NVR Wagon Group

Thank you to all who have supported us since our article appeared in the latest “Nene Steam” magazine. There have been some kind monetary donations which will go towards a new roof canvas for this van and a new working member, Philip, has stepped forward and made very good progress on the slow job of stripping back the old paint on B759852.

It can be seen in the view above that another good working session will hopefully see the last of the old paint removed, and much (if not all) of the metalwork derusted, ready for primer.

To the right of the doors, the paint on the woodwork has now been completely stripped. Unfortunately we have spotted rot on another plank (third from top) so this will need to be removed and replaced with new. The bolts have already been cut in anticipation of this task, which we have down to a fine art! We are now very close to painting this section, once the small remaining area of unpainted metalwork has been rotary wire-brushed.

Due to a house move and work commitments, wagon restoration has had to be put on the back burner for the last few weeks – hence the lack of updates recently. We hope to resume normal service as soon as possible!

Meanwhile it is pleasing to see that our introductory article has appeared in the latest “Nene Steam” magazine, on page 29. If you’ve found this site from the link contained within the article we hope you like what you see, and will consider supporting us in our aim of restoring wagons at the NVR.

Over the last week or two a shunt took place to remove the BR Mk1 SK from the carriage shed, and replace it with the last SNCB (Belgian) coach that requires body overhaul. This gave us a golden opportunity to rearrange some of the wagon stock at Wansford to enable restoration work to take place when we are ready.

The two BR ‘A-type’ containers on the LNER hopper chassis have taken the place of B759852 on the ‘public side’ of the C&W siding. We are aware that these look pretty terrible at present, but it is hoped work can start on them before too long. The BR insulated banana van is also on the C&W siding, which could do with a little attention to its bodywork once B759852 is complete. It is also hoped that a BR ‘Palvan’, a long-term out-of-use wagon resident at Wansford near the signal box, will find its way on to the C&W siding for restoration to running order over a longer time period.

In direct contrast to the containers, B759852 is starting to look pretty good as it is shunted around, offering a taste of the near future when we will be able to add this van to the demonstration goods rake. Also seen here is Fowler ‘4F’ which has now returned to the NVR from winter maintenance work at Llangollen Railway.

Work continues on the north side of this van. We are pleased to report that all the timber repairs are now complete, bar bolting on the final three planks which should only take half an hour or so.

Paint stripping with a hot-air gun continues (top right corner). We are making more of an effort to get a better finish on this side of the van (the other side was only scraped back and repainted over, as it was not originally intended to make this van a running vehicle – although the finish is acceptable.) B759852 is seen here coupled to B953944, hopefully the next time they are seen together B759852 will look just as smart!

The stripped area was painted with primer, in failing light. It is hoped to move this van into the shed imminently, in order to replace the roof canvas which has come away in several places exposing the roof boards to the elements. Internally we can see no signs of rot, so we hope we will have got it under cover in the nick of time.

A substantial section of the north side of ‘Vanfit’ B759852 has now been stripped with a hot-air gun and wire brushed, and primer applied. The door furniture has also been reinstated. There are now only a couple more planks left to be replaced on this van, to the left-hand side of the doors. The roof then requires a new canvas, it is hoped a space can be found in the shed shortly for this to take place.

The final thin (lowest) plank on the right-hand side has been cut and planed to shape, and the new planks drilled and bolted in place.

A closer view of the completed panel, with all boards fixed in place.

This week we undertook a particularly important task: weatherproofing BR ‘Vanfit’ B778019 as much as possible. This van, located at Ferry Meadows station, is in something of a precarious state as can be seen in the photo above. It has been without a roof for several years and has been deteriorating, so it was an early priority for at least some kind of temporary weather protection. The recent re-roofing of a stores van at Wansford meant a suitable heavy-duty tarpaulin was now available for the purpose, at no cost to the railway/group.

A ridge beam, using salvaged timber, was lashed into place to help prevent the tarpaulin from sagging, which allows rain water to pool and pour into the van.

The ‘new’ tarpaulin in place, which it is hoped will keep the worst of the winter weather out, and allow the currently saturated interior to dry out a bit.

With emergency works completed, work resumed at Wansford on ‘Vanfit’ B759852. The rotten planks on the right-hand end were removed in preparation for new timber…

…which was cut to length and pushed into place. The boards have been left in such a way to close the gap at the bottom; a thinner width board will need to be cut to fill this, but as can be seen in the photo the last of the light had gone and it was time to call it a day.

B759852 now has a full set of doors – currently bolted in place temporarily, before final fixing and fettling. The diagonal brace that required repair has also been re-welded.

The first wagon project to be tackled by the new Wagon Group is the restoration of BR Vanfit B759852. One side and the ends have already been cosmetically restored as seen above, as documented on the unofficial NVR blog, “A Personal View of the NVR”.

Now it has been decided to make this van a running vehicle, attention has turned to the other side. The bottom planks require replacement with new timber, and new doors are required as the existing doors are falling apart. All the coach bolts holding the planks and doors in place were cut off using a disc cutter and hammer and chisel.

The door metalwork was cleaned up with a wire brush…

…and painted with primer. Flexible boarding was temporarily installed to keep the van weathertight until the next working session. A broken weld, fixing the diagonal brace to the door hinge on the right-hand door, requires attention.

The launching of this website marks the official beginning of the new Wagon Group at the Nene Valley Railway. There has been a lot of work behind the scenes, but we now have a website, a ringfenced wagon fund to receive donations/income, an on-site storage building, and a working area. The latter two require a little clearing and tidying to make them practical for our purposes, this will be an early priority.

It is intended that regular news updates will appear on this page as and when progress is made – so please check back every now and then to see how we’re doing, and perhaps consider donating to our cause.