Nene Valley Railway - (Wansford, Station) - Peterborough

Debra J.

A really lovely afternoon out. No steam trains at the moment due to the potential for sparks causing fires along the way. The countryside is tinder dry. We had a very good diesel instead. We had a lovely compartment to ourselves. A small cafe and loo in the train also.

Max C.

Great experience. The excitement of my young child on seeing Thomas and getting to have a ride made it.
Staff were very friendly and engaging with the children which is great to see.
It's a gem working to preserve a very important part of our history and worth every penny.

Steve B.

Nicely presented heritage railway with good facilities and helpful staff. There’s plenty to do including the cafe, a museum, miniature railways, guided shed tours, walks alongside the line and of course riding on the trains. I visited during the Flying Scotsman event with Britannia also present and it was a reasonably priced day out. I particularly enjoyed the shed tour. I’ll be back again in the future.

Kayleigh A.

We visited NVR to board Flying Scotsman last weekend.

It's a lovely little station & museum, with a small variety of trains to view. There were also 2 trains which were open to climb onto the footplate.

My 4yr old loved the play area and the souvenir shop was filled with toys which were reasonably priced.

There are a couple of miniature and model railways but none of them were switched on which was disappointing.

The toilets on site felt very unclean and they smelled absolutely awful. This was the case for both the indoor and outdoor toilets.

The staff were lovely though and my little boy had an amazing day.

** The charity shop in the car park should not be missed. They have some interesting items for sale and are very cheap. The staff in here were amazingly friendly and helped my little boy find his perfect souvenir to bring home.

Anna E.

visited with family for a trip on The Flying Scotsman on feb 23rd. we were expecting it to be busy so arrived early to park - unfortunately despite showing a blue badge there was no blue badge parking ( later on leaving we saw a sign for this , with cars parked minus blue badges - maybe this needs addressing as such selfish behaviour is unfair on those of us who need such extra space ) . the people supervising parking were not entirely helpful when i was told to park between cars and tried explaining the need to have space to fully open my door ( " that's the general idea , dear ") ...
we had notification on checking in which carriage , table & seats were allocated to us which meant there was no scramble for seats together. there was a buffet car on board , reasonably priced.
the return journey lasted an hour, with the opportunity for a 10 minute station stop before returning.
there was also a well-stocked gift shop.
all in all, well worth the visit.

Lucy A. (.

NVR is such a great place to visit and I'm so glad I love nearby, I highly recommend a trip to see the steam trains running. I always go when there is a visiting train and sometimes just to have a coffee, there's always something to see. The shed tours are great if you get the chance to have one.

Heritage Railways like this one costs an awful lot of money to run and even just the price of coal is prohibitive, the volunteers are giving their time but they need us to buy tickets to keep them running so please do make use of this amazing facility and help keep the history of rail alive!!

W W. H.

The Nene Valley railway runs for 7.5 miles.tjete are 5 stations in total. Trains start from Wansford which houses the engines which are both steam and diesel. Wansford has a cafe,shop and also a booking office. There is also a reasonable sized car park that is free for visitors.
Trains leave Wansford and go east to Yarwell where the engine runs around. It then returns to Wansford and heads west to Peterborough ( Nene Valley ) calling at Orton Mere and Overton.
Orton Mere has a tea room with indoor and outdoor seating and is a pretty station. There are sidings opposite housing some smart old rolling stock and behind other wagons and engines in store. You can also alight here and take a stroll at Ferry Meadows country park.
Along the line you will see the river Nene at various points alongside peaceful countryside.
The railway has quite unusual rolling stock and engines, passenger carriages are a variety of European stock with French and Dutch influences,I believe one coach is Italian. The dining car has a lovely interior. One of the steam locos is (656) is a Danish engine built in 1949.
There is also a Swedish Railcard named Helga which is due in service this summer.
You may see some shunting going on around the depot when you visit.
In the depot I saw a visiting GWR loco, a class 45, the lines Thomas the tank engine which is in service at selected times. For quieter days they have a class 143 Pacer rail bus,a train built in the 1980's to serve rural routes and branch lines.
An adult rover ticket is £19, there are discounted fares for kids and family tickets too.

Lesley E.

We visited for the Flying Scotsman, who was visiting for a couple of weeks. Really great to take a journey on her to Peterborough and back and experience a ride in the old carriages.

Nene Valley is also the home of Thomas the Tank Engine who was out for the day too! Keep an eye out for specials in the school holidays onboard this legend.

There is a cafe onsite for cakes and tea plus a shop.

Interesting heritage railway site with lots of old trains to look at. Plenty of free parking.