Nene Valley Railway, between Stamford and Peterborough, unveils plans for £2m visitor attraction

A heritage railway group has unveiled ambitious £2million plans to add a Beamish-like visitor attraction at one of its stations.

The Overton Goods Yard Project would feature an authentic recreation of a working goods yard from the 1950s and 1960s, and a museum, including the last surviving coach from the notorious Great Train Robbery of 1963.

It would be located at Overton Station, near Peterborough, part of the Wansford-based Nene Valley Railway.

The project is a joint venture between the NVR’s Wagon Group and Travelling Post Offices Group (TPO).

“I reckon it’s going to be in the region of £2million,” said project manager Tim Hobman.

“It’s going to be a massive project and I anticipate it will take 15 to 20 years to realise the full scheme.”

Tim got permission from the NVR board to start the project about six months ago, and after Christmas led a working party to begin clearing the site.

“Historically it’s been a bit of a dumping ground, so we want to move some rolling stock out that doesn’t fit with what we want to achieve, move some stock in, and then create some information boards and pieces for the public,” he added.

“They can have a look at things while we start to raise some money to hopefully build a goods shed which will be the first part of the project.”

The devil is in the detail for Tim who wants to create an authentic 1950s goods shed which will act as a restoration space for wagons and coaches and an occasional events space.

It would also feature a goods and parcels office and a yard foreman’s office.

“If we do events and galas we’d like to use those spaces as they would have been used back in the day, so we would have actors going in, all the theatre,” he explained.

“It would be a bit like Beamish Museum where it’s more of an immersive experience.”

The next phase would be a museum, predominantly for travelling post office exhibits, in place of a night mail museum which the TPO had planned for the entire site.

“That project has stalled and is not going to go ahead as planned now,” said Tim.

“I think it’s important to continue with their vision on a smaller scale as part of the development.”

Among the main exhibits will be a coach which was part of the Great Train Robbery when £2.6million was stolen from a Royal Mail train. The coach is currently undergoing restoration at Overton.

“It wasn’t one of the ones that saw the action, but it’s the only surviving coach from the train,” Tim explained.

“It was mainly used for stowage so would have been filled with mailbags at the time of the robbery.

“It’s an event in history that probably shouldn’t be forgotten, so it’s important to tell the story and we’d like to do that as part of the museum.”

The team hope to complete the long-term project by installing a second platform, signalling, and a replica signal box back in its original position.

“It’s important that whatever we do there it all looks right and it all feels right,” Tim said.