the public with passenger trains.

The station building was completely gutted. New services were installed, all rooms  replastered and redecorated and the building rewired. The roof was retiled and the downstairs rooms prepared for public operations.

After summer 2002, tracklaying commenced on the mainline.

The trackbed to bridge 67 was mostly unobstructed. Bridge 68 (a former cattle creep) was filled in as it had almost completely vanished and was no longer required.

Track laying to bridge 67 was completed by summer 2003 and top ballast was applied over the winter.

Train services commenced operating from Woody Bay to Bridge 67 in July 2004.

The next stretch of the line to be rebuilt was between Bridge 67 and Killington Lane.