Nene Valley Railway

Well done to the NVR and the wagon team!

 

A few of mine from the evening.

 

I can never understand why so many of todays night shots why the lighting is so bright .... surely back in the day with oil and gas lamps the lighting would have been much more subdued.

 

I suspect because even modern digital cameras do not work in near darkness.

 

Or is the lighting actually not all that bright but the modern digital cameras can apply a lot of amplification to what comes off the sensors?

 

Lighting is an art but if you replicated the Stygian gloom of the days of yore, you’d need very long exposure times or very high ISO, neither of which is desirable. One can always underexpose a well lit scene but that doesn’t always replicate well a dimly lit scene.

 

As an aside to the relocation of Wansford Road station:

Roman cemetery found at roadworks site is 'unique'

 

Some shots from a very sunny Sunday with 60103.

2025-03-02 60103 NVR ORTON MERE 6416a by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

Disappointingly the driver had to shut off at Sutton Cross as the bobby was late clearing the outer home signal.
2025-03-02 60103 NVR SUTTON CROSS 6465 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

Fortunately the signal cleared in time for the driver to open up in the going away shot.
2025-03-02 60103 NVR SUTTON CROSS 6476a by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

2025-03-02 60103 NVR WANSFORD 6406a by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

2025-03-02 60103 NVR WANSFORD 6356 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

 

So the "Britannia" weekend is coming up on 15th/16th March and I'm wondering about how crowded it's going to be. Any thoughts on the following:

Will Saturday or Sunday be the most crowded, or both about the same? I can potentially make it to either.

Will both days be pretty much full & standing anyhow, or just busy with some seats available? Although I can physically manage, I'm too old to enjoy standing on trains!

Will particular services be best to target as least loaded, given that I've got to start and end at Peterborough, and I'm wanting to do two round trips if possible - but they don't have to be consecutive?

I'm really not sure how much of a popular draw "Britannia" is with either enthusiasts or non-enthusiasts and whether I should just write this off as likely to be unpleasantly jammed and maybe go to the ELR's event instead.

 

I doubt there is any way of telling which of the two days will be busiest, it’s all guesswork in my opinion. The East Lancs event is a bigger event and if you’re trying to avoid crowds, I would say that that is not the direction in which to head. You do have the benefit though of two magnificent spam cans at that event.

 

My gut feeling is that it won't be anywhere near as busy as 60103's events; I can't imagine that there'll be coach parties booking for the trains. The fact that there aren't specific conditions to travel on that weekend (just ordinary Rover tickets) suggests they're not expected to be overwhelmed.

Give the NVR a phone call and have a chat with them; they should be able to answer some of your questions

 

I don't know if it is a universal across the heritage sector, or just local to us (Bluebell), but our general experience is that for any given weekend where the attractions on Saturday and Sunday are similar, Saturdays are normally busier than Sundays.

Tom

 

At this time of the year, the weather may be a factor; according to the BBC Weather Centre, it's likely to be sunnier on the Saturday but this far ahead... who knows?

 

Looks like another busy day at Wansford... (picture from Railcam)

 

Who knew Pacer's were so popular

 

It certainly was.

As every other Scotsman day, 5 fully sold out 7 coach trains. Plenty of members of the public, and also coach parties as well.

 

Flying Scotsman drifts into Wansford on this evening, on the final service of the day, passing a stabled goods train... Lots of very happy passengers about today!

 

There's a goodly number of people at Wansford on the platform awaiting 70000's arrival...

 

Now arrived: picture from Railcam as before.