Category: Welcome

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Except for the Santa trains the railway is dead in the winter!

The Polish Tank Engine on Santa duties

Over the years I have lost count of the number of people who would comment every autumn that except for the Santa trains the railway was dead in late autumn & winter.

This of course is far from the truth. In both November and January we are running services, yes it’s just the railcar but it’s still a service and the Swedish railcar is popular with many visitors. Not to mention we have some steam driver experience days.

But that’s not all that will be going on. Remember that it’s a busy period in the office with plans for next year. As well as enquiries and the normal work that has to be done to keep the railway running through the year.

No doubt down in the shed people will be working away at both routine maintenance as well as rebuilds etc.

The cafe will be open at weekends and Wednesdays, which hopefully will encourage people to visit on non-running days and help with both turnover and profit for the railway in the process.

Around the railway there will be maintenance along the line, the civils will no doubt be out and about making sure that the line is clear and safe for the trains that will use it.

As usual the monthly electronic newsletter for working members will be prepared and sent out on the 1st of the month.

So next time somebody says that the railway is dead in the winter point out those working members and paid staff that will be working to make sure that we have a safe, busy and profitable railway in the coming year.

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Look Mom it’s a train.

The Fletton loop is an important part of the railway, it’s our link to the outside world railway wise.

From time to time we run trips for visitors down it, normally either with brake vans or the Swedish railcar. We even did a weekend of cab rides in a couple of class 31’s down there, they were extremely popular.

But it’s rare that we put the MK1 coaches down there, and when we do they are top and tailed as there is no run round at the far end.

So last weekend was the Three Peaks diesel gala, and one of the highlights on the Saturday and Sunday were two trips for the Mk1’s down the Fletton loop each of the two days with peak locomotives at one end and a class 14 at the other.

They were popular and I have seen lots of positive comments.

Here are some pictures sent to me by Harry Wheeler who was visiting the railway and he took them on the Fletton loop.

My thanks to him for sending the pictures they are much appreciated.

© Harry Wheeler.
Over Celta Road Bridge © Harry Wheeler.
© Harry Wheeler.

If you visit the railway and have any pictures you would like to send me for the blog then I would love to receive them. Please send them with full details to the email address for comments that’s on the right had side of the blog.

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The Wansford Station Masters Office

Part of the Barnwell building on platform 2 houses the Station Masters office.

This has been refurbished in recent years, and here are some pictures of how it looks today.

© Kim Shaw
© Kim Shaw
© Kim Shaw

Should you visit Wansford then take a look at this office, well worth the visit to see what can be achieved on a refurbishment with some effort.

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The Wansford Booking Office.

One place that people rarely think about except when validating or buying tickets is the booking office. Not realising that it houses a crack squad trained to extract money with the least amount of pain.

Here are a few pictures of the booking office.

The Booking Hall.
Where you part with your money.
The nerve centre.
You too can have one of these for a couple of pounds!

So there you have it, the hub of the station on running days.

All images are © Kim Shaw.

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All clear!! Or is it?

Well a lot of the restrictions are being lifted on Monday, the railway will not have a restriction on seating numbers and the rover ticket is being reintroduced.

The question is of course is for how long? The number of infections, especially amongst the young is skyrocketing.

So all the railway can do is as much as it can to make visitors enjoy a visit without being restricted or limited.

So we shall see how it goes, we can of course do nothing more, but personally at the moment I feel like I do on a bright summers day.

It won’t last!

Please note these views are mine and do not represent any policies of the railway now or in the future.

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Visitors for a bit of simulation.

On Thursday 10th June, we had a visit from Armstrong Powerhouse to record every single sound of 45041 Royal Tank Regiment.

There was plenty of stopping and starting and lots of noise. They make sound packs for the leading online train simulator to make the experience sound as realistic as possible.

They got everything they wanted and have said how very helpful the NVR has been for organising this.

This is their second visit, as they came to record sounds from 31271 a few years ago but I’m sure it won’t be their last visit. 

Below are some images from the day.

My thanks to Harvey Harrison for some of the above text and all the images below.

© Harvey Harrison
© Harvey Harrison Microphones in place
© Harvey Harrison Checking things at Overton Station
© Harvey Harrison Running round at Yarwell Station

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Well that’s the first few weeks out of the way.

Here we are with services running again on the railway. Granted it may not be as many as we would like to run and we are running with reduced capacity. But we are running!

It’s nice to see visitors back at the railway enjoying themselves.

We have lots of events planned, the most notable being Thomas’ 50th birthday bash at the end of the month. Plus of course the The Steam EnGIN Express on the 24th July. I will be interested to see how the event goes. I feel that it will be popular and hopefully become a regular perhaps yearly event.

This coming Saturday the 12th of June sees the Wansford Miniature Railway Grand Opening. A lot of work has gone into the miniature railway’s construction and it will without doubt be popular.

Locomotives in Steam and on Display

Steam Locomotive Sweet Pea “Holly”
Steam Locomotive War Department No 90776 Royal Anglian Regiment 
Steam Locomotive GWR King “King Edward II”
Steam Locomotive GWR Parire No 4588
Steam Locomotive Sweet Pea “Joe”
Battery Electric Class 14 No 9520
Battery Electric 08 No 08679
Under Overhaul LNER B1 Roedeer on Display
Sweet Pea 

  • For the Opening of the Miniature Railway Train Services are £1 per return trip, tickets purchased on the day from the Miniature Railway 
  • Miniature Freight Train
  • Miniature Railway Shop with a selection of fund rasing items for sale
  • Miniature Traction Engines in Steam 
  • Special Celebration First Day Postal Covers
  • Blue Circle in Steam
  • Social Distancing is to maintained at all times in line with Government guidelines 
  • The NVR will be running main line Steam services on the day
  • Refreshments available at Wansford Station. 
  • All attractions subject to availability and Covid restrictions 
  • Please note to travel on the miniature railway you must be in possession of a Platform ticket or Main Travel ticket.  

If you’re visiting the railway please give it your support.

So lets look forward to a summer of trains and visitors.

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The magic of The Nene Valley Railway.

When I joined the railway some sixteen years ago people often commented about the magic of the Nene Valley Railway, and I never quite understood what they were on about.

Today I am sitting here watching families arrive at Wansford Station, and see them showing their young children the view through the gates. I see the children hopping from one foot to another excitedly, looking forward to seeing Thomas and having a trip behind him.

Then I see the adults smiling as well already enjoying their visit and looking forward to what’s ahead.

Looking at that I now understand what people mean when they talk about the magic of the Nene Valley Railway.