NVR Wagon Group Updates

As far as I know, there is only one, and it is the ex-Danish State Railways bogie flat wagon DSB-8959 (the vast majority of our freight rolling stock is BR era, plus several LMS items, and a small but varied selection of other stuff).

http://www.ws.rhrp.org.uk/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=7418

https://nvrwagons.wordpress.com/nvr-wagon-fleet/

It came to NVR via British Sugar, and was famously used for the filming of Queen's 'Breakthru' video

https://nvrwagons.wordpress.com/2019/09/18/stars-of-the-silver-screen/

 

WE’RE BACK! (AGAIN!)

With the slight easing of restrictions we’ve got back on site to attend to some essential maintenance of part of the running rake.
With eight wagons in the yard at Wansford it was a good opportunity to attend to some pealing paint, rough wood, and leaking roofs.
We’re striving to keep the running rake running and hope to complete maintenance in time for running again.

And from earlier in lockdown, a couple of photos from when Tim added the sign writing to the generously donated replacement tarp, and then refitted it to the wagon.

 

Another working party yesterday...

https://www.facebook.com/nvrwagongroup/posts/1572554282934540

"An awesome day today saw six members of the wagon group working on the running rake.
Plenty of painting was achieved by Steve, Phil, Jason, Gareth and Graham, whilst Tim made some roof repairs and fitted some new rain strips to one of the vans.
By close of play the rake was looking very smart, but Tim will have some work to do to repaint all the lettering!"

 

Great results, an inspiration to those of us on other railways keen on wagons!

 

News on a slightly different aspect of our activities today. We have slowly been working towards fitting out the Banana van which resides in P1 at Wansford as a dedicated Wagon Group museum incorporating some element of our fund-raising sales stand. It has now been announced that we are working with the Wansford Miniature Railway guys to have a sales stand jointly accommodated with their sales stand and ticket office in a grounded van body which has been gifted to us. In order for this to happen we need to raise the finds to transport the van body from it's current location to the railway see details below.

https://www.facebook.com/nvrwagongroup/posts/1575748999281735

"Miniature Railway and Wagon Group Fundraising Appeal

With the success of our Shed fundraising appeal, we are now looking to further extend the Miniature Railway project to include a permanent Fundraising shop and ticket office this will also feature the NVR Wagon Group fundraising shop, this will be housed in a original British Railway wagon van body, we have been gifted a wagon body which is need of full restoration and collecting from its site in Northamptonshire. We urgently need to raise £1500 to move the wagon from its location to Wansford, and undertake a full restoration, internally the van will be completed with a small storage area, display and sales area and a shop counter to purchase items and tickets for the Miniature Railway. All donations from one penny to one pound or more make a big difference to the Miniature Railway, to make a donation follow this link https://nvr.org.uk/product.php/133"

 

We're not hanging about...space for the box van in my previous posting has been created by shunting the Swedish Class A #101 (and all the vehicles behind it) along the exhibition line at the side of the car park...tracks and sleepers will be lifted next. Some of the goods vans in the siding which were stored awaiting restoration have been relocated elsewhere as a result.

https://www.facebook.com/nvrwagongroup/posts/1579064172283551

 

Last week saw the combined WG/WMR project goods van body arrive and refurbishment work commence...

 

As NVR prepares to re-open (next weekend, 22nd May) we are looking at ways we can add to the visitor experience and hopefully also bolster the somewhat depleted Wagon Group funds. As a result, we are partnering with the owner of the locomotive Blue Circle to offer brake van rides in Wansford yard, hauled by Blue Circle, in return for a small donation to the Wagon Group. We will initially be running these on two Sundays in June (6th & 20th). Hopefully we will be able to announce other Wagon Group activities very shortly

 

And we've now had the green light for our next Freight Driving Experience which will be on Friday 18th June with motive power provided by GWR 2-6-2T Prairie 4144.

Half day (choose morning or afternoon sessions) - two complete round trips with a visit to the footplate on each one. Drive and fire on each visit to the footplate and ride in the brake vans on the loose coupled freight while not on the footplate. Tea/coffee on arrival with bacon roll (morning session) or lunch platter (afternoon session).

£165 per person. These days usually sell well, so don't miss out

https://nvr.org.uk/product.php/232/western-goods-driver-experience

Due to current Covid restrictions we are not able to provide any protective equipment or clothing.

 

Rapid progress has been made on the joint Wagon Group / Miniature Railway sales van project over the last couple of days. Thanks to a team made up from both groups, all of the old wood and roof has been removed, the metal framework has been primed, and the new roof has been fitted.

 

Looks good - do the two groups work nicely together? no unfortunate Spinal Tap-esque moments about scale of components?

 

But seriously, both groups have "can do" attitudes, good guys involved, and it probably helps that Tim from the Wagon Group is also the Ops Manager, and Paul from the Miniature Railway is also the Loco/Crew Supt

I'm hoping to have a foot in both camps too, as we own a 5" gauge Maxitrak Ruston and an under construction Sweet Pea. The miniature railway guys are gearing up to have their own boiler inspector - which will be useful for me when I reach that stage on the Sweet Pea.

 

"Today saw Tim, Cliff, Josh & Stu strip, lubricate, reassemble and adjust the brakes on brakevan B954024 (Civil Engineering). By the end of the day Tim had also greased the buffers and oiled up, ready for brake van rides with Blue Circle tomorrow."

https://www.facebook.com/nvrwagongroup/posts/1600664470123521

On a personal note, it was great fun taking our Landy up to NVR today, although I certainly know I've driven a 90 mile round trip in it now If only I had managed to free off the door top bolts in time, it would have been even better!

 

And this is the end result of yesterdays hard work - B954024 and Blue Circle providing brake van rides over the length of Wansford yard (round trip from platform 5 by the cafe to the coaling point and back).

If you fancy this, we will be doing it all again on Sunday 20th June

The freight driving experience on 18th June with Prairie 4144 is sold out, but we are hoping to run a diesel freight driving experience on 16th July with Peak 45041 as motive power.

 

Latest update from the guys who have been able to get there in the week:

"There has been a flurry of activity over the last three days to get the wagons ready for next Fridays Freight Driving Course.
Tim has put in three days to repaint all of the lettering that was erased as part of the repaints a month or so ago.
Steve has been working on axle boxes....checking pads and journals, syringing out water, topping up oil and replacing split pins.
Phil then checked and oiled every moving part of the brake gear. The springs have also received a generous spray of thin oil.
Just a little work next week to do on the Brake Vans and we’re ready to roll......the loco even made an appearance yesterday and is sitting on shed at Wansford looking great."

https://www.facebook.com/nvrwagongroup/posts/1603674346489200

 

The Railway Hub have published a little video showing our Blue Circle hauled brakevan rides from the other weekend. We will be doing this again this coming Sunday (20th June).

 

Despite the weather, a fun day was had by all on the latest Wagon Group Freight Driving Experience day yesterday and there are a selection of photos below (apologies that I don't currently have the credits for them, but I will endeavour to rectify that). Lots of positive feedback again on a day that offers two round trips riding in the brake vans of a loose coupled freight, with time on the footplate driving or firing on each trip

https://www.facebook.com/nvrwagongroup/posts/1609459509244017

Booking will be available soon for the next one of these days which will be our first diesel hauled freight driving experience, using Peak 45041 as motive power on 16th July. For those who prefer steam (and we know there were some disappointed potential participants who missed out when yesterday sold out quickly), we are intending to run another day with 4144, hopefully in mid-August.

 

A slightly quieter day than hoped (mainly, we suspect, due the the weather), although things picked through the day and we all had some fun on the brake van rides with Blue Circle yesterday...we await a decision on whether we well be able to repeat this exercise in the future, but we had a couple of visitors travel quite some distance to see Blue Circle in action yesterday.

 

Coming soon....save the dates, diesel tickets will be on sale soon

 

Mixed freight anyone? We can dream...