Category: Joining the railway

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The First Weekend

Well that’s the first weekend of the visit by Flying Scotsman out of the way.

Sitting at home looking after two web cams and answering questions and posting train details I must say I enjoyed it.

Yes, I would loved to have opened Orton Mere, but I realise that’s not going to happen again. But I got the pleasure of exchanging information about the event with not only locals and UK visitors but with people as faraway as Argentina and Canada.

Explaining about heritage railways, our general aims, aspirations and goals. Now you may well say did that bring in money for the railway and I must admit in the case of our overseas visitors I doubt it. but, perhaps some of our locals and UK connections learnt something new, perhaps we sowed seeds of interest, you never know. To survive heritage railways need young blood, we need keen young minds that can approach things differently.

One of the visitors to the cams, mentioned how few youngsters were to be seen, there were some but the percentage did not look that great.

So perhaps next time you see a young visitor, stop and say hello, communicate with them and show interest. Now I am aware many do this but equally many do not. It costs nothing but it can reap rewards.

So lets enjoy the rest of Flying Scotsman’s visit and not forget Britannia straight after it.

Have fun and with luck it will be a great year not only for the railway but also for each of us.

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Merry Christmas

Well here we are at the end of another year, and another Santa Season.

Here’s to 2025 being a successful and profitable year for the railway.

If you are local to not only The Nene Valley Railway but another heritage railway, please give it your support through membership and volunteering. If you can’t volunteer you can still join snd give your support that way.

Have a great Christmas and a good 2025.

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Peterborough Nene Valley Station.

After being unstaffed for a considerable period of time. Peterborough Nene Valley has been brought back to life over the last few years by a small team of volunteers led by Tony King formed  from the Platform Staff and assisted by other departments at the Railway.

The Station plays an important role at the Railway as the entrance point and first impression for the majority of our passengers  who use public transport to visit the Railway as well as many city based visiting passengers, especially with its location within the city and next door to our friends at Railworld. The Wagon Group can often be seen at weekends working on various items of Freight Rolling Stock as well.

As you can see from the pictures, a lot of work has gone on to develop the appearance of the site and the Station is manned on running days now which enhances the visitor and volunteer experience. Inside the building we have developed information boards about the railways history both as part of the network and the preservation movement, the railway history of what the site used to be, (it was a loco shed and yard and not a station), we’ve also got may little artefacts of various sorts of heritage and railway history

We fundraise to develop the site ourselves, largely through the sale of books, dvd’s and jigsaws and have been very successful so far, the next job will be to replace the daggerboards outside the building to enhance it even further. We don’t charge for Platform Tickets so come along and have a look on a running day and chat with the volunteers and all donations in terms of things to sell or financial in person  are always most welcome as we work to make PNV even better for all and demonstrate our pride in the NVR!

Thomas Woolley.