NVR Wagon Group Updates

With the recent external completion of restoration of ex-LMS CCT No.37071 back to its James Bond "Octopussy" filming appearance, it seems like a good opportunity to spread the word about our ongoing wagon activities at Nene Valley Railway.

The NVR Wagon Group formed in late-2011 after the completion of privately-owned BR 'Standard' 20-ton brake van B953944, which was completely rebuilt with a brand-new body on a bare chassis. Since this time, we have been busy repairing and restoring various wagons both for static and active running use, including a BR 12-ton 'Vanfit', the aforementioned LMS CCT (a very long job!), and a couple of MoD 'Highfits'.

It is fair to say that we have inherited a fairly run-down wagon fleet, each vehicle now requiring quite a bit of attention to the bodywork in particular. However now we have finished the LMS CCT we are in a position to begin work overhauling the running goods rake and adding vehicles from the out-of-use fleet, with particular attention being given to the BR 12-ton box vans. The medium to longer term aim is to bring back the NVR van train (approx. 15-20 vans) which some of you may remember from the early 1990's...





While this will not be achieved overnight, we hope that from a small 'pick up goods' a mighty train will grow! The first two vans for attention have been identified, and as soon as we can get them shunted into our workspace, we can begin!

Our number one priority at the current time is funding. Any donations towards this project would be very gratefully received, if you would consider supporting us in order to see the return of the 1950's BR van train then please do not hesitate to get in touch via this site/thread or email nvrwagons[AT]gmail.com (replace [AT] with @).

We have a website which can be found at www.nvrwagons.wordpress.com and a new Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/nvrwagongroup , both of which are regularly updated with restoration progress. From now on I will also endeavour to post links to our website updates from this thread when possible.

 

It's been a little while since I posted on here, but quite a lot has been happening over the last couple of months or so. One of the MoD opens has received a replacement section of floor (and should therefore be able to return to traffic), and two BR 'Vanfits' in the bookshop-coach platform at Wansford have received a much-needed cosmetic tidy up.

The first two vans have also now been brought into the yard for restoration work to begin shortly, in order to bring them back to running order as part of the future NVR van train. As a fundraising venture for the Wagon Group we are holding a steam driving and shunting experience course at the NVR on Friday 4th September - this is a full day, 'hands on' experience a little different to the 'usual' driving courses. Details can be found on the Official NVR page here. As a bonus, you even get to meet us!

Recent updates and photos of all the work mentioned above can be found on the 'news' section of our website here.

 

I can't believe it's almost been a year since I posted on this thread - very remiss of me! Much progress has been made since the last update, so I will try to bring you all up to speed...

The two vans mentioned in the second paragraph of the last posting above, are now very nearly finished before being released back into traffic for the first time in several years; 1952-built B761651 is complete apart from a brake stripdown and overhaul, and 1961-built B786075 is complete apart from having two new sets of doors made and fitted. For this job we require a relatively small sum of £100 for the outstanding materials, so please consider making a small donation which can now be easily done online - https://www.gofundme.com/nvrwagons - every little helps! (this fund will remain open once the £100 target is reached, in order to enable ongoing online donations for NVR wagon restoration).

As mentioned previously, our website (https://nvrwagons.wordpress.com) and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/nvrwagongroup) show regular progress updates so you can follow our endeavors to bring back the NVR van train. The completion of the two aforementioned vans, along with the one already running in the rake, will bring us up to three running vans. We are assessing the next candidates to bring into the workshops, with what appears to be a relatively quick and straightforward van already identified, with most of the required parts already in stock.

We also have some exciting news which we will be able to reveal soon, so watch this space!

 

Hello,
Interesting collection and ambitions!
Good to see interest in these undervalued vehicles.
Keep up the good work and keep posting.


Nick

 

Keep up the good work. We need a decent rake of vans for 34081 to haul.

 

Hello,
Couple of points:
In the photo above and on the blog there is a cattle wagon....can not find it listed at the NVR.
Second ...would be a thrill to be in the brake van behind twenty goods vans.............!


Nick

 

Thank you for the kind comments, it's always good to hear our work is of interest to others.

Sadly the cattle van was sold and left the railway before our time - it is now at Chasewater I believe. It can be found on the stocklist on our website, under "wagons no longer at NVR". A conflat A was also sold at about the same time, and is now at Mangapps I think. Can we have it back, pretty please..?

 

Hello,
On the FB site it looks like you use roofing felt?
Weren't they originally canvas?


Nick

 

You had a cattle van & let it go?.................

Last year on the MHR we completed a conversion from a wreck of an LMS van as a donor vehicle into a representation on an SR cattle wagon - the only true example I know of is at Mangapps!

But glad to hear the NVR are making strides in the right direction but for us on the MHR its more a case of rolling maintenance now & putting right quite a few botch jobs as we find them - though we should have an interesting project on the cards for next year.

Dunno about you, but I feel a series of reciprocal visits might benefit both our groups?...............

 

Yes we do now, the first van we did (B759852) was done in canvas back in 2012, but more recently we have had to cut our costs considerably. We use quality felt (not shed stuff) which I understand several other railways also do. We just could not justify the cost of canvas, despite its superior appearance, authenticity and longevity. We took a pragmatic view of rescuing as many vans as we could by giving them new roof coverings and getting them into use, rather than holding out for perfection and only being able to restore a very tiny number of vehicles due to cost.

 

It wasn't us, but we know it was a major loss and we will forever rue the day it went! I may be wrong, but I think it might have been privately owned anyway. We are considering creating a replica LNER cattle van one day as a private project, but this would be a long way in the future.

All our inherited wagons are basically falling apart at the same time, so several vehicles require quite a lot putting right rather than simple repaints. But once restored, we intend to keep on top of maintenance so that they don't drop out of traffic again.

Admission here - MHR is one of the few larger railways I've never been to! But fellow group volunteer Tim has been several times and spoke with CLC who showed him around I believe. We were a little put out to see your fairly substantial van train in the magazines recently! Certainly I know it will be a lot easier to fit our group at MHR than the other way around - we could just about share one car to get there! But we would be very happy to show you around. Tim's brake van rebuild, B953944, has to be seen to be believed!

 

As for your second para - what do you think we started with?........... the BR brake we have in the yard at Medstead is a private owner job, and is being put right, after discovering its a complete botch job! the wreck of the BY Van C should've been finished by now, but is proving rather troublesome, and we can only go as fast as the chippies progress it.

Ah, so our erstwhile chairman is known to you! as for the photo's at least one was mine!

May I suggest that our respective chairmen "have a chat" about visits?............... I'll certainly suggest it to CLC - but I fear the journey times or day of visit will put folks off from our end, so the numbers wouldn't be too great.

 

Will have to speak to the guys - I'm sure at least a couple of us would be up for it at some point. It's about time we caught up with Chris, the group email address has changed since our last exchange (now nvrwagons(at)gmail.com due to reliability issues with the last one). We have some news to update him with which we're not making public quite yet (don't want to jinx anything!)

 

That last bit has set the braincell working!

Care to PM me?....

 

Hello all, I'm Tim Hobman the co-founder member of the NVR Wagon Group and owner of Brake Van B953944.
It is with great sadness that I must inform you all that Paul Foxwell (B17 61606) has been taken seriously ill. As a result of this there will be a period of inactivity on this forum and whilst I shall endeavor to log on and reply to any queries, I'm sure that you will appreciate the current situation.
On a personal note, this recent news has greatly affected me and at this point in time the future of the Wagon Group is uncertain.
Your continued support is appreciated and should anyone wish to contact me personally about this then you can email hobmeister@hotmail.com
All the best, Tim.

 

I hope that his health improves.

Nick

 

Thanks Nick. I'll try to keep everyone posted.
Tim

 

Tim,

Really sorry to hear that Paul is not well - I hope he makes a full & speedy recovery.

I've passed the news on to CLC along with your email.

Dave

 

Thanks Dave.
I know Chris so perhaps you could ask him to email me.
Cheers, Tim

 

Tim,

I'm sure Chris will when he picks up my email.

Cheers, Dave.