Wansford railway station is the headquarters of the

Nene Valley Railway The Nene Valley Railway (NVR) is a preserved railway in Cambridgeshire, England, running between Peterborough Nene Valley and Yarwell Junction. The line is in length. There are stations at each terminus, and three stops en route: Orton Mere, ...

in Cambridgeshire, England. The 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. Wansford station and the line immediately either side of it, including the level crossing and the river bridge appeared several times in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

film ''

Octopussy ''Octopussy'' is a 1983 spy film and the thirteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sixth to star Roger Moore as the MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by John Glen and the screenplay was written by G ...

''.

History

The station opened with the

Northampton and Peterborough Railway The Northampton and Peterborough Railway was an early railway promoted by the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) to run from a junction at Blisworth on the L&BR main line to Northampton and Peterborough, in England. The construction of the lin ...

from

Blisworth Blisworth is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire, England. The West Coast Main Line, from London Euston to Manchester and Scotland, runs alongside the village partly hidden and partly on an embankment. The Grand Union Canal ...

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

in 1845. Being located on the Great North Road, it was for a few years the railhead for

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

, etc., which at this time were not served by any railway lines. The branch line to Stamford opened in 1867. The route to

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

became available when the LNWR built a line from Yarwell Junction, west of Wansford tunnel, to their existing 1850

to Stamford line at . At the same time, the Great Northern began a service from Peterborough North to Leicester Belgrave Road via Wansford, Seaton and the newly opened

Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway The Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway was a British railway line, almost entirely within Leicestershire. Authorised by the same Act of Parliament, the Great Northern Railway Leicester Branch was built, branching from the ...

in east Leicestershire. The Leicester trains were stopped as a war economy in 1916. The Stamford branch closed in 1929, having never properly recovered from the 1926 general strike. The station closed for regular passenger services on 1 July 1957 but passenger services from Peterborough continued to use the line to Northampton until 1964, and to Rugby until 1966. The Rugby line remained open for freight as far as the sand and gravel quarries at Nassington. When these stopped, the line closed but the track remained in situ. The line became the

heritage railway and was reopened on 1 June 1977.

Station features

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 typical

LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the L ...

wooden construction. It was originally built in 1884 for use by members of the Royal family when visiting

Barnwell Manor Barnwell Manor is a Grade II listed country estate near the village of Barnwell, about south of Oundle, in Northamptonshire, England. The historic former home of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, as of 2017 it was occupied by Windsor House ...

, home of the Duke of Gloucester.

Old Wansford station building

The original Wansford station, designed by John William Livock, is located on platform three and was built in 1844–1845 in Jacobean style for the opening of the railway. This building was finally purchased by the Nene Valley Railway in 2015. In October 2011 it appeared on the list of the ten most threatened Victorian and Edwardian buildings, published by the

Victorian Society The Victorian Society is a UK amenity society and membership organisation that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. It is a registered ...

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.

Turntable

The turntable is located behind the new station building, and was built by

Ransomes & Rapier Ransomes & Rapier was a major British manufacturer of railway equipment and later cranes, from 1869 to 1987. Originally an offshoot of the major engineering company Ransome's it was based at Waterside Works in Ipswich, Suffolk. Ransome's split ...

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

in 1933. Originally it was long and was installed at Bourne in Lincolnshire for use on the

Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GNJR) was a railway network in England, in the area connecting southern Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely and north Norfolk. It developed from several local independent concerns and was incorporated ...

. It continued in use there until 1959 when Bourne shed closed and the turntable was moved to Peterborough East; its last duties being to turn

Travelling Post Office A Travelling Post Office (TPO) was a type of mail train used in Great Britain and Ireland where the post was sorted en route. The TPO can be traced back to the earlier days of the railway, the first ever postal movement by rail being performe ...

(TPO) coaches for use on the East Anglian TPO. In 1977 the turntable moved to Wansford where it was extended by to make it 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.

Model railway

On platform 4 there is a model railway which has been put together by enthusiasts over five 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 00 gauge; one end is raised up and has

N gauge N scale is a popular model railway scale. Depending upon the manufacturer (or country), the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. In all cases, the ''gauge'' (the distance between the rails) is . The term N ''gauge'' refers to the track dimensions, ...

on it. There is a small layout called Iron Sidings built on top of an

ironing board Ironing is the use of a machine, usually a heated tool (an iron (appliance), iron), to remove wrinkles and unwanted creases from fabric. The heating is commonly done to a temperature of 180–220 °Celsius (356-428 Fahrenheit), depending on the f ...

Summary of Services

Sample Train Timetable for April 1910

The table below shows the train departures from Wansford on weekdays in April 1910.

Use in film and television

The old station building appeared in the 1983

film ''

'', in which Bond (played by Roger Moore) drove a

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

car along the railway tracks after its tyres were punctured in pursuit of a train on which the villainous

Kamal Khan ''Octopussy'' is a 1983 spy film and the thirteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sixth to star Roger Moore as the MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by John Glen and the screenplay was written by G ...

(

Louis Jourdan Louis Jourdan (born Louis Robert Gendre; 19 June 1921 – 14 February 2015) was a French film and television actor. He was known for his suave roles in several Hollywood films, including Alfred Hitchcock's ''The Paradine Case'' (1947), '' Lett ...

) was transporting a bomb. This scene was scripted as being in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. A station identified by a sign as Wansford appears in the music video for the 1991 single 'The Air that You Breathe' by UK band, Bomb the Bass.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfZjr_hUGLk at 3m:30s, retrieved 21 November 2010

References

External links

{{Use dmy dates, date=October 2013 Nene Valley Railway Heritage railway stations in Cambridgeshire Transport in Peterborough Buildings and structures in Peterborough Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1845 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1957 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1977 John William Livock buildings