Category: Travel

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Fifty Years Ago.

This weekend marked a very monumental milestone in the history of the NVR – 50 years since the first train in preservation ran on the railway.

The train consisted of Hudswell Clarke no.1539 “Derek Crouch” and one Mk1 and ran from the BSC site up to Wansford and return, departing at just gone 13:00 on Sunday 7th April 1974. The trip was a members special acting as a test run for the first public train on the 9th April which would carry local dignitaries.

Nathan Wilson.

Wansford – Just before excited volunteers took over – But we only had the track and signal box!
From an original posting by Kingsley Harris.
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The weekend after Easter.

I was sitting today thinking back to the weekends after Easter when I ran Orton Mere station. I remember that if we were busy over Easter the we were quiet the weekend after.

But as often seemed to happen if Easter had been a washout due to rain over the Easter weekend then the weekend after was always busy.

Somewhere on an archive drive I have the sales figures for the booking off and shop at Orton Mere. I will dig them out when I get time and have a look to 100% confirm this.

One thing I do remember are some Easter weekends with appalling weather, A couple we did not get a single visitor on the Saturday & Sunday. Not even a bedraggled dog pulling its owner!

So we will see what tomorrow and Sunday bring, I will watch the webcams with interest!

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Easter Services.

Four days of services.

Good Friday. The Pacer with services between Yarwell & Peterborough Nene Valley.

Saturday. Thomas shuttle between Wansford & Yarwell
The Peak 45041 between Wansford & Peterborough Nene Valley.

Easter Sunday. Thomas shuttle between Wansford & Yarwell
The Class 14 between Wansford & Peterborough Nene Valley.

Easter Monday. The Peak 45041 between Yarwell & Peterborough Nene Valley.

The Peak and the class 14 are both popular locomotives and Thomas on Saturday & Sunday will be an enjoyable trip for children of all ages.

Have a look on the NVR.ORG.UK web site for times etc.

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Well that went well.

Last weekend saw Danish locomotive 656 hauling passengers for the first time in 38 years.

© Nathan Merryweather.

Here it is arriving at Peterborough Nene Valley on Saturday.

It looked right hauling the three Belgian coaches and the single Danish coach. There are many members who were not even born when this locomotive was last in service.

Sunday saw it in service again, and here it is approaching Overton on its way to Peterborough.

© Tom Elston.

I have seen lots of comments from both members and visitors with very positive comments.

Without doubt this will be a popular locomotive, and it’s nice to see it back on the line.

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Nice to see.

It was nice to see the HST out last weekend.

On Saturday with passenger services and on Sunday with driver experience runs.

Semi modern and current locomotive types seem to attract visitors. These two examples the HST the class 66 locomotives have always proved popular.

It will be interesting to see how popular 656 is next weekend in its first time pulling passengers after many years out of service.

I await next weekend with interest.

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656 Back in service.

656 has today passed its loaded test runs with four coaches and will enter service on 10th and 11th February running with the air stock.

Image believed to be © Paul Roe. If this is incorrect please let me know so correct credit can be shown.

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Here we go again…

Well here we are on the first day of a new year.

Lot’s of interesting activities ahead, please keep an eye on the NVR web site for more details as they become available.

As always photographs from across the railway are always welcome. Many potential visitors read this blog. So pictures hopefully will encourage visitors to come along.

We shall see….

So happy new year to all and enjoy our railway in 2024.

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37714 has arrived

The diesel locomotive 37714 has arrived at Wansford and will be running for the next few days with photo charters and driver experience. It will be pulling services this weekend at our British Rail 1980s event. Image showing its arrival at Wansford around lunch time is © Paul Roe

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A visitor to the diesel gala in October.

The Nene Valley Railway is pleased to announce that we have arranged for Class 37 No 37714 to come on hire for the Diesel Gala. The Locomotive will also be available for our popular Driving Experience Course, and a “Jolly Fisherman” Fish and Chips train on the evening of 6th October. Its been a few years since we ran a 37 on the NVR so will be a great addition to the gala. The locomotive visit comes with thanks to the Heavy Tractor group.

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It’s a diesel weekend.

This weekend we are running a diesel service. Yesterday we had the class 14 and today we are running the Peak.

Ever since I joined the railway there have been two camps, one for and one against running diesels in the summer.

Personally I have always been of the opinion that we should, on a regular basis run all that we have available. We are not just a steam railway we are a heritage railway, a fact that many often forget about.

From when I ran Orton Mere I can count on one hand the number of times that a visitor decide not to travel because we were running diesel.

I would hazard a guess that most of our visitors have never travelled behind a steam train when they were in service on the network. but many have travelled behind diesels when they have needed to travel by rail.

So enjoy whatever we are running it is all part of our history!