Author: Old Arkwright

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A little bit of the white stuff.

This morning we awoke to snow, well to be 100% accurate we awoke to white stuff falling and not sticking because it was just too warm.

But it’s a good mood setter for the Santa trains that start this weekend.

So to get you further in the mood here are a few pictures of the railway in the snow that I have taken over the years.

City of Peterborough leaving Ferry Meadows (Overton)

Nothing like a steam engine in steam in the snow.

Now a few general shots, starting with a shot at the east end of Ferry Meadows Station (Overton)

Here we have Orton Mere in the snow. Facing west towards Wansford.

Here is a shot at Ferry Meadows before it’s excellent refurbishment.

Winter is an excellent time for photography around the railway and Nene Park, well worth a visit even if the trains are not running.

Come and pay a visit in the winter, you will get some excellent shots.

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The pleasures of Autumn.

It was cold this morning with the temperature sitting at +1c when I surfaced.

Looking out at the frost on the house roofs and the cars reminded me of Autumn mornings on the railway.

Now I think it’s fair to say that when you ask the average person what they imagine it’s like on a heritage railway station. They will wax lyrical about sunshine, happy visitors and endless enjoyable days.

In reality that can often be wrong, in the Autumn it can be cold, bleak, dismal and foggy and that’s mid-afternoon.

In the Autumn and Winter months we used to have a saying when people asked for a soft drink. “Would you like a cold one off the side or a warm one out of the chiller?”

This is what a typical morning can be like.

Down the track towards Wansford is never better.

We would open up as normal and the odd walker or cyclist would wander in looking for warmth, they were disappointed, the staff stood outside to get warm!
The favourite comment was “I could kill for a hot drink.” This was normally from people who had no money with them. But they stood with an expectant look on their faces in case a freebie was in the offing.

They tried to look especially desperate if any of the staff were standing there with a steaming mug of hot liquid in their hands.

They would wonder off dragging their dog behind them. The staff would retire to the kitchen to await the next poor soul.

You would find somedays that you could not see the signal box from the station because of the fog or mist. The first sign of life from the box would be the signal man coming through the door clutching an empty mug.

First train would arrive, normally late, but that’s another story. The crew either warm in their diesel cab or huddled round the firebox. The guard would be well wrapped up with often just a little round red face poking out from under a cap.

Once the train had gone back to Wansford we would get the iPads out and settle down for the arrival of the second train.

Oh the excitement of an Autumn day at a station!

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The spooks special.

Halloween is a time for scary things to come out, so what better than some pictures of some of the working members being scary.

First a few words from our acting Deputy General Manager

The Thomas Halloween Event started as a basic concept idea from a general chit chat between NVR office staff, after the decision was made to pull the Wizards Express this year due to the constraints of covid and social distancing.  The chit chat ended up as an amazing brain storming session that resulted in the Halloween Trick or Treat Ghost Train being born. Over the next couple of weeks the ideas came in thick and fast and before our very eyes, what looked like a great event had been built. Tickets went live for the one day event at 3pm on a Thursday and by Monday morning it was a sell out. The decision was made to add another date of which was another sell out within the week. With our customers showing confidence in what we were doing a small dedicated team of volunteers stepped forward to help make the event the success that it was. Big thanks to you all (you know who you are) your enthusiasm, customer interaction and Halloween attire showed NVR as the amazing place that it is. I look forward to the next event.

Tracy Spring 
Acting Deputy General Manager 

Below some images from Martin Owen.

I was playing the role of Matthew Hopkins, the infamous 17th Century “Witchfinder General”, on the hunt for witches. Looks like I found a few! The pictures can be seen larger by opening them in a new window.

The Witchfinder General found his witches.

A great time was had by all, though I gather there are a couple of scorch marks up platform 2 where a couple of witches did low passes on their brooms. As yet no culprits have been found. The acting General Manager and acting Deputy General Manager are in the clear. Apparently their respective broom sticks were both declared not fit to run before the event.

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Important Dates

Here are a few important dates of the line when it was part of the big railway before part of it became The Nene Valley Railway.

BARNWELL STATION.

2nd June 1845               Barnwell Station Opened
4th May 1964                 Closed to passengers & goods

ELTON STATION.

January 1847                Elton Station Opened
7th December 1953     Station Closed

OUNDLE STATION.

2nd June 1845               Oundle Station Opened
4th May 1964                 End of timetabled services
6th November 1972       Definitive closing of station

KINGS CLIFFE STATION.

1st November 1879        Kings Cliffe Station Opened

6th June 1966                 Closed to passengers

3rd June 1968               Closed completely

NASSINGTON STATION.

1st November 1879       Nassington Station Opened

1st July 1957                 Closed to passengers

3rd August 1957             Closed to goods

26th February 1971        Closing of quarry siding and final closure.

WANSFORD STATION.
The station opened with the Northampton and Peterborough Railway from Blisworth to Peterborough in 1845. Being located on the Great North Road, it was for a few years the railhead for Grantham, Lincoln, etc., which at this time were not served by any railway lines. The branch line to Stamford opened in 1867. The route to Rugby became available when the LNWR built a line from Yarwell Junction, west of Wansford tunnel, to their existing 1850 Rugby to Stamford line at Seaton. At the same time, the Great Northern began a service from Peterborough North to Leicester Belgrave Road via Wansford, Seaton and the newly opened Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway in east Leicestershire. The Leicester trains were stopped as a war economy in 1916. The Stamford branch closed in 1929, having never properly recovered from the 1926 general strike. The station closed for regular passenger services on 1 July 1957 but passenger services from Peterborough continued to use the line to Northampton until 1964, and to Rugby until 1966. The Rugby line remained open for freight as far as the sand and gravel quarries at Nassington. When these stopped, the line closed but the track remained in situ, and the line was later reopened as The Nene Valley Railway heritage railway.

CASTOR STATION.

1845                              Castor Station Opened

1957                             Castor Station Closed

ORTON WATERVILLE/OVERTON STATION.

2nd June 1845               Orton Waterville Station opened as Overton

1st August 1913             Renamed as Orton Waterville

5th October 1942           Closed to regular passenger trains

PETERBOROUGH EAST.

2nd June 1845               Peterborough East station opened and  just named Peterborough

1923                              Renamed Peterborough East

17th April 1966               Closed to Freight

6th June 1966                Closed to passengers

21st September 1970    Reopened as parcels depot

23rd December 1970    Closed

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Recreating events.

One thing the railway often does is recreate events.

Here is a recreation of “The Pines Express” non-stop through Ferry Meadows station. This event is from April 2011.

The format of the video has been changed so hopefully more will be able to play it.

We have done both steam and diesel recreations.

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Getting the best price.

Now it’s fair to say that the majority of the general public are a pleasure to deal with. But occasionally you will get some that defy all logic when it comes to prices.

Take this gentleman and his girlfriend for example.

Let’s set the scene, it’s a nice Wednesday morning, the trains are running and we are awaiting the first service of the day from Wansford.

Into the station wanders a pleasant man and his girlfriend. He asks how much it is for a single to Peterborough, and how much a return is.

He is given the prices and stands there puzzling you can almost hear the clicking of his brain.

Then he decides that a return ticket is too expensive, so can he have two single tickets Orton Mere to Peterborough Nene Valley and then two single tickets from Peterborough Nene Valley to Orton Mere for when they return later in the day as that he decides is the best option.

His girlfriend staggers out of the station onto the platform, sits on a bench and just cracks up. But by the time he wanders out to join her with four tickets in his top pocket she has calmed down.

Ten minutes later they get on the train with him telling her he got a good deal on the tickets. Actually he spent around £5 more than he needed to.

I have no idea what they did in the end because they did not return on any train.

It was just a normal Wednesday!!

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Knowing the route.

One question we have been asked many times is why somebody coming off the main line needs a pilot.

One reason of course is their lack of knowledge about the line and where things like points, crossings and other restrictions are.

This is normally met with the comment the line is not that long how many can there be? The answer been more than you probably realise.

Here are a couple of excellent videos by John Wood which for want of a better description show what is where. The first is Yarwell to Peterborough Nene Valley and the second is that route in reverse. My thanks to John for allowing me to use them on the blog.

Yarwell to Peterborough Nene Valley © John Wood
Peterborough Nene Valley to Yarwell © John Wood

I hope you found the above useful and informative.

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The Slip Coach

For some strange reason over the years I have been asked on a fairly regular basis if the railway ever used slip coaches.

Looking at this video I am sure you will realise that the answer is no!!

Mind you would perhaps be interesting on Castor Bank.

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It’s been one year.

This weekend it is one year since the wife and I opened Orton Mere Station for the last time.

We decided that it was time for somebody else to have a go running the station, I ran it for fourteen years.

There were good times and there were bad times! But my one main memory is of the excellent people I worked with there over the years. I won’t attempt to name any names as I am bound to forget some.

The pandemic has for this year put the skids on somebody opening it, but I hope than next year somebody is enjoying running it as much as I did.

So if you’re a member of the railway and fancy having a go at running a station contact Kim at the office and I am sure she would love to hear from you.

As for me I will just sit and look back at the many pictures I have of my time there, and enjoy every one.

So if you’re one of the poor souls who drew the short straw and worked at Orton Mere while I ran it then my thanks to you I am grateful and, without exception enjoyed working with you..

Orton Mere Station.