NVR Wagon Group Updates

A fantastic day had today, with the forecast rain holding off until we were finishing our last shot at 6pm. Having something face Peterborough was a welcome change and enabled some new shot opportunities to be presented. As ever, a huge thanks to those planning and running these events.

 

@Wagoniester beat me to it (a pleasure chatting yesterday, as always), but following a fantastic day yesterday on the Last Standard 2 freight photo charter, here is the report on the final couple of weeks of roof work and charter prep. Loads of great pictures appearing on social media making all the effort seem worthwhile!

https://nvrwagons.co.uk/2026/01/11/11-01-2026-winter-roofers-final-happy-new-year/

Here are a few of my quickly grabbed snaps from the charter and Josh and myself on the final roof tidy up session.

 

Illness and work shifts meant a limited crew today, but Josh and I removed all the floor/wall bolts left on B778019 from the strip down while Jason attacked the chassis with a wire brush.

https://nvrwagons.co.uk/2026/02/07/07-02-26-van-prep/

 

The last few sessions have been fairly low key, mainly concentrating on tidying and reorganizing stuff at Overton, a little bit of 60s re-enacting in Nene Park with the road vehicles (which meant a grocers delivery bike for yours truly!), and a shunt which brought more of the remaining freight stock to Overton (which currently looks rather on the full side!).

Tuesday saw a tanker swap with a second tar tanker arriving at NVR from Llangollen and bitumen tank wagon 5181/64170 departing NVR for GWSR after being stored in Wansford tunnel for many years.

https://nvrwagons.co.uk/2026/04/23/23-04-26-and-then-there-were-two/

 

This is all exciting stuff, Stu! As you know, I have a "thing" for tank wagons and have recently added yet more Hornby Dublo examples to my collection and now, some Trix Twin ones too!

I need Dublo examples of the Peterborough Tar wagons now - maybe an overlay for scruffy Dublo ones?

Haven't been to the NVR for a long time now: maybe I should come down soon.

 

Here's a roundup of the last couple of sessions, which includes work on several of the brake vans plus the unique pig iron wagon being re-railed and brought back out in to daylight!

Oh, and I was caught lying down on the job...

https://nvrwagons.co.uk/2026/05/17/02-05-26-16-05-26-a-tale-of-two-sessions/

 

When you do Mike, you might want to include a trip across to the Riverside Antiques Centre in Ely - there's quite a lot of Dublo stuff, a reasonable percentage of which is three rail. Don't remember seeing any tankers on my most recent visit though...there might be an event or two of interest to you later in the year - watch this space

 

I think I last went there with my wife and mother in law over thirty years ago...

 

Come and support the wagon group's work by participating in a whole weekend of opportunities to drive Peak 45051 'Royal tank Regiment' on our fitted freight rake alongside the service passenger trains.

Sat 8th & Sun 9th August 2026

Take the controls of a heritage diesel locomotive and experience the world of a traditional British Railways freight train at Nene Valley Railway.
Drive the locomotive, ride in the brake van behind your own freight train and discover how goods trains once operated across Britain’s railways.
Two opportunities to drive the locomotive
Visit the historic Wansford Signal Box
Ride in the Brake Van and experience the Guard’s role
Light refreshments included
Bring along one guest to ride in the Brake Van

https://nvr.org.uk/product.php/553/peak-of-summer-freight-driving-experience

 

Brake Van work this weekend (although yours truly was working offsite on something which isn't yet public).

https://nvrwagons.co.uk/2026/05/31/30-05-26-take-a-brake/

https://www.facebook.com/nvrwagons/...uW9wo2vd6ZmwB5t3WeVcYaVjocMn9JQZipKjTQzyPqsGl

 

Apologies for the lack of recent updates - it's all been a bit complicated! A couple of weeks ago I suffered a heart attack. I'm fine, and living only a ten minute blue light run from Papworth, one of the world's finest cardiac units, was definitely a big factor in that. Unfortunately I now have weeks/months of rehab to look forward to, which will prevent me from actively participating in wagon group sessions for a bit. Tim has also been preparing for his wedding (including a stag do) and writing updates has taken a back seat!

My wife is extremely happy that Tim's Scammell is no longer resident on my drive following its move to Overton to hopefully accelerate its restoration. It does run and drive, but stopping is a bit more exciting and it needs a lot of cosmetic work.

I have hinted at various points that we were working on something that wasn't yet public, and we can now reveal that the NVR WG MPD (aka Steve & Stu) have successfully test driven Hibberd Planet 2896 'Frank' after decades of being out of use and dismantled

https://nvrwagons.co.uk/2026/07/09/13-06-26-to-08-07-26-a-loco-a-scarab-two-brake-vans-and-some-p-way/

Don't forget that we also have one of our unique freight driving experiences coming up, this time with the Peak Class 45041 on Sat 8th / Sun 9th August - and you will be driving freight alongside the passenger services.

https://nvr.org.uk/product.php/553/peak-of-summer-freight-driving-experience