NENE VALLEY RAILWAY
Nene Valley Railway, Your local Heritage Railway by Shirley Knight I have just returned from a week’s holiday in Devon, where we took a ride on the Dartmouth Steam Railway (DSR) which runs for about seven miles along the wonderful coast, between Paignton and Kingswear.
a volunteer with NVR for four years, starting out training in the signal box, and now serving in the bar on the carriages. I am also a member of the Volunteer Liaison Group which coordinates recruitment, induction and support for volunteers.
The line stops at Kingswear, on the opposite side of the river Dart to Dartmouth, because when Brunel commissioned the building of the line, his plan was to carry it from the east side of the river to a station on the west side, beside the town, by a bridge, but the local people objected and it was never built. He had already had the station on the Dartmouth side constructed, so there it stands, a railway station with no line! It is now a restaurant/bar. Travelling on the railway got me to thinking about our local heritage railway, Nene Valley Railway, and here I have to confess a special interest. I have been
As I rode the line from Kingswear and back, I made some comparisons in my mind of the two railways to illuminate the different experience provided by the two. DSR is a private company and is run almost entirely by paid staff. NVR is a registered charity, heritage railway and museum, run, on the other hand, almost entirely by volunteers. DSR is about seven miles in length; NVR is 7.5 miles in length. DSR has four stations: Kingswear, Churston, Goodrington Sands and Paignton; and a platform at Greenway Halt for
access to the former holiday home of Agatha Christie. NVR has five stations: Wansford, Yarwell, which is to the west of Wansford and accessed through a tunnel, Overton for Ferry Meadows, Orton Mere, and Peterborough Nene Valley, beside the river, and gives access to the city centre. Previously it was possible to get on and off at all the DSR stations, but travel at present is non-stop between Kingswear and Paignton. Currently at NVR the train stops usually at all stations. At DSR a ticket enables single or return journey once; at NVR a Rover ticket can be purchased which enables the passenger to get on and off as many times as they can fit in the day’s timetable! DSR has one tunnel at Greenway, 495 yards long; NVR has Wansford tunnel, 616 yards long. DSR has three viaducts. OK, NVR has none of those! Not surprisingly given the landscape! DSR has an continued >
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