A trip along the Nene Valley.....

"34081 '92 Squadron at Peterborough Station" (Pic - K.Evans)

Hi all. Today saw me and two friends take a trip to Nene Valley Railway for the day. Sadly what we hadn't planned for was the horrible wet weather we were about to have. My day started as I left Burton on Trent (My home town) by train on a Cross Country Class 170 Diesel Multiple Unit. Before long after stops at Willington, Derby, Long Eaton & Beeston it was time to leave the train at Nottingham Station. Before long I was on the 08:34 Nottingham - Norwich Train which would see me to Peterborough the East Terminus of the Nene Valley Railway.

"Kieran posing for a photo on the footplate of 34081" (Pic - C.Johnson)

 At Grantham I was joined by my good mate Kieran and his girlfriend Casey and we settled down for the journey to Peterborough. Before long we arrived at Peterborough Station and had the fun of trying to get out the station and find our way to Nene Valley Railway. We found the station and Railworld, Only to find that Railworld DOES NOT open till 11:00am....KIERAN.... Take note.... lol. Before long the distinctive sound of a Bullied Pacific's whistle could be heard in the distance as 34081 appeared with her train. 

And soon 34081 could be seen as she arrived with her train of BR Mk1 Coaches. It was the first I'd got up close to 34081 so whilst Kieran was getting ready to take photos as 34081 ran round her train I was admiring 34081 whilst the crew were uncoupling. With a quick toot on the whistle 30481 moved off her train to the head shunt to run round. As she ran round her train, she slipped to the bemusement of myself and Kieran who muttered things afterwards to the line of "Really, light engine?" 

Soon it was time to find a seat on the train, so whilst Kieran was was stood at the carriage window taking photos me and Casey found a seat and waited for the wanderer to return. At 11:00 with a quick toot from 34081's Whistle we set off for Wansford, the main base of the NVR. This station has been featured in my T.V. programmes such as Holby City, Casualty, London's Burning, East Enders, Coronation street and many more. 

"Catching the mail!!"

We soon arrived at Wansford and decided to get off the train and head over to Platform 2 for the Travelling Post Office Demonstration Train which was being operated a Class 31 Diesel Locomotive. But of course we couldn't miss an opportunity for a photograph as Kieran managed to get a quick look on the footplate of 34081. With thanks to Casey for allowing me to use the photo of Kieran in this blog post. 

We then boarded the TPO demo train to just south of Wansford Station where apparatus is situated. We disembarked along with others on the train and stood as the volunteers of the TPO Society at NVR explained how the TPO Equipment worked, After they reversed the class 31 just south of the apparatus and did 3 run pasts for us all to take photos and videos of it. Sadly I didn't film much due to poor weather conditions but I've decided to revisit Nene Valley in the summer when the weather is a bit better.... (He says) lol.

"Hi Thomas!!"

After the run pasts it was back to Wansford where we disembarked for a wander round the site, We soon found the workshop Gallery and guess who we found... non other than Thomas the Tank engine. After a quick look at Thomas and the Class 14 shunter, we wandered back out past Ex GWR 0-6-2 5600 Class Tank engine '5619' and A1 Pacific 4-6-2 60163 'Tornado' which was currently being repaired after a incident on the mainline, For more information on that, please go to the A1 Trust Website by clicking the link here. We then headed back to the station building to go to the toilet and then into the café for lunch. 

After lunch we decided to head back to Peterborough behind 34081 and head over to Railworld. Whilst at Railworld we had wander round and came across this old Turntable Pit. I decided to take a few photos and couldn't miss a chance to get a photo of Kieran Stood in the pit looking at his camera...lol

"Deep concentration!!"

Having looked round Railworld we decided to call it a day and head back to Peterborough Mainline Station. Whilst I have 30+ photos from today, I decided to limit it down to the ones you see in today's post. Thanks to Kieran and Casey for their company today, thoroughly enjoyed your company and thanks again everyone to those who continue to read my blog posts. Speak soon, Jake...