Nene Valley Railway

The Nene Valley Railway is an immensely impressive mixture of industrial landscape and steam nostalgia. British and European mainline steam and diesel locomotives run real services into the heart of Peterborough through seven and a half miles of a rural landscape. After a short walk, you can change at Peterborough mainline station to continue your journey to London, Edinburgh or the rest of the world.

The Nene Valley Railway is all about making connections. The yards and sheds at Wansford hold a complex variety of rolling stock from Wagon Lits awaiting restoration through to Travelling Post Office vans and the travelling mail coach used in the Great Train Robbery in 1966. Locomotives such as the massive Stanier Black 5 4-6-0, in BR livery, run scheduled services, together with "Thomas the Tank Engine" christened by the author the Reverand W.Audrey.

Next to the A1 road at Stibbington, Wansford Station sits astride the communications of erastern England. The River Nene is crossed several times by the railway, served in turn by a junction with the "Great North Road", the first turnpike of the early eighteenth century.

Three station buildings are located at Wansford, with the museum itself housed in the "New" station building. The "Old" station building on Platform 3 was built in 1844/5 for the opening of the line. Built in a Jacobean style it features much ornate stone masonry. The waiting room on Platform 2 is "The Barnwell Building" having been moved from Barnwell station to the NVR in 1977. The building was constructed in 1884 for use by the Royal family when visiting Barnwell Manor, home of HRH Duke of Gloucester.

Wansford Signal box is the largest signal box on a preserved line in the UK. Built in 1907 by the London & North Western Railway it replaced three smaller boxes. Originally it was built with 60 levers and controlled the level crossing gates over the "Great North Road". Until 1959, when the A1 bypass was built, all the traffic along the A1 would have had to pass over this crossing.

Original Turntable, located behind the new station building, was built by Ransomes & Rapier of Ipswich in 1933. Originally 60 feet long it was installed at Bourne in Lincolnshire for use on the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway. It was moved to Peterborough East in 1959 and to Wansfiord in 1977. The turntable has been used to turn many famous locomotives, including; 60103 (4472) "Flying Scotsman", 60532 "Blue Peter", 60007 "Sir Nigel Gresley", 60009 "Union of South Africa", 60800 (4771) "Green Arrow", 46629 "Duchess of Hamilton" and 70000 "Britannia".

Nene Valley Railway
Wansford Station Stibbington
PE8 6LR Peterborough
Peterborough
United Kingdom
+44 (0) 1780 - 784444
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