Category: Travel

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Nene Valley Railway Closed Until Further Notice.

Mon 21st Dec 2020

Since we announced the closing of Nene Valley Railway with immediate effect, after the Government announced that Peterborough was moving into Tier 4 at midnight on Sat 19th Dec. Our dedicated team have been working tirelessly to answer all customer emails and messages. We thank all our customers for being patient with us. As you can image our inbox is very full. All requests for refunds will be honored and processed as quickly as we can do it. It is not an easy task to complete. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our customers old and new a Merry Christmas and we look forward to welcoming you all to Nene Valley Railway when it is safe to do so.

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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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92 Squadron

There is nothing better than a large steam engine to get visitors to the railway.

This weekend we ran 92 Squadron which is a great favourite.

Here are four pictures taken today.

© Robin Neighbour

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Class 66 running day

On the 27th September we have a Class 66 running day.

The Class 66 is always a popular visitor and hauls a good number of visitors when we have one running.

Here are a few images of Class 66 locomotives we have had in the past.

All images © Robert Maskill (Old Arkwright)
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Wednesday Service.

Today saw 92 Squadron hauling the services to and from Peterborough Nene Valley.

Here is a picture of it before first service.

© Robin Neighbour

This is always a popular locomotive with visitors, and has been well photographed.

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A local postcard

Here we have the two sides of a locally sent postcard.
This was sent in 1906 from Thrapston to a trooper stationed at Milton Park.
The sender informs the recipient he will be visiting on Wednesday and getting off at Overton station to walk up to the park.

Overton station is today of course a station on the Nene Valley Railway.

  • The Town Bridge
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Peterborough Main Line to Orton Mere

Over the years one of the questions I am asked on a regular basis is why we don’t have a service to Peterborough main line station.

My answer to it is, we used to….

Before our city centre station opened there was for a time a Saturday service from the main line station to Orton Mere via the Fletton loop.

Here is a DMU at Orton Mere on that service.

I wonder if many people have a ticket from making that trip? Well if you don’t then here is one from Saturday 8th June 1985.


Who knows if such a service will run again? Personally I doubt it but then again you never know.

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Short Journeys.

People seem puzzled that visitors sometimes only go one station on the railway rather than further or perhaps the whole line.

This is not new, people may just want to experience the railway, they may not feel like walking or of course it could be all they can afford.

Here is a ticket from Wansford to Castor, not exactly a long journey, but it may have been made for one of the reasons above, who knows. 6d in old money is 2 ½ p in current money.