News from the NVR covering various aspects from the TPO group over the last few months.

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The NVR's rake of four TPO coaches, which were initially air braked only, has now received the equipment to allow both air and vacuum locos to operate the set. Work over the last week by Dave Hartley and Paul Bricklebank has seen the set get to the stage were any visiting vacuum braked loco will now be able to operate the TPO set.

Pictures and report from the event.

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The last few weeks have seen frantic activity to ensure that the new Travelling Post Office lineside apparatus at Yarwell cutting is complete for its formal opening on Friday 9th May and the subsequent celebrations over the weekend of 10th and 11th May. Click on the image for more details.

The equipment for use with the Travelling Post Office train at Yarwell is now installed. Click on the image for more details.

With the Christmas period now over work has restarted on getting the Travelling Post Office equipment ready for use at Yarwell. Click on the image for more information.

The first of the five Mark 1 Travelling Post Office (TPO) coaches has now been fitted with the vacuum brake equipment that will enable it to be dual (both vacuum and air) braked. The TPOs were air braked only when they arrived at the NVR, but used to be dual braked in the past, with most of the equipment still in place it has enabled the vacuum braking to be reinstated to allow any loco that is based or visiting the NVR to operate the TPO set of coaches. Work will continue to fit the equipment to the remaining coaches over the winter period.

The Fifth Mark 1 Travelling Post Office coach, 80417, arrived at the Nene Valley Railway today. The coach, known as a stowage vehicle, will be used by the Civil Engineering Group as a replacement for their current stores vehicle. Some minor repairs are required to the coach, but it will enter traffic with the Civils group immediately.

Following on from the NVR's Travelling Post Office (TPO) Group being awarded a grant by the "Awards For All" Lottery Fund for £7,068 to install lineside exchange equipment at Yarwell the group have already made inroads into the project.

Click on the image for more details.

The NVR has announced that it has purchased a fifth Mark 1 Travelling Post Office (TPO) to add to its existing fleet.

Vehicle 80417 has been purchased for use with the Civil Engineering Group as a stores vehicle to replace their existing van which is no longer deemed suitable.

80417 will join the other Mark 1 TPOs owned by the NVR; 80327, 80337, 80402 and 80456 to form a rake of five Mark 1 TPOs – a sight that can not be seen anywhere else.

The NVR's Travelling Post Office (TPO) Group have been awarded a grant by the "Awards For All" Lottery Fund for £7,068 to install lineside exchange equipment at Yarwell.

The grant will enable the Railway to refurbish and install the equipment between Wansford tunnel and the new station at Yarwell Junction. Included in the project is the refurbishment of a lineside hut, foot crossing for access between the lineside hut and equipment and the installation of a footpath and fencing from Yarwell Junction station to the lineside equipment to enable passengers easy access to view the exchanges when they take place.

Click on the image for more details.

The team restoring the Travelling Post Office coach, M30272M, inside Wansford shed have now made a start on installing the new roof. It is some years since the vehicle previously had a roof, this having to be removed to enable the replacement of various rotten timbers.

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With the news that TPO 80337 is now ready to enter traffic, the NVR has announced that it intends to purchase a fifth Mark 1 TPO through its TPO Fund for use within the Civil Engineering department.

The NVR's fourth Mark 1 Travelling Post Office (TPO) coach, 80402, is set to arrive at Wansford in the near future. This vehicle, which will form part of our rake of Mark 1 TPOs, should enter traffic at the Rail Mail 2007 event in June. The coach will enable the NVR's TPO group to utilise its open space to display much more TPO material than has been possible in the past few years.

The replacement nameplates for 80327, George James, have also been ordered, so that this TPO can once again display the name it has carried since June 1995.

Work on 80337 is also progressing well and the apparatus equipment will soon be completed.

With the new TPOs arriving at present (three out of the four have arrived) extra siding space has had to be created. The TPO Group had been asked to create the siding space and as such have set to work at Ferry Meadows to extend the siding to accomodate vehicles displaced from Wansford by the TPOs.

Members of the TPO team are seen working on the siding and expect that one more day will see the job completed.

The NVR's latest acquisitions, a set of TPOs (Travelling Post Offices), started to arrive today. The first one, 80327, which was named 'George James' arrived at 09:45 this morning. Of note is that today is the third anniversary of the last TPOs to run on the main line in the UK.

Pictures of the TPOs in their final days.

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After a long period in storage at Euston Carriage Siding it appears that the TPOs purchased by the NVR's TPO Group are starting to move and could be at Wansford in the near future. More details can be found here.

Pictures and report from the event.

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Full details can be found here

The Nene Valley Railway has just taken delivery of a Great Northern TPO body, dating from 1885. This has been stood undercover in a Doncaster allotment since 1927 and adds another chapter in the history of the TPO system to the NVR's collection of TPOs, which now number three - LMS M30272M, SR 4920 and GNR 2178.

Full details can be found here

Pictures and report from the event.

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NRM donates Southern TPO, 4920, to the NVR
Great Northern TPO donated to the NVR
NVR asks EWS for two TPOs
Progress on LMS TPO M30272M

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Pictures and report from the event.

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Details of the event in 2004 including pictures from lineside exchanges, around Wansford, TPO and NVR staff at work and Marie Saville's Collection. The timetable used for the event is also available.

A poem by Steve Glason

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Details of the final nights at York Station

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Details of the final night of the North East Down TPO.

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Details of the final night of the North East Up TPO.

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Details of the last week of TPOs before they become history.

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Brian Hallett, David Jackson & Brian White visited the PRDC to see the TPO system one more time before it finishes in January 2004..

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The Colne Valley Railway held a TPO day to commemorate the last running of the East Anglian TPO service the previous Friday.

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Brian Hallett's & Brian White's journey on the North East Down TPO on the night of 9th June 2003

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The final weekend of operations at Didcot in 2002.

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Pictures and video of the TPOs in action during the Gala.

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Details of the event in 2002 including pictures from Saturday 15th June 2002, Sunday 16th June 2002 & Pictures by Nigel Hunt. The timetable used for the event is also available.

Didcot's weekend of celebrating twenty one years of TPO operations on their demonstration line.

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The Nene Valley Railway's first ever TPO event, including the naming of 67004 "Post Haste"

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