Wagon Group

Whilst the Nene Valley Railway is probably best known for its collection of locomotives and rolling stock from continental Europe, the NVR is also fortunate to be a home base for over 70 ex-BR wagons, including some built by the pre-nationalisation and pre-grouping companies.

Arguably the most important element of the NVR freight vehicle collection is the sheer number of ordinary, short wheel-base, four-wheeled goods vans on the railway, which were once a common sight in goods trains on Britain’s rail network. Unfortunately they all require repairs to be fit for traffic once again, particularly to the timber bodywork. A key aim of the group is to restore a sizeable quantity of these vans back into use, to form an express BR van train typical of the 1950s/60s period. Such trains were often seen on all BR regions, hauled by a wide variety of locomotives – both steam and diesel – and often including many express passenger types as well as mixed-traffic and freight designs (which might be more expected for goods workings).

Other wagon types, such as open and tank wagons, will be restored as desired, and it is planned to form a cohesive and historically authentic ‘mixed goods’ train alongside the BR van train. As most of the NVR wagon fleet is BR-built, the 1950′s/60′s era and liveries will dominate, but in time, it may be possible to form a small rake of vehicles from an earlier period using some of the grouping (1923-48) and pre-grouping (pre-1923) stock from the collection.

For more detail about us and how you can help, full NVR goods wagon stocklist, and regular restoration and progress updates, please visit our website:
www.nvrwagons.wordpress.com

For details of how you can drive our freight train during one of our occasional "Steam Freight" Driving and Shunting Experiences see the NVR main web page

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