NVR Wagon Group

Since the last update there has been a fair amount of work, all in preparation for our museum opening on the 2nd June.

To begin, although we would have liked to, there is not enough time to refresh the private owner opens at Peterborough in readiness for the 2nd June, so we came up with a simple yet prototypical plan. Matt applied BR style details, representative of these types of wagon when they were absorbed into BR ownership in 1948.

Tim continued with fitting out the museum. No images of this as we don’t want to spoil it before the 2nd June.

Off site, Tim’s Trailer has received lights, reflectors, number plate holder and speed restriction sign. The lights has been wired , but final snagging is required.

On to the Coronation weekend, Tim, Phil, Colin, Jason, Matt, Alan and Mark with a warm welcome to new volunteer Ed, who as keen welder started marking out material for cutting so a start can be made with the hot glue next session.

For the rest of the gang work continues on B780952 with Matt and Jason tending to the South East door, pretty much the same as last session.

Door removed, reskinned with a spot of wood repair and prime as required.

Colin and Tim tended to the van sides,
With Tim replacing 1 and a half rotten planks, followed by prime and top coat by Colin and Jason, including the area that was outstanding after last sessions primer shortage.

Once refitted the door was also treated to prime and topcoat.

The main push for the day was on DB992358 this has carried an inaccurate Bauxite livery for quite some time, so Phil, Alan and Mark with wire brushes and scrappers in hand made a start preparing the vehicle for paint.

Tim wanted to have a go so with chairs set up for the rest of the group to spectate we let him crack on.

After a quick sweep down, it was out with the underfame black, as this is a bituminous based paint, priming is not as critical. So in the warm sunshine the whole group had a hand in applying the soon to be engineers black livery.

Once again however the supply department can’t keep up as we ran out of underframe black, although it’s likely our own fault as we are completing the task list quite quickly.

With that, another successful session, 2 opens “complete” a van ready for sign-writing and a hopper with a small amount of paint required before it’s sign-writing.

Quite a number of the gang in attendance Sunday. Including new members Alan and Mark, welcome to the group.

With the museum open day approaching we are looking at smartening those vehicles in the bay platform at Peterborough. First on the agenda, B780952. Phil, Colin, Cliff, Alan and Mark tackling this. Key, fill, prime and topcoat, including a number of planks replaced.

Jason and Matt, started with a door, which required a new outer skin. Assisted by Tim who looked at some of the deteriorated frame.

The door was rehung and looking considerably better than it did.

Having been primed whilst being assembled, Tim was able to add a layer of Bauxite to complete the door.

We did however run out of primer/undercoat hence the patch work nature of the van. More of the same next session for this vehicle.

We have also formulated a little plan regards the two static opens, a full restoration will be forthcoming but a shorter term livery will be applied in the coming weeks. More on that next time.

Off site, Tim’s trailer has had signwriting applied as well as a new inner tube to the left main tire.

Paul and Cliff also had a look at what Vacuum spares we have as we start to look at refitting working brake gear to our inservice vehicles. Again more on that in upcoming updates.

All that is left to mention,

A reminder for our Museum Opening and still 2 places on our Freight Driving experience, both scheduled for the 2nd June

A new year and a fresh start, the first task after the Christmas break, was a spot of housekeeping.

We decided to clear out B775702 ready for transformation into Fruit Van B875739. The van had been languishing full of old timber for years. Now cleared out we can see what needs doing and it’s clear that new wood will be required throughout.

Another job was to recover the Palvan to prevent damage prior to the new roof being fitted. The tarpaulin blew off in the winter winds, so another one is now in place.

January ends with a tale of two Brake Vans…

Since leaving the works Brake Van B954024 had some pealing paint, so armed with scrapers, sand paper and paint, we got to work rubbing down and repainting.

A start was also made on the repaint of Brake Van B953944 which was a few wagons down in the siding. Having been in traffic now for 12 years it is in need of some work. New wood is required in places, but whilst there was time we started repainting the bits that don’t need repair.

At the close of play, B954024 was repainted, apart from the lettering which will be reapplied later and B953944 had one end repainted.

The first February session saw a repaint of BR Van B785122 and the step boards on Brake Van B954024, which was a leftover job from the last session.

Signwriting was also applied to B954024 and a bit more painting of Brake Van B953944.

A start was also made to repainting BR Van B771300.

All this work is leading up to the years freight driving courses where we’d like the rake looking as good as possible, and of course our photographic charter with Sir Nigel Gresley.

February ends with a rub down and, repaint of BR van B786075, some filling, and completion of the sign writing on the MOD opens.

Followed by B771300 and B785122 receiving lettering, with all the vans then receiving details to their chassis.

It was also on with painting the ends of the vans whilst repairs were made to the label board on B785122.

To finish off those vans that had been painted, the headstocks, buffers and label boards were also touched up.

Off site, the Scammell trailer has been progressed. What remained of the side sheets were removed, new ones ordered and fitted. Beading applied and sealed as well as new floor planks throughout.

The timber of the tail gate was replaced and a roller shutter was sourced trimmed and has been trial fitted.

The trailer is seen with Matt’s Scarab in Quorn yard on the Great Central Railway after receiving primer.

On to March and work on the operational rake continues with signwriting of the hoppers, and what a fantastic job! Unfortunately, rain at about 4.30pm stopped play and one Hopper wasn’t completed. Three and a half Hoppers in one day is pretty good going though!

Meanwhile, on with repairs to B953944. The stove was lit to help paint dry on the inside, with a start being made taking out the ducket windows and painting the metal.

Rotten panelling under the duckets on both sides and rotten skirting was removed, new wood was fitted and further paint application before rain stopped work!

On the back of a good weekend session, a lone Tim managed to rub down and paint the south side of B953944, plus the inside of both veranda ends.

There was even time to put a bit of white on the brake wheel.

Also with some spare time Matt popped into Wansford and added the lettering to BR Van B786075.

Followed by some detailed touches with Bauxite to the fixings of Brake Van B953944, before adding the lettering to that too!

More trailer work off site, with the start of the top coat being applied

As well as 60×40 inch snap frame poster boards to each side,

The trailer has been moved to the Rothley and Mountsorrel Community Heritage Centre were it is now on display, receiving its final coat of grey in readiness for Signwriting.

The final work day of March and the first priority was an inspection and oiling of all wagons to ensure they are ready for traffic for our driving course and then the photographic charter with Sir Nigel Gresley.

A new wagon label holder to Van B786075, whilst more sign writing was applied.

Meanwhile, work continued on B953944, the chassis and step boards were cleaned and painted and Matt added some lettering to the bits of the Brake Van that had already been painted.

Friday 31st saw the first time we have run a Freight Experience course between Wansford and Yarwell.

It’s always a bit nerve wracking when you try something new, but we are pleased to say it was a resounding success. The course allowed customers the chance to drive through the tunnel to Yarwell and get involved in all aspects of running the railway, including a visit to the signal box to pull some levers, and a look in the sheds.

We have taken away a few suggestions of how the course could be slightly tweaked, but were very pleased with the positive comments and happy smiling participants and guests.

That concludes our review of Q1 of 2023 and what a productive 3 months it has been. We are looking forward to our charter with LNER A4 locomotive 60007 “Sir Nigel Gresley” and new for the next Quarter we will be switching to activity updates direct from this site. Don’t worry they will still be posted Facebook but will link back to our website. We would appreciate your thoughts on this so please comment on the site or reply to our Facebook.

Early October saw preparation for and the running of the third and final Freight Driving Experience of the year a quick repaint on the south sides of the two MOD open wagons to eliminate the ‘patches’ around the signwriting. They were rubbed down and painted in fresh Bauxite. Replacement label boards fitted to vans missing them as well as checking and oiling the rake ready for the experience.

On the 14th October, using diesel traction in the form of Class 45 ‘Peak’ 45041 “Royal Tank Regiment”. Once again we were able to run with our longest rake to date consisting of 2 brake vans, 4 hoppers, 4 opens, and 5 vans.

In late October the Wagon Group took up the invitation to join Quorn Wagon & Wagon for their Open Weekend, alongside wagon groups from various other railways (Bluebell, Mid-Hants, National Wagon Preservation Group and the GCR Windcutters). This is hoped to be the starting point for a cross-railway wagon community where we can all share information and expertise.

On to early November and it was all about brake blocks. The replacement of all 16 brake blocks on British Railways Standard 20ton Brake Van B954024. The session finished in the dark with tools packed away and the old blocks in the scrap skip to help raise funds for the railway.

November also saw a trip to Newcastle to strip the interior fittings from a grounded BR Fruit Van. This was completion of a project to collect parts to re-create this type of vehicle.

Following Newcastle it was on to Durham to collect some rubber tyres and then on to York to pick up some lorry side curtains for van roofs. Which were unloaded and a new label board fitted to B777633.

December saw BR Van B768248 move to Peterborough for repairs and it was also a good opportunity to test the new brake blocks on B954024.

The rubber tyres mentioned above are for Tim’s Christmas Present. A Scammell Scarab and trailer.

The Scarab (mechanical horse) is ex-Cadbury and originally purple with white lettering. It is a runner, but requires full restoration. Work has already begun to source authentic parts and restoration will begin in the new year.

The trailer is ex-British Railways and has been moved to the Great Central Railway for my friends at the Quorn Wagon and Wagon Group to borrow for a period of time. In return they are restoring it and restoration is well underway.

Both vehicles will eventually be turned out in British Railways crimson and cream livery with the trailer receiving a Cadbury’s advert as a nod to the past history of the Scarab.

December also saw the usual Christmas break as we prepared for 2023 and its oppertunities.

Q3 kicked off with wagons and doughnuts/cake as the first working session also happened to be Tim’s birthday. Our second working session was a visit to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre to see their impressive collection of wagons. As this turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year, it was very welcome to be sight-seeing rather than working on the wagons! The visit also allowed us to measure up a couple of wagons which will help us with a couple of the restorations we have lined up.

July also saw the arrival of a tar tanker from Northampton & Lamport Railway. Having arrived at Wansford by road, the tanker was moved to PNVR by rail ready for restoration as a Peterborough and District Tar Distillers Ltd tank wagon. It will then be dedicated to the memory of Doreen Foster – NVR founder member and last employee of Peterborough Tar Distillers.

August & September saw continued work on cosmetic restoration of B881987 (Banana Van as Wagon Museum) & B777633 in PNVR bay platform, and replacement of the doors on B786075 in Wansford Yard.

This period also saw extensive work on the Wagon Museum inside the Banana Van.

September saw the acquisition of a Midland Goods Shed Crane ex-Gretton Station, near Corby, which it is hoped can be incorporated in to the reconstruction of Wansford Road Station building at Peterborough NVR/RailWorld.

Following on from Q1, work continued repainting the hoppers and preparing the running rake for our first Freight Driving Experience Day of 2022 in April. After a long evening oiling and checking the rake, we had a successful freight day using the railway’s resident Class 14 diesel 9529.

The hoppers had been taken out of traffic due to extensive corrosion of the floors leading to the possibility of chunks of floor falling off. As part of the refurbishment, several severely corroded floor sections were removed to make them safe to run again. The insides were also painted with black bitumen paint and by the time of the freight events in June they had been fully repainted, sign-written and passed fit to run in the freight rake once again.

With the hoppers back in traffic, attention was turned to a repaint of the Banana Van which was beginning to look a little tired.

In preparation for another day of freight activities, we had to oil and check the rake again.

Then there was the “big shunt” – this involved a complex series of operations designed to get the running rake all together in the civils siding at Wansford, the CONFLAT and the VANFITs/PALVAN already under restoration in to RailWord siding one (adjacent to the mess hut), various wagons destined for static display in to the far end of the bay siding at PNVR, and then the remaining wagons back in the bay siding.

Q2 wrapped up in style with our second Freight Driving Experience of 2022, steam hauled by resident SR BoB Class 34081 ’92 Squadron’, followed by an evening freight photo charter. This saw the largest freight rake for some time with the hoppers back in the rake. Both events ran successfully with everyone going home with a smile on their face and a lot of great photos and video of the freight in action and in a 50’s themed photo shoot with re-enactors.

Over the last year or so, the Wagon Group have been considering how we wanted to take things forward in the long term, and after some discussion the boards of NVR and RailWorld were approached about the possibility of relocating Wagon Group activities to RailWorld and making Peterborough NVR the freight base for the railway. A proposal was drawn up and agreed by all parties, and so 2022 started with the Wagon Group beginning activities at the other end of the line. There are many factors which led to this change, but it is believed to be a triple win for all involved:

• The Wagon Group now have a permanent base with facilities close at hand
• The sidings area of RailWorld has been tidied and made more appealing
• NVR gains freight related attractions for passengers during the run rounds at the Peterborough end

This is, in a way, a home coming for the Wagon Group as this is where Wagon Group 1.0 activities were based, and we are in fact making their old grounded van body B??0049 our workshop/mess area

Initial activities involved refurbishment of the grounded van body, tidying/weeding/clearing the sidings area and assessing/preparing the wagons current stabled in RailWorld to enable them to be shunted.

Over the course of Q1 we went from this:

To this:

We had also been made aware that the vans used for filming in 2021 would no longer be required for any further film work, so over several sessions we were able to undertake the repairs necessary to return them to their normal condition and reverse the modifications made by the film company.

Towards the end of March we had a wagon shunt which took the hoppers from PNVR to Wansford to be turned on the turntable and then brought back to the bay platform at PNVR to have the other sides painted. On the return trip they were accompanied by the Banana Van which will be a static resident at the far end of the bay platform, and in time will become a freight museum with information about wagons, freight on the railway and Wagon Group activities.

The last sessions in March saw a start on repainting the other sides of the hoppers now they were accessible from the platform.

The new year kicked off with one of our popular Freight Driving Experiences with traction provided by Ian Riley’s impressive LMS Black 5 44871. Once again feedback shows this product is very popular with the participants and provides great value for money.

Photos courtesy of Martin Vos (C).

Work continued on the Civil Engineering Department’s Brake Van with the panelling finally completed, some welding repairs to the duckets and then (finally) painting.

PalVan B778810 also commenced it’s refurbishment with a rub down of the chassis and body work, which showed up that although only minor repairs were necessary on most of the body, one of the doors needs complete replacement (not least due to damage inflicted when the van was broken in to).

March saw the running of a second Freight Driving Experience this time in a Western guise with GWR Pannier Tank 6412 renumbered as 6779 (the last Pannier to be built at Swindon).

The freight rake was also seen out and about over the Swindon 70 Weekend behind both steam and diesel traction.

At this point, COVID-19 struct, and all volunteering work was suspended as we entered lockdown, and the railway itself was forced to ‘hibernate’ to conserve funds, with all bar a couple of staff furloughed.

Eventually, between lock downs, and carefully observing COVID-19 protocols, some work started up again in June 2020 and efforts continued, outdoors and socially distanced, on the Civils Brake Van and Palvan B778810.

Sadly, at some point the wagon tarpaulin from Shoc Open B721890 was stolen (and apparently dismembered). A very kind benefactor funded a replacement, for which we were very grateful.

Work continued on PalVan & Brake Van through to the end of 2020, even under lock-down, and a start was made on repainting the hoppers at PNVR, but eventually Wansford was placed in Tier 4 and all work stopped, with nothing happening through Q1 of 2021.

April 2021 saw us back in action performing essential maintenance on the running rake which was looking very tired and needed quite a bit of attention. As the railway came out of hibernation, we were involved in the acquisition and refurbishment of a grounded van body to act as a ticket office and sales area for both the Wagon Group and Miniature Railway, and running brake van rides in Wansford yard using the freshly refurbished Civils brake van and the unusual motive power of Blue Circle!

With a Freight Driving Course scheduled for June, it was all hands on deck, getting the freight rake in to a sensible state. Although the weather didn’t play ball, a good day was had by all driving GWR Prairie 4144 on the freight.

In July we were able to run a Diesel Freight Driving Day with Class 45 ‘Peak’ 45041. While on the restoration front, work was started on BR Van B775176.

In Q3 some of our vans went out on hire for a filming job – more on that later (much later, like when the film comes out!), and Tim’s latest conflat acquisition arrived at the railway.

In August we were able to run a successful freight photo charter using visiting locomotive 45596 “Bahamas”, and both that and the Freight Driving Experience with the Pannier needed some quick work to get the hired out wagons back in to shape having been modified by the film company. At this stage we had to keep some of the modifications in place in case they were required for further firing, so we had to turn some so we had one side of the train which was in sensible condition!

We finished off the year by completing the grounded shop van at Wansford and more painting on the hoppers at PNVR.

Despite all the complications of COVID, we still achieved a great deal over the two years…

 

October & November saw more work on the refurbishment of the 5-plank open wagons culminating in their re-entry to traffic in early December. This brings the demonstration freight rake back up to full strength of four opens, four vans, four hoppers and a brace of brake vans, with an extra pair of vans available from the civil engineering dept.

The civil engineering brake van also saw further progress with the roof being painted and roof fittings attached.

The Wagon Group also indulged in a Christmas social gathering – no work was done, but much merriment was in evidence.

See you all in the New Year, when there is already another freight driving experience to look forward to.

July kicked off with another Freight Driving Experience. Originally planned to be ‘Western’ with GWR Pannier 6430, plans had to be changed when Llangollen recalled the loco due to a steam shortage and our own 92 Squadron stood in and it became a ‘Southern’ experience.

Tim undertook an FTR on the rake at Peterborough NVR and the wagons were ready to roll…

These courses are proving to be popular, offering plenty of fun driving, firing and riding on a loose-coupled freight. The course was a sellout with all sixteen participants (and some of the wagon group volunteers) thoroughly enjoying themselves. Some of them were there for a second time having enjoyed earlier courses so much!

Image courtesy of Steve Jackson (C)

Work continued on the 5-plank open wagons throughout July, August & September with the fitting of new floors, repainting, signwriting, construction of a dummy load and fitting of replica D-plates.

September saw a concerted effort to make progress on the Civil Engineering brake van, and included some more panelling work and installation of the new canvas roof. First the ply boarding is fitted and sanded.

Then the canvas roof bonding is applied and the canvas itself smoothed over the entire roof.

Nene Valley Railway has been used as a location for over 150 different film or TV productions including feature films, dramas, documentaries, adverts and even music videos (see Filming at NVR). While many of these feature trains being used for passenger travel, there are some notable productions which have used our wagons.

1982 Octopussy (EON Productions)

Possibly the most famous use of our wagons, four ex-LMS CCTs were modified for use as the Octopussy International Circus Train Vans – with small personnel doors added to the large end doors, steps for moving between wagons, and various steps and handles to assist the stunt team. These wagons were used alongside three of the continental carriages to form the complete circus train, hauled by Danish State Railways DSB S 740 disguised as German DRG 62.015.

Octopussy Train Scenes
BBC Look East: Behind the scenes

Several Bond fan-sites cover the train related aspects of the film:

00 Aficionado – Trolley Trouble Part 4 – Octopussy
James Bond International Fan Club – All Time High
James Bond Radio – The Octopussy International Circus Train

During 2013 the Wagon Group restored CCT 37071 to the condition as used for the filming of Octopussy, and it now resides in Wansford Station Platform 1 providing static storage.

The rest of the CCTs are, sadly, currently in generally poor condition, but can be seen stored at various locations along the railway (Wansford Station, Wansford Civil Engineers siding and Peterborough Railworld).

1989 Queen – Breakthru

The band decided the drum shuffle in the song was very train like so Queen came up to NVR for a couple of days filming. They were driven along the railway while performing the song on our ex Danish State Railways flat wagon DSB-8959 hauled by ex-GWR steam locomotive 3822 (on hire from Didcot at the time), liveried as the “Miracle Express”. There are rumours about exactly what speed they were travelling during the filming, and Freddie Mercury hanging off the railings raised a few eyebrows! The loco is no longer at NVR, but the wagon can be seen in the Civil Engineering siding outside Wansford (it’s the one with “BORAIL” and “8959” painted on the side).

Not only can we see the end result in the music video, but ITV made a behind the scenes documentary about it.

The Miracle Express (Behind the scenes)

1992 B&Q “Why pay pots for paint? – Train”

A rake of box vans are transformed from a uniform drab colour to a spectacular array of colours having passed under a bridge. For the filming the colours were painted on one side of the rake only. Many of the vans had to be transported to the railway rather hurriedly from the British Sugar Spalding site in order to be available for use in the filming. Several of these vans can be seen in our demonstration freight rake, in a rather more conventional BR bauxite brown livery, with others stored around the railway awaiting refurbishment. It’s rumoured that one currently stored in the tunnel at Wansford is still painted blue on one side.

B&Q advert in Nene Park documentary
(Many thanks to Marc Hernandez for the pointer to this footage.)

2010 EastEnders (BBC)

On one of their visits to NVR for filming, EastEnders used a freight train for a near miss at the (heavily disguised) Wansford level crossing. The signal box is boarded up and the crossing has been dressed with modern automatic barriers in place of usual gates. The train was made up of civil engineering wagons hauled by a Class 31.

EastEnders near miss clip on iPlayer