125 Preservation

19/10/2026

What a great way to end our 2026 running season with the HST!

2 days of driver experiences, 19/20 places sold!

2 days of being the main train with Saturday alongside Swedish railcars Helga and Hagar and both days having Blue Circle in the yard at Wansford.

Saturday evening was a group meal out at The Paper Mill, Wansford with amazing food and yummy puddings! There was also cake and cheesecake onboard for 125 Preservation volunteers.

We also had our 3 course roast dinner cooked onboard both Saturday and Sunday which was very well received.

Thank you to all those who travelled with us and we hope you had a great day out.

Keep an eye on our page and Nene Valley Railway page for our dates for next year!

10/10/2026

Next weekend: 17th & 18th October

📘Andy Coward's book – HST in the Fifth Decade available to buy
🥓 Bacon baps and sausage baps available from the GWR buffet
🔊 Enjoy the sound of VP185 engines as you travel through the countryside
🍷🍺 Onboard bar

04/10/2026

50 years of HSTs – 04/10/76-04/10/26

Yesterday and today, some of the team enjoyed a trip on 125 Group's tours!

And some of the team were maintaining the 125 Preservation set.

See each photo for captions...

04/10/2026

03/10/2026

One of today's little jobs.
Making a fitting to enable using standard garden hose to fill the tanks.

29/09/2026

How are you going to celebrate 50 years of HSTs?


125 Heritage - InterCity 125 in Essex

🔹️3rd October – Colne Valley Railway:

Cab rides
Start ups
Unlimited HST rides

https://www.125heritage.co.uk/operating-days/

125 Group

🔹️3rd October Railtour:

The Journey Shrinker

https://125group.railtourtickets.uk/railtours/125group_20261003_the-journey-shrinker.htm

🔹️4th October Railtour:

Rio Revival

https://125group.railtourtickets.uk/railtours/125group_20261004_rio-revival.htm

125 Preservation

🔹️16th October – Nene Valley Railway:

Driver experiences – 1 space left

https://nvr.org.uk/product.php/484/hst-driving-experience

🔹️17th & 18th October – Nene Valley Railway:

Main train

https://nvr.org.uk/product.php/673/Freedom-Travel

The InterCity Roast

https://nvr.org.uk/product.php/780/The-InterCity-Roast

Things to buy:

🔸️50 years plaque:
https://www.125group.org.uk/product/1-4-size-50th-anniversary-plaque/

🔸️50 years pin badge:
https://www.125group.org.uk/product/50th-anniversary-pin-badge/

🔸️HST in the Fifth Decade by Andy Coward:
https://www.platform5.com/modern-british-railways/hst-in-the-fifth-decade-by-andy-coward

13/09/2026

We're back on the roof sealing!

The green primer is being replaced with the more superior Rustoleum paint which requires 2 coats.

It might not look much, but the grinding to get back to bare metal for painting took 2 hours, the painting took 15 minutes!

09/09/2026

A preserved Intercity 125 HST is set to return to the line where high speed rail in Britain began.

07/09/2026

43060 has been spotted today on Leicester depot having a little holiday
60 is at the UKRL Spa getting some much needed R and R and some TLC😊
Thanks to Rob Reedman for the use of the picture.

19/08/2026

Yesterday saw our first official 3 course roast dinner fully cooked on board for volunteers of Nene Valley Railway as a trial train with feedback.

It was very successful and we have learnt some new things ready for our first public roast dinner train in October.

https://nvr.org.uk/product.php/780/the-intercity-roast

We have used local produce with our meat coming from Chatteris Town Butchers and our potatoes coming from SRN Golding & Son Matt Golding.