File:Point rodding at Wansford level crossing - geograph.org.uk - 1563578.jpg

English: Point rodding at Wansford level crossing These rigid metal rods are part of a complex mechanical linkage that allows the signalman in Wansford signal box [1] to operate points on the preserved Nene Valley Railway (NVR). The rods exert a 'pull and push' action, sliding back and forth on small caged wheels (foreground of photo). In this view, the rodding runs under the road in a culvert.

The NVR is a preserved tourist railway which runs from the outskirts of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, to Yarwell Junction, a distance of seven and a half miles. There are terminal stations at Yarwell Junction and Peterborough Nene Valley with intermediate stations at Orton Mere, Ferry Meadows and Wansford. The NVR's locomotive depot and principal station is at Wansford which is near the western end of the line.

The original Nene Valley line ran from Blisworth (a once-important junction on the London-Birmingham main line) following the valley of the River Nene through Northampton, Thrapston, and Oundle to Peterborough. The route opened in 1845 and passenger services were withdrawn in 1966. British Railways finally closed the line to all traffic in 1972.

In 1974, Peterborough Development Corporation bought the section between Longville and Yarwell and leased it to the Peterborough Railway Society, a group of volunteer enthusiasts, to operate as a tourist railway. Between 1974 and May 1977 the railways was restored to passenger-carrying condition. The official Railway Inspector passed the restored line as fit for passenger train in May 1977 and the NVR officially opened on the 1 June that year.