hi
once again your roving farmer has been mooching and completed something thats been on my to do list for a very long time but lets start at the begining
a wet day and a job taking a persian cat to march KFC (and no i wasnt taking the cat out to lunch) saw the oppotunity to do a little bit of the old march to spalding railway which was closed by british rail in 1982 12 years before jhon major began to privatise the railways.
the history
built in 1860 by the great northern and great eastern joint railway known as the GN&GER
The March to Spalding line started at March station, but then went though the Whitemoor yard and didn’t really start till the Twenty feet signal box at the north end of Whitemoor Yard The fens are mile on mile, of fields as flat as a pancake. You would be hard pressed to find a more open and break place in the England on a cold windy winters day.
on leaving march and passing the former whitemoor yard now HMP whitemoor ( must put that on my to do list next time im down that way)
the railway continued over a viaduct at Ring's End some of which is some is still in place but the section over the March road has been removed.
and then went over the River Nene on a bridge which was supposed to have been left when the line closed in case the line ever reopened, but was removed during the lines demolition continuing over the A47 on a a bridge and into the village of Guyhirne. This bridge was also removed.
there are still goods sheds and signal boxes and lines of trees were the track bed was. The platforms in March station which this line used, have no track but the platforms are still there with the intermediate wayside stations of guyhirn,murow,french drove,postland and cowbite closing in the late 50,s
british rail cited falling freight and passenger trains for the demise of the line the cambridge to doncaster via spalding,sleaford and lincoln being one of the last passenger services on this line with intermediate services that terminated at lincoln.
the doncaster to cambridge train was a very slow affair stopping at Spalding for aroud 15mins March for around 30mins and at Ely for another long stop.
taking around 3.5 hours to complete its journey which was by then no mean feat as the service was mostly run by a rickety noisy ancient DMU.
once the March Spalding line closed these very slow freight and passenger trains were diverted to use the direct lincoln to Peterborough line with shorter station stops and faster units. Today you would have change at Peterbough as there is no direct Doncaster to Cambridge train.
There was talk over the years of this line re-opening, but some of the main bridges have been removed and Whitemoor Prison and The New Network rail Yard has been built over some of some the line at March. with part of the A16 Spading bypass and new houses being built at Spalding, on the old track bed.
in 2013 a local landowner made an application to the fenland council to demolish the rest of the viaduct claiming he wanted to reclaim the bricks and that there were no plans to build on the land its decommission was due to maintaince costs but met with fierce oppostion from local heritage groups who say it should remain standing as a reminder of the past and is a magnificent victorian structure.
ring,s end viaduct still stands strong 8 years later despite there being no preservation order on it although it is on a register of buildings of intrest
when Opposing the plan, a spokesman for the Wisbech Society said the viaduct was a "rare and largely unique example of Victorian railway engineering in Fenland
being built along with the line in 1860
with the many changes and increase in freight since privatisation it has been realised that the closure of the march to spalding line was like the woodhead route short sighted and politically motivated like the woodhead tunnel being sold to the national grid probably to build the supermax whitemoor prison to house some of the countries most dangerous catagory A prisoners.
now only the sound of cars and lorries pass by while the remains of rings end viaduct silently watches over them.
the only past image i can find 37018 speeds on to the viaduct with the 10.37 Whitemoor - Manton Wood notts coal empties
view from the top of the viaduct across march road i was knackered after i,d climbed up
a barred security fence prevents any further access on to the viaduct
view through the fence across the viaduct
a painted sign warns that the viaduct is now privately owned
one of the capping stones lays on the trackbed
some lovely side views of this magnificent piece of victorian engineering
thanks to the householders for allowing me to take these
some of the blue engineering bricks are missing possibly when the viaduct was severed
and finally inside one of the magnificent arches
once again your roving farmer has been mooching and completed something thats been on my to do list for a very long time but lets start at the begining
a wet day and a job taking a persian cat to march KFC (and no i wasnt taking the cat out to lunch) saw the oppotunity to do a little bit of the old march to spalding railway which was closed by british rail in 1982 12 years before jhon major began to privatise the railways.
the history
built in 1860 by the great northern and great eastern joint railway known as the GN&GER
The March to Spalding line started at March station, but then went though the Whitemoor yard and didn’t really start till the Twenty feet signal box at the north end of Whitemoor Yard The fens are mile on mile, of fields as flat as a pancake. You would be hard pressed to find a more open and break place in the England on a cold windy winters day.
on leaving march and passing the former whitemoor yard now HMP whitemoor ( must put that on my to do list next time im down that way)
the railway continued over a viaduct at Ring's End some of which is some is still in place but the section over the March road has been removed.
and then went over the River Nene on a bridge which was supposed to have been left when the line closed in case the line ever reopened, but was removed during the lines demolition continuing over the A47 on a a bridge and into the village of Guyhirne. This bridge was also removed.
there are still goods sheds and signal boxes and lines of trees were the track bed was. The platforms in March station which this line used, have no track but the platforms are still there with the intermediate wayside stations of guyhirn,murow,french drove,postland and cowbite closing in the late 50,s
british rail cited falling freight and passenger trains for the demise of the line the cambridge to doncaster via spalding,sleaford and lincoln being one of the last passenger services on this line with intermediate services that terminated at lincoln.
the doncaster to cambridge train was a very slow affair stopping at Spalding for aroud 15mins March for around 30mins and at Ely for another long stop.
taking around 3.5 hours to complete its journey which was by then no mean feat as the service was mostly run by a rickety noisy ancient DMU.
once the March Spalding line closed these very slow freight and passenger trains were diverted to use the direct lincoln to Peterborough line with shorter station stops and faster units. Today you would have change at Peterbough as there is no direct Doncaster to Cambridge train.
There was talk over the years of this line re-opening, but some of the main bridges have been removed and Whitemoor Prison and The New Network rail Yard has been built over some of some the line at March. with part of the A16 Spading bypass and new houses being built at Spalding, on the old track bed.
in 2013 a local landowner made an application to the fenland council to demolish the rest of the viaduct claiming he wanted to reclaim the bricks and that there were no plans to build on the land its decommission was due to maintaince costs but met with fierce oppostion from local heritage groups who say it should remain standing as a reminder of the past and is a magnificent victorian structure.
ring,s end viaduct still stands strong 8 years later despite there being no preservation order on it although it is on a register of buildings of intrest
when Opposing the plan, a spokesman for the Wisbech Society said the viaduct was a "rare and largely unique example of Victorian railway engineering in Fenland
being built along with the line in 1860
with the many changes and increase in freight since privatisation it has been realised that the closure of the march to spalding line was like the woodhead route short sighted and politically motivated like the woodhead tunnel being sold to the national grid probably to build the supermax whitemoor prison to house some of the countries most dangerous catagory A prisoners.
now only the sound of cars and lorries pass by while the remains of rings end viaduct silently watches over them.
the only past image i can find 37018 speeds on to the viaduct with the 10.37 Whitemoor - Manton Wood notts coal empties
view from the top of the viaduct across march road i was knackered after i,d climbed up
a barred security fence prevents any further access on to the viaduct
view through the fence across the viaduct
a painted sign warns that the viaduct is now privately owned
one of the capping stones lays on the trackbed
some lovely side views of this magnificent piece of victorian engineering
thanks to the householders for allowing me to take these
some of the blue engineering bricks are missing possibly when the viaduct was severed
and finally inside one of the magnificent arches
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