Now in her 55th year in preservation, the locomotive has been overhauled three times. The current work started in 2017 and has progressed to the stage where re-assembly of the frames, wheels and motion is gathering momentum in the NVR workshops at Wansford. The boiler, with the 70-year old steel fabric needing a most comprehensive overhaul,
Help is Needed
Thanks to generous donations from individuals and from the Peterborough City Council the overhaul has been able to proceed quite well, although the Covid-19 pandemic has had direct and indirect effects. But we need more money, the estimated cost to complete the overhaul is over £500,000 and funds are currently about half that amount. We’re running a series of programmes to suit all pockets.. We hope that one of them will appeal to your kindness.
Work has commenced on 12 to 14 weeks. of refurbishment work on the box.
The box was built in 1907 by the LNWR, and is one of the largest signal boxes in preservation and in its original location.
Currently surrounded by scaffolding, it’s ready for the work to commence.
Should you wish to make a donation towards the cost of the work to preserve the box for many years to come please contact the office at the railway on 01780-784444. You donation will be most welcome irrespective of the amount.
Well yet again I have heard comments that the railway is quiet at the moment until the Santa trains start at the end of November.
How wrong a statement that is!!
Let us take the coming week shall we.
Saturday starts with a steam driver experience day with 92 Squadron, an event that never ceases to be popular. There is still a big appeal in driving a steam locomotive.
Sunday brings us a running day with the Swedish Railcar, doing four runs each way. The railcar is popular with visitors, if only perhaps because of it being so unusual.
Monday to Friday brings something a little different. The crossing gates at Wansford are due to be replaced, and the new gates have been constructed in-house by some very skilled members.
Thursday brings us a private charter up the line,.Charters like this are popular with people who for a variety of reasons want their own train.
This brings us back to Saturday and another four each way railcar service.
So there you have it a week in the life of the railway heading towards Winter. So much for not a lot happening!!!
Peterborough’s two railway charities, Railword Wildlife Haven and the Nene Valley Railway are proud to learn that their joint proposal for a future home for the old station buildings from Wansford Road has been accepted by National Highways. The buildings were slated for demolition to clear a path for much-needed road improvements dualling the A47 between the A1 at Wansford and Sutton – this is the final dual-carriageway link between the A1 and northern Peterborough. Work will start in 2023 to carefully dismantle the buildings and pack numbered stones onto pallets for transport to the Railworld site next to the Peterborough Nene Valley station on the south bank of the Nene, where they will be rebuilt, with sympathetic restoration of some original features that have been lost over the years. The charities are very grateful to National Highways, who are donating over £200K towards the cost of the move. Once complete, the buildings will serve both Railworld and the Nene Valley Railway as a gateway to their services and attractions.
Railworld Wildlife Haven is a charity in Peterborough which has a nature haven, a model railway and other exhibits. It is located on a landscaped former coal storage yard which once served Peterborough Power Station. https://www.railworld.org.uk/
Nene Valley Railway is a charity that runs a preserved railway westward up the Nene Valley from Peterborough to East Northamptonshire. Both Steam and Diesel, British and European trains run regularly through the year. https://nvr.org.uk/
Tomorrow the 8th January marks the first running day of 2022 for the railway.
Let us hope that it’s not as difficult and unpredictable as the last few years when many things have happened that nobody could predict. They led to closedowns, disrupted & limited services and cancelled events.
To all those who have supported the railway through the difficult time and continue to do so. Thank You!
The railways biggest asset are it’s working members and paid staff. This has often been said. So if you plan to visit the railway then just remember that without the people working around you there may have been nowhere to visit.
Enjoy visiting us in 2022, you will be very welcome.
Hudswell Clarke no.1539 ‘Derek Crouch’ – Nathan Wilson
Hudswell Clarke no.1539 is an 0-6-0 saddle tank locomotive of the ‘Countess of Warwick’ class locomotive. The locomotive was delivered new to McAlpine & Sons on the 23rd July 1924, and worked for them on a variety of different contracts across the country including Tilbury and Southampton dock extensions and at Cheddar reservoir.
The loco then passed to John Mowlem & Co. and was named ‘Hayle’ and worked at ROF Swynnerton and Workington breakwater.
In 1944 the loco passed ownership again, this time to the Ministry of Agriculture and moved to the Wissington Light Railway, supplying the link from Wissington sugar beet factory and the surrounding farms to the mainline at Stoke Ferry. Here the loco would travel along the 18 miles of line collecting produce to take to the factory and then outwards to the exchange sidings for collection by a mainline locomotive for distribution around the country. In 1947 no.1539 was sent to Doncaster works of the LNER for overhaul, and for a short period after was used as works shunter before returning to Wissington.
In 1957, the loco along with other parts of the Wissington Light Railway were sold to TW Ward & Co, but was soon sold on to Derek Crouch Contractors and was located at their opencast site in Widdrington, Northumberland in 1958. It was here the loco gained the name ‘Derek Crouch’ after the company’s owner. By 1969 the loco was out of use and was moved to Derek Crouch’s headquarters at Eye, just outside of Peterborough, and in April 1972 was given to the Peterborough Railway Society, which would soon become the Nene Valley Railway.
The first train
On Sunday the 7th April 1974, at the head of one BR Mk1 carriage, ‘Derek Crouch’ hauled the first train in preservation along the new Nene Valley Railway, filled with members of the railway, leaving the society HQ at Peterborough sugar beet factory and up to the soon to be new main base of Wansford. Here the loco ran round, collected a wagon that had been delivered for the society and after a short while headed back to the factory, a return journey of approximately 10 miles. A couple of days later the train was repeated, this time for local dignitaries and officials to examine the newly preserved line.
Hauling the coach and the wagon.
‘Derek Crouch’ ran at the Wansford open days, but as bigger locomotives arrived, the engine was laid up out of use. It became the Wansford gate guardian and was plinthed at the entrance to the station until the new station building was built, where it was moved and positioned in a siding with the other out of traffic locos until the 2000s where it was moved undercover for the first time in almost 40 years.
In 2012, and looking for a project, I began a cosmetic restoration on the loco, which very quickly became evident it needed much more than just a needle gun and repaint. The restoration took two years, and I was joined with two other members, Jake (17) and Joe (19), and myself being 22 when the project started. We formed The Small Loco Group, and learnt a variety of skills, such as machining, welding, plate forming, power tools amongst other things, as well as taking two other locos under our umbrella, a 16” Hunslet ‘Jacks Green’ that used to work at Nassington Ironstone Quarry which we have also undertaken a cosmetic restoration, and a Danish F class tank engine no.656 which is coming to the end of an overhaul led by a team of volunteers we have assisted with.
Before and after cosmetic restoration.
Myself and Joe have both trained and qualified as boilersmiths through the BESTT (Boiler Engineering Skills Training Trust) and Jake is a qualified machinist, so between us we have acquired the skills and knowledge over time to be able to bring skills in house to the group to be able to restore the engines to operational condition. The group has since expanded and now as around 15 members, all predominantly aged between 18-30, which is brilliant for keeping the heritage skills alive in the younger generation for the future.
‘Derek Crouch’ was picked as our first full overhaul to undertake for a variety of reasons – it is a small loco, so is manageable for a group of new volunteers learning skills to work on, and isn’t something that through size alone becomes daunting, 2024 sees the locomotive turn 100 and also sees the 50th anniversary of the first train in preservation pulled along the Nene Valley by ‘Derek Crouch’ – which the 7th April also falling on a Sunday just like it did 50 years ago. The locomotive also has a place in many of the hearts of our older members and is one of the railways first locomotives. It has a rich history and heritage behind it, and is also one of only three of the class preserved.
The strip down for the locomotive began in August 2020, with the boiler removed after just two weeks of work.
The chassis then went into our running shed for further dismantling over a pit to give better access, while the boiler was de-tubed ready for inspection.
The boiler de-tubed
With the motion removed the frames were taken back outside to be pressure washed. It was at this point a crack was discovered on the back of the left hand cylinder casting. The back cover was removed, and as the nuts were loosened the casting started to move slightly. With the cover removed, it soon became evident it was a fairly serious crack running from the top of the back face, down to9 the bore and then approximately 2/3s the length of the bore itself. At this point a repair procedure was thought up, with metal stitching and cylinder liners a good option. However as the block was cleaned up it soon became evident it was at the end of its life, the structural webs showing severe corrosion, and the top of the block thinning in places, so much so a hole appeared behind the steam inlet flange. The plan changed at this point from repair to replace.
We have been extremely lucky to have been awarded a grant for £20,000 by the AIA (Association for Industrial Archaeology towards the overhaul of the loco. This has been a massive award for the project, as this will see the cost of the replacement block cast and machined ready for the loco to re-enter service. It is also able to support the cost of other works needed, such as tyre turning and journal work on the wheelsets, making of new parts for the new chimney, material for replacement sections of the back of the frames and doubling plates, and will also go towards the cost of new material for new bearings. Without the awarding of the grant the project would definitely not be in such a good position as it is now, and has played a massive part in providing a bright future for ‘Derek Crouch’. The locomotive is currently in the Heavy Overhaul Workshop at Wansford, and is able to be viewed from our public viewing gallery.
We are looking to raise a total of £35,000 which should see the locomotives overhaul complete. We currently have raised approximately £30,000 but we still need to raise more to see the job through. If you would like to support us, please consider donating to our project, either by sending donations into the railway FAO Nathan Wilson, or via our JustGiving page on the link below. A contribution to JustGiving is voluntary, and can be removed by selecting ‘other’ and entering £0.00 if you would only like to contribute to our appeal. Any donation, no matter how great or small is always greatly appreciated by our team and will go to supporting heritage skills in the younger generation as well as returning a near centurion to steam, for the first time in almost 50 years!
Today, I am really proud to announce, that Nene Valley Railway has been awarded £479,675 by Arts Council England in its second round of Awards.
This massive boost to our railway will help restore our reserves that we have had to use during 2020, and sustain us for the next few months as we continue to move towards ‘the light at the end of tunnel’
Mike Kerfoot, our Chairman, reminded me in his statement, that NVR has one of the longest tunnels on any preserved railway, and our journey to that light at the end has often been a hard one. But, today, with such fabulous news to share, that light has become brighter and together we can get to the end of the tunnel feeling a huge sense of achievement.
I would personally like to thank all the staff, volunteers and supporter of our railway for all they have given in the past 12 mths – without that support I do not know how we would have managed.
Kick start our Locomotive Shed appeal with a once in a lifetime, Railwayman for a day prize draw. We need to raise over £4000 to wooden clad our metal container to protect and secure it and create a traditional looking Locomotive shed.
The winner will spend a day on the NVR
Take breakfast with our Steam Locomotive Crew and see the locomotive up and close in the yard. Guided tour of the Locomotive sheds Tour of the Wansford Signalbox Take to the footplate for 15 miles of steam action on our duty steam locomotive Tour of the miniature railway Finish the day off with a full round trip in the carriages Souvenir Certificate to remember your day.
To enter our prize draw make a contribution of £10 or more via the prize draw button below, you can enter as many times as you like. and or add further donations, Draw will take place on 31st March 2021. The winner will be contacted and a date arranged subject to Covid conditions, the winner must be 18 years of age or over.
