Nene Valley Railway issues appeal for volunteers to help reconnect Fletton Line to the East Cost Mainline

Nene Valley Railway is appealing for help to reconnect its Fletton Branch to the East Coast Mainline.

Reconnecting the line at the Fletton Junction will provide easy access for guest locomotives, charter trains and maintenance machines and others to visit NVR.

NVR has described that Fletton Branch as perhaps its most important 1.5 miles of tract as the arrivals of such gest locomotives attracts visitors and generates substantial revenue to keep the volunteer-run railway running.

The high temperatures in the summer has a detrimental effect on many of the line’s 2300 wooden sleepers and forced the line to close.

A spokesperson for NVR said: “This is a bitter blow to the hardworking staff and volunteers of the NVR because until repairs are made the railway will not be able to accept any movements to or from the mainline.

"We need to replace at least 400 wooden sleepers on the Fletton Branch, although the more sleepers we can replace now, the more resilient the line will be for the long-term.

"Depending on the number of sleepers replaced and the availability of volunteers to undertake the work, we estimate the cost of repairs will be between £35,000 and £200,000.

“Due to reduced running during the Covid pandemic, the railway has limited available funds to begin repairs with the help of our volunteer workforce.”

For this reason, NVR is appealing for any donations, big and small, – each sleeper is expected to cost around £100- or for people to donate their time to carry out the replacement of the sleepers.

Anyone who is interested in joining the volunteer workforce has been asked to email [email protected].

Details on how to donate can be found on Nene Valley Railway’s website.