Nene Valley Railway

926 heading away from the River Nene and towards Castor on a sunny but windy Saturday afternoon. An impressive beast for sure!

 

Yesterday saw a Freight Experince day with 926 working a number of round trips with the NVR's excellent rake of wagons.
For once the weather gods smiled on me.

Orton Mere
926 'REPTON' ORTON MERE NVR by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

Lynch Bridge
926 'REPTON' LYNCH BRIDGE NVR by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

Wansford - with some artistic license taken with Repton's tender profile.
926 'REPTON' WANSFORD NVR by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

 

The Wagon Group are running another freight experience, this time with a Western loco.

120 quid for a half day, two round trips, two sessions on footplate with opportunity to drive and fire (each half day has 8 participants, so you rotate turns on the footplate - should total at least half hour on footplate). Ride in the brake van on a loose coupled freight when not on the footplate.

Refreshments included - breakfast bap for morning participants, light lunch for afternoon participants. Space for one guest to ride with you in brake van.

https://nvr.org.uk/product.php/93/weston-goods-freight-driver-experience

 

Hi!
Just a quick question about the running fleet at the Nene Valle Railway.
Is the huge Danish pacific class E still located at this railway?

Knut

 

Hi! I believe the E class actually belongs to Railworld which is adjacent to the Peterborough NVR station and has a lot of close links with NVR. My understanding is that the E class was a restoration project being undertaken by the NVR young volunteers, under the leadership of the International Railway Preservation Society (IRPS). The loco still features on the websites of both organisations:

https://www.railworld.org.uk
http://www.irps-wl.org.uk

Hope this helps.

Stu

 

Hi Knut,

The E class is actually at Railworld, a separate entity next to the NVR Peterborough station. That said, NVR volunteers are still working on the cosmetic restoration.

The asbestos insulation was removed about 3 weeks ago.
See the below update on Facebook (you don't require a Facebook account to view it)

https://www.facebook.com/648440498634871/posts/1769628179849425/

 

Thanks a lot Stu!

 

That`s great!

thanks a lot for the link chrishallam!

 

I think mine and Stu's replies crossed!

Yes, it still comes under the broad banner of IRPS, though over the last couple of years the main focus of the group has been at Overton.

We've had groups from Denmark look over the loco in the past and have stated it's in excellent condition, so I'd like to think at some stage in the future it could steam again.

Also, the IRPS website is horribly out of date. A new Nightmail/Overton website is due for release shortly and them attention will turn to the IRPS website.

 

Having ventured out for lunch at Wansford today, it was nice to see some shunting activity in the yard: a Mk. 1 clearly a work in progress but much more exciting for me was to see a Gresley 'teak' being shunted about, attached to a plywood-bodied van I do hope one day we'll see that Gresley coach in service.

I noticed leaflets in the café pushing Overton as a destination in its own right. Very pleased with that, it has a lovely ambience in the tea room and as one of my favourite local tea rooms is closing next week, maybe this will become a new destination.

 

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Nene Valley Railway today - brake van ride behind the Sentinel on the left and of course, a passenger ride behind 6430.

Enjoyed the model railway exhibition greatly

 

Unfortunately, Pannier 6430 has been recalled to Llangollen, so there will be a change of locomotive for the Wagon Group's Freight Driving Experience on 5th July. It will either be Austerity 3193 or 92 Squadron - I'll confirm which as soon as I know!

I think the booking link has changed too, so it is now here (places still available for both morning or afternoon): https://nvr.org.uk/product.php/93/g...7_-7LzF4Q0-0VQYj0UYVU9XTmxU4XUQ9wX5cKzOpOc9hc

 

Freight Driving Experience on 5th July now Southern themed as motive power has been confirmed to be SR Bulleid BoB Class 34081 "92 Squadron" (usually subject to availability blah etc).

Afternoon filling up rapidly, still spaces on the morning session.

https://nvr.org.uk/product.php/93/goods-freight-driver-experience

 

6430 arriving at Wansford on its last day in traffic before returning to Llangollen later this week.
GWR 6400 0-6-0PT no.6430 WANSFORD NVR by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

 

So... what's up with the track that's preventing running to Yarwell?

 

The pw guys are in the middle of replacing some points and until that's done, Yarwell is out of bounds.

 

An issue with the point at the tunnel end of the loop I believe, meaning replacement/repair is required. See the Facebook page for a picture of work in progress.
https://www.facebook.com/161392454014566/posts/1390563321097467/?substory_index=0

In other news there is currently an Austerity from Bressingham running in, and the Polish 0-8-0 tank has returned.

The Polish tank has been overhauled at the flower mill with a completely new boiler. I believe the first standard guage superheated boiled to be built in the UK in preservation.

And I understand the railways youth group have a 4 page spread in this month's Heritage Railway magazine!

 

Thanks for that - I must confess I'm looking forward to of all things, the diesel gala in October. D4 (for sentimental reasons) and I've never even seen a Clayton, never mind had a run behind one. Just hope it's running on the Sunday, the only day I'm free.

 

I'm glad there is an operational continental steam locomotive back on the line.