Visting 2MT 78018 catches the last rays of sunshine as it climbs Castor Bank with the last train of the day. 2nd January 2017.
Jason’s Picture of the month December 2021
The Swedish Railcar
During November and January the Swedish Railcar will be operating. It is popular with visitors.
A number of people have asked for a close up picture of it. So here it is.
Jason’s Picture of the Month November 2021
On Remembrance Sunday in 2018 92 Squadron is framed by mother nature on Castor bank complete with red poppy wreath on the smokebox to 100 years since the end of the First World War.
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.
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.
When a weekend just flows.
When we look back at previous years we tend to remember the special events, Thomas weekends and galas etc.
We tend to forget for want of a better description “The normal weekends.” Where everything just flows. When the trains run on time, the sun shines and we have some really nice visitors.
See you’re remembering some now. The weekends where you sit down on a Sunday afternoon and think to yourself. I enjoyed that!
You may find when you think back that there are more normal weekends than you thought there were.
These weekends are important to the railway as they bring in revenue and more importantly Profit!
So when you realise it’s just a normal weekend, enjoy it, after all enjoying volunteering at the railway is what it’s all about.
The River Nene in Flood April 1998
Often over the years visitors have looked with doubt when I have explained how the Nene Floods around Orton Mere. Here are a few pictures from April 1998, regretfully I don’t know the copyright info. If you do please let me know.
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.
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.
Jason’s Photo of the Month September 2021
I would like to dedicate this photo to former NVR driver and Steam inspector Peter Richardson who sadly passed away last month. A4 60009 Union of South Africa opens up at Longueville Junction during a photo charter in September 2017 with Peter Richardson at the controls.
Jason Isaac
The Orton Mere Signal Box
A few months ago we published pictures of the inside of Wansford Signal Box. So now it’s the turn of the Orton Mere Signal Box.
Now I know it’s not very large, and I still remember when we had the allotment at the station a visitor asking me if it was a potting shed.
So here are some internal shots of the box.
Pictures © Keith Parkinson. My thanks to Keith for taking and sending me the pictures.
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.
So there you have it, the hub of the station on running days.
All images are © Kim Shaw.