March To Guyhirn Old Railway Line 

No matter what part of the country you come and the love of trains it saddens the heart when all the wonders of railway life disappears and the track beds become footpaths for one's who walk them don't realise what went before them are now faded memories. So sad

Thank you Barry, great video. In 1959 whilst travelling to Ickleton on my AJS motorcycle from RAF Manby, it broke down just outside Spalding. I managed to get myself and the bike to Spalding station, (towed behind an MG sports car) and get a train to Cambridge via Peterborough, or so I thought. The porters informed there was a train coming in and quickly pushed my bike across the line and heaved it into the guards van. I had boarded a diesel hauled train to Cambridge. Unbeknown to me the train headed off from Spalding directly to March and then on to Cambridge. I think I got into Cambridge around 5pm. What a joy to have travelled on this line. I was devastated to read in the eighties that the line had been closed. I found your video very emotional, thank you. At a later date I was on a train from Louth to Peterborough with two other RAF colleagues and told them about the direct train from Spalding to Cambridge. Unfortunately, having alighted at Spalding, we discovered the train I had caught previously, did not run on a Saturday. So we ended up catching a train to Cambridge via Lynn on the M&GN JR. This was shortly before it too closed. Happy days. Roger

All the hard work put in building the closed network of our railways destroyed by short sighted people.

lived in march all my life 40 years even though it has more modern trains these days there are many signs of the old lines and history I love watching things like this hopefully now things are opening up can see again

Excellent piece of work, evoking the stark beauty of the Fenland landscape and its lost railways.

I remember cycling from Leicester to my Aunts house in Wroxham as a 15 year old lad and watching several long freights going over Guyhirn bridge as I rode towards it on the A47 past the Coronation Cafe. Most trains seemed to have Austerity 2-8-0 locos at the head. Now the bridge and line have gone and it's like another time and place. Brings back some great memories of 60 odd years ago. Thank you for filming it, despite the current scene of desolation.

Alas a situation repeated all over the country evoking memories of times long past. This is an excellently produced video. You have a talent young man.

Brings home my old town memories of march and the railway history

Very pleasant sequence, terrific countryside. Obviously a great shame another rail route is no more. Excellent presentation 👏🏻👍

Brilliant!..Lovely piece of work...you should be proud of this......and THAT big sky....awesome!!

Beautifully composed, excellent music score. Nice piece of work!

Fantastic piece of work, came across this vlog by chance………. Now I know all the places I pass on my cycle route down past whitemoor and beyond 👏🏽

Nicely made video. Used to travel around this area for work in the 90s and 00s. As a railway enthusiast I would love to have witnessed it all during prime time. Often used to stop and have a cup of tea on March station and observe the history. The lady serving the tea always looked so cold in that kiosk with her fingerless gloves.

thanks for that beautiful trip with the lovely soundtrack...as a schoolboy trainspotter in the early 1960's I marvelled at the allocation for March depot, never got to visit it though..

I was born in Wisbech, but lived in Upwell back in the 50s. I still have family living there, March, Three Holes, Welney, Downham Mkt, in fact all over that area. To see these films is wonderful bringing back childhood memories. I haven't been back there in about 12-15 years and I miss living there. Have you done a film on the old Fruit Growers Special that ran between Wisbech & Upwell? They built a housing estate on the old goods yard.

That was beautifully and sympathetically filmed and edited. We have lost so much and yet simply put it all detrimentally onto the roads. With eleven thousand plus views it dissapoints that only a few bother to show apprecitation to Barry by clicking liked, it takes less than a second you know. Try it............

Muuuuuyyyy interesante video. Me encantó ver estos testimonios del pasado. Me apena un poco ver estaciones y predios ferroviarios abandonados... Pero estoy tan acoatumbrado a verlos en mi Pais. Con mucho afecto a todos los amantes del ferrocarril. Desde Argentina

Beautifully shot and edited. Thank you.

Thank you so much for this stunning video, my Nan & Granddad use to keep the gates just up north a bit at gull drove, my Granddad did 45 years on the railway at guyhirn

Great video, loved seeing it!!

Evocative video photography with surreal music to match. Thanks for uploading.

The music matches the huge sky! This is beautiful work.

This track was part of the old Cambridge-Doncaster line, which was a useful diversion avoiding the bottleneck at Peterborough.

Lovely video, so sad to see the old derelict parts, what a shame they closed so many railways.

Thanks for this film. It would have been great if this line had survived. However, there were no intermediate stations left at time of closure, and few trains used the route. Also, the Thatcher government was not sympathetic to the railways. British Rail were under pressure to cut costs. At least there is a chance that the Wisbech line may reopen.

Absolutely brilliant, excellent, very well put together, loved the music

Brings back memories of childhood, cycling out to 20ft bridge to combine hobbies of fishing and train spotting. I bet the powers that be wish the line had never closed now

Barry, thank you for making and sharing your video. I live locally, but well remember the devastation of market towns in Yorkshire in the 60s. The whole country suffered as a result.

Thank you Barry, remember walking it many times with my old pal Doug Laws. Brings back great memories .

Brilliant video, thank you for making it.

This is an excellent video, well put together with excellent camera work. Well done and thank you for sharing it with us. Happy memories

Thanks, excellent video

Hello, i enjoyed that video very much. Nicely put together. How sad the ghosts of railways past.

history of this great town amazing

My dad sent this to me. It's a lovely composition and very informative.

Great video. My boys and I have enjoyed watching this.

Absolutely fantastic

Moved to March from London in 1973, met and married a local girl. I soon got used to the trains and the shunting at all hours, along with the cold store in Marwick Road. I remember being concerned about crossing the line at the crossing on Elm Road on the way to 20 Foot on my moped. It did have speed warnings. Their were proper gates and a pedestrian bridge at the Station Road crossing, gone now. Moved to Peterborough in the 80s but still pop over to visit relatives and buy our favourite pork pies in town. I forgot to mention the Deltic, people seemed to talk about it. Not knowing much about railways I thought it was the name of a particular engine, not a model.

I so enjoyed this 👍

Fantastic video. I recently walked the route of the Upwell-Wisbech tramway and the Bramley line (March-Wisbech). Its amazing to find all these old bits of infrastructure and compare them to old photographs. This line looks great and was my next one to walk, but sadly its a bit far away for me now we are in national lockdown. Its a shame that they've been shut down and you can really see the difference an active train network brings to the area. Wisbech is one of the largest towns in the country without a rail link and it shows: its poverty-stricken when compared to March. I'm writing a travelogue / guide to these walks as part of my masters thesis. It would be great to share photos with you of these lines if you are interested.

My oldest daughter lives in March, and we travelled to Peterborough from March station when I visited last year. This is really interesting

Excellent video thanks, even if it sad 😢

great yet sad video 😢🛤

Brilliant video. Having moved away from Thorney Toll in 2001 the area has changed quite a bit. The nature reserve wasn't even thought of then.

Very nice..

There are plans to reopen the line to Wisbech, but I don't know how they're going to cross the A47. Talk is of a level crossing, as before, but Inthink the road users will be up in arms over that. All the tracks are still in place, except for the level crossings. Apart from removing the vegetation they just need to find somewhere for a new station at Wisbech. This line sadly succumbed to the recession of the early 1980s but had been living on borrowed time as passenger services had been pared down to the minimum and greightvtrafgic levels had fallen with the recession so much that all traffic could be accommodated on the route via Peterborough.

How short sighted the policy makers of the day were to wreck one of the Crown Jewels this country had..... a decent public transport system in favour of the motor car!

Really good thanks for posting it Could you continue to spalding ?

I know little about trains, though love to travel on them, but this video, coupled with the music and the sentiment of a past era is actually very moving. What IS the music, by the way?

I'm just surprised that the Romford to Upminster and Upminster to Grays survived the Beeching Cuts

Like so many others, cast aside, deemed no longer necessary for purpose, how the march of time changes the face of the once bustling scene of yesteryear. They were the motorways of their day, swift, and smooth running in comparison to the motley pot holed, bumpy uncomfortable excuses for roads of the nineteenth century. Now just photographic images and memories of a bygone era.😢

Here's a little fun fact the line from March to Wisbech might reopen as a heritage railway

Your pan shots were too fast for my taste, but otherwise what an excellent video - dripping with nostalgia. How sad those days are gone. The music was well suited. Thanks.

Railway Movies. The Titfield Thunderbolt 1952. The Great Train Robbery 1963. The Railway Children 1970 & 2000. Thomas and the Magic Railroad 2000.

I f remember right my dad helped take the old bridge down . i do sort remember it .but was wee nipper

I can watch this over and over again..why was it closed? Great music..but the one I think of watching this is "In the Fen Country " R V Williams

I also have a Hardback Book called The Railway Policeman. The Story of the Constable on the Track.

I live there.

Sad to see what was but it's the public that did not use these lines that led to them being closed.

Sad to see how British engineering and building skills have been disrespected by successive governments in the interests of the motor manufacturers and petrochemical industries. Great video but so sad.

I went to a scrap yard near Guyhirn late 1980's and saw piles and piles of signal arms and the gantry steelwork that appeard to have been recently cut down. I regret not trying to purchase some in case they were completely destroyed. Please tell me some were salvaged. The Rings End viaduct should have had a building preservation listing to preserve it. I always considered the arches a work art, something you never expected to see crossing the Fens. Beeching should be classified as a Traitor for the damage to "OUR" railway networks he inflicted. Arrrh! Arrrh!

Nice information and was this line abandoned due to Beeching effect?

Nice video, why did the line close ?

What history. It could be a big mistake to close this line?

So sad to see what Britain has lost

Does 'The men of March really have a Great Western locomotive on its sign?

March railway station must be Grade II listed?

Superb seems odd lines still being closed in 1982 when it was well known car commuting was doomed to clog up any areas of economic activity and so well understood that to bring in jobs you needed transport like rail light rail or trams or coachways... Think London Docklands Think Cambridge Think Bristol jammed portway now want to reopen rail... Think in Suffolk rail removed towns die and jobs move to where there is better transport and infrastructure...

I've heard rumours that consideration is being given to reopening this line following the upgrade of the GN/GE joint line to be the primary freight route from Felixstowe to Yorkshire and the North East. Anyone got any intel on this? I live adjacent to the line near Lincoln and can confirm that there's been a huge increase in container workings to Leeds, Doncaster and Rotherham since the upgrade.

Victorian Era 1837-1901.

Very well filmed with suitable music another triumph of cutting lines only to find buses then stopped and surprise surprise we get in the car and we get a lot pollution it’s not rocket science it is called cause and effect..shame land retained so that we could replace with light rail or tram or even guided busway, many areas of east Anglia are blighted by traffic congestion unsuitable country road. In the west Bristol is fine example of transport blight after many routes lost so many have no choice but jump in the car If they want go to work or area is blighted by poor transport link and subsides into a unemployment ghetto as now no bus no trams no rail so if not a car owner driver your stuffed I know places in Lincolnshire where local authority house have no transport most are on benefits and they get benifits paid into bank cos the bus to the nearest post office no longer runs it did run once weekly but now did all. Transport needs to aligned with social need and employment and new investments.And pigs might fly as most politicians don’t care don’t understand and often are unable to see the long term affects of changes Good or Bad....

I have the DORLING KINDERSLEY DK EYEWITNESS GUIDES Book of TRAIN. Discover the story of railways - from the days of steam to the high - speed, sophisticated trains of today. In association with THE NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM.

Historical railways...when money talks...common sense walks.. such a waste?

Going back to this film my Dad was born in GullDrove crossing house in1924 and my Grandad was rewarded 10 Shillings for running the line to place detonators to make a major Derailment into a smaller one right near the said crossing

I grew up in March. I live in Bristol now. I go back for a short stay most summers. Once you've been there it's hard not to go back.