Wansford railway station

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The new station building at Wansford

Wansford station is the headquarters of the Nene Valley Railway. The current station building was opened in 1995 and contains a ticket office, shop, cafe and toilets. The locomotive sheds are located at this station. Also at the station there is a picnic area and children's playground. The station was formerly the junction for a branch to Stamford, which separated to the north just east of the river bridge at Wansford.

1 Barnwell station building
2 Old Wansford station building
3 Wansford signal box
4 Turntable
5 Model railway

[edit] Barnwell station building

The waiting room on platform two is referred to as "The Barnwell Building" due to it having been moved from Barnwell station to Wansford on 5 April 1977. The building is of special interest, having been built in 1884 for use by members of the Royal family when visiting Barnwell Manor, home of HRH Duke of Gloucester.

[edit] Old Wansford station building

The original Wansford station is located on platform three and was built in 1844-1845 in Jacobean style for the opening of the railway. This building does not belong to the railway, though the railway is trying to acquire this building.

Signal Box at Wansford Station with level crossing in foreground

[edit] Wansford signal box

The signal box was built in 1907 by the London and North Western Railway to replace three smaller boxes. It was originally built with 60 levers and is one of the largest preserved signal boxes in its original location.

[edit] Turntable

The turntable, is located behind the new station building, and was built by Ransomes & Rapier of Ipswich in 1933. Originally it was 60 feet long and was installed at Bourne in Lincolnshire for use on the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway. It continued in use here until 1959 when Bourne shed closed and the turntable was moved to Peterborough East; its last duties being to turn Travelling Post Office (TPO) coaches for use on the East Anglian TPO. In 1977 the turntable moved to Wansford where it was extended by 7 feet to make it 67 feet in length and was commissioned in September 1978. The turntable has been in use ever since to turn the locomotives and carriages at the NVR.

[edit] Model railway

On platform 4 there is a model railway which has been put together by enthusiasts over 5 years, housed in a converted rail coach. This coach is a BR Mk2e FO ex 'London's Burning' coach, number W3227. The main layout, called Hammerton Junction is mainly an 00 gauge but one end is raised up and has a N gauge on it. Also they have a small layout called Iron Sidings built on top of an ironing board.