New NVR Wagon Group

After a lot of hard work behind the scenes, it gives me great pleasure to announce the launch of the new Nene Valley Railway Wagon Group. This is probably good timing what with the 'Linear Scrapyard' thread going on here at the moment...!

The NVR is fortunate to own over 20 ex-BR goods vans, mostly of the ventilated BR 'vanfit' type (with steel corrugated ends) which, after mainline service, were acquired from British Sugar at Spalding in the early 1990s. Unfortunately nearly all of them now require repairs, particularly to the timber bodywork, before they can be returned to traffic - some are in worse condition than others. However the good news is that these repairs will be relatively simple, quick, and inexpensive (at least in railway preservation terms).

Many of you may remember the BR express van train running on the railway during the 1990's, our key priority is to recreate an authentic 1950s/60s BR van train once again. These were often seen on all BR regions, hauled by a wide variety of locomotives – both steam and diesel – and including many express passenger types as well as designated mixed-traffic and freight designs. Imagine 73050, 34081, or even a glamorous visiting 'Pacific' with a lengthy train of box vans in tow!

Please take a look and perhaps bookmark the new website, which gives details of our stock, regular progress updates, and details on how to donate to the cause. The railway has created a new ringfenced fund specifically for the wagons, any donations will be greatly appreciated, and every little helps! Details can be found on the new website:

www.nvrwagons.wordpress.com

Thanks for reading and we hope you will support us.

 

Wish you well with it.

 

Best of luck with the project - an often overlooked aspect of preservation, but of rising importance as Heritage Railways strive to tell a fuller story and offer more history to the visitor than simply a ride.

I expect you want some nice shiny box vans to go with the excellent Standard brakevan?

 

Good news. We ran a van train photo charter with 34081 back in 1998. Looked good with all the Fyffes stickers on the vans and of course the Bulleid Pacifics worked regularly on perishables from places such as Southampton and Weymouth into Waterloo.

 

Thanks for all the kind comments, there are some really great photos around with 60103, 60007, 34081 and other locos with the NVR van train back in the day, unfortunately I missed it first time around but can't wait to see it recreated!

We have made good progress on B759852 - news photo update to be added to the site at some point over the next few days - and are very encouraged by the rate of progress now being made on it. Not too far off now, already starting to think about the next one...

I would hope that freight photo charters can be a fixture once again, it's something we'd really like to see return.

 

Very brief news update added this evening:

http://nvrwagons.wordpress.com/news-blog/

 

Great to see this sort of thing, I notice the artical in SR within the brakevan artical tells use about the plan to build a LNER loco Coal wagon.

This unique steel one resides at Foxfield awaiting its turn/fate; http://www.ws.vintagecarriagestrust.org/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=4801

 

Good luck

 

I hope it doesn't belong to the same guy that owns the 'queen Mary' brake van - if so you'll have a very long wait !

 

lol, Nah it belongs to Foxfield Railway.

I do understand your point with the Queen Mary though, I been for a drink with the owner of that one several times and have often asked if he would ever sell any of his collection....

 

The question is would he sell?, will he restore?, or is he going to just watch it rust away over the years?

IMHO if we are talking about the latter, why on earth did he buy it in the first place, this is beyond my comprehension.

regards
Chris:

 

To be fair the replica loco-coal wagon, and the containers to some extent, are going to be longer-term projects due to finance that will obviously have to come out of the owner's pocket. However the owner reckons he can rebuild one, possibly two of the A-types using leftover and salvaged material that we have rescued recently.

Thank you for the kind words, and yes, a photo charter would be great - we managed to put out a pretty good rake for the last steam gala and could potentially do that again, although it required special arrangement well in advance. PM me if you think it might fly and we'll see what we can do!

 

Get a nice rake of vans ready for 34081's return and we'll do a repeat of 1998's "banana train" charter.

 

Sounds good to me - we're making good progress, but we have some catching up to do with 34081!

 

We've got a way to go yet with the old girl but id you've got a reasonable rake ready by 2014 that could be useful.

 

I would have thought that would be very feasible - we also want to get a decent van rake paired with 73050 before its ticket expires in a couple of years or so.

 

The plan is to have 34081 ready for when 73050 goes out of ticket so keep your fingers crossed we have no nasty surprises with the "green machine." All's going fairly well so far though.

 

Latest NVR Wagon Group update now available here: News and Progress Updates | NVR Wagon Group

 

If it's any help, the Glos-Warks had the frame of a LNER diagram 077 loco coal wagon (no. 184957). It was converted into a crane runner for Smith & Rodley crane 25630. This crane was recently put up for sale and I think it was sold for scrap. However, I don't know if the crane and runner have actually been scrapped yet or just removed from the Glos-Warks. The details are below:

FOR SALE
LNER E 184957 Crane Jib Runner built 1937

If that wagon has been scrapped, then another LNER diagram 077 loco coal wagon frame probably also exists:
unknown Crane Jib Runner

Incidently, if the crane hasn't been scrapped, the other runner wagon was E286043, which is another rare wagon - a LNER single bolster.