On Saturday Sue and I, together with two friends Andrew and James, visited the Nene Valley Railway near Peterborough.This line is interesting as unlike most preserved railways it was not closed down as part of the cuts to the network in the 1960’s, but had actually closed to regular traffic in the late 1930’s.
Wansford Station
Wansford Station
Unfortunately, we found on arrival that our steam train scheduled for the day had failed and so we would be diesel hauled on our trip. The line runs from Yarwell into Peterborough through the Cambridgeshire countryside.
Class 31 diesel engine. Built for BR at Loughborough in 1961 and used in the Midland Region. It was withdrawn from mainline service in 2000.34081 92 Squadron in the yard – A Bulleid ‘Battle of Britain Class locomotive. Built at Brighton in 1948, it worked on Southern Region until 1964, when it was sent to Woodhams in Barry. It was purchased by a group set up to preserve a ‘Battle of Britain class locomotive and overhauled at Wansford. It returned to steam in 1998. It is named after a Spitfire squadron based at Biggin Hill during the Battle of Britain
We did get to see some of the other engines in the yard and some of the other exhibits of Railway memorabilia.
Thomas the Tank Engine – An 0-6-0T built in 1947 and used at the British Sugar factory in nearby Peterborough. Arrived at Nene Valley in 1973Swedish Railcar 1212DL83 -built in 1967 it operated first at Corby Quarry before in 1971 being transferred to the Lillie Bridge depot of London Transport where it continued to work until its withdrawal in 1989Signal Box at WansfordTravelling Post OfficeTurntable at Wansford. Originally from Peterborough East and installed here in 1997
I am semi-retired after a career in medical sciences. I now work from home doing independent research and consultancy amongst other things. One advantage of this is that I do have time to indulge my interests including birdwatching, natural history, steam trains and history particularly ancient history.
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