Spalding - March Line Track Lifting after Closure - 1984/85 

peebee143 unfortunately all the lines that served this station, save the line from Peterborough to Lincoln were deemed to financially unviable. The old M&GN line was never a money maker, the Peterborough to Boston line was deemed to be surplus to requirements by the good Doctor, and the GE&GN was kkilled by the recession of the early 1980s.

And even the Peterborough - lincoln line was closed briefly. Couldve been left with nothing at all.

March station used to be heaving as well.

⁠​⁠@@neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819railways were never designed in the first place to be a “money maker”. They were a public service such as Royal Mail once was, and our NHS still is, but maybe not for much longer at the mercy of a reckless Tory government. If the M&GN was still open now, it would be heaving with holiday makers and probably freight with a huge incentive for Kings Lynn port to have become more or less a relief for Felixstowe. The March line would have nullified the need to have spent over £100M on the Werrington dive under. So that in itself proves it’s closure to have been a massive blunder without any foresight whatsoever. Closing these railways has proven to be a big, needless mistake. The long term effects far outweigh a few years of recession. A recession is temporary, but these closures are permanent.

Sadly it will never return to the days where you could quite literally get a train from any town to any town as all the land has been sold off now.

This line will never be put back as the build a pesion in the way at whitemoor and this use to be a main route for the divertions fo the main line from doncaster to stevenage

Those days will never return with the NOW Network Rail being in charge and Health and safety issues also ,Sadly that's the case 😞

Glad you enjoyed it Kristian. yes great shame its gone but not forgotten.

Glad you enjoyed it

In the early Noughties, the trackbed at the Spalding end is now a housing estate with roads named after explorers

And as we know Peterborough is a huge bottleneck with any minor delays causing havoc further up the line.

That's the problem they never look any further than there nose they only look at NOW

Glad you enjoyed it Mervyn.

Another line that was ludicrously closed. I believe there is a greater chance of that one reopening however.

@@ukstormwatch1793 yes

Indeed it is. Thanks Dan...

Nigel K Thomas yes, but 40 years ago during the recession of the early 1980s the reverse was true, and that's why it closed.

Neil Dahlgaard-Sigsworth And if the so-called Serple report had been implemented in 1982 there’d be hardly anything left now save for a few main lines! Thank God these tight-fisted accountants didn’t get their way with the Settle and Carlisle!

Absolutely correct! Now it's gone, it would cost far more to reinstate it than to single it. Crazy decision making nearly forty years ago.

@@mervynsands3501 The things is Peterborough was nowhere near as busy as it is now back in 1982. Just a cost cutting exercise. There’s no intermediate stations so let’s get rid. Absolutely no forethought whatsoever.

Hi Kevin, There is no chance of the line every opening again, Housing has been built over some of the track bed and the A47 Road re-alignment at Guyhirne, some of the track bed is still visible in places.

@@royharrison4122 And a stonking great prison now sits on top of the north end of Whitemoor yard. As with most other railways in this neck of the woods, the huge number of level crossings would also be a formidable barrier to reopening. Network Rail guidelines do not ordinarily permit level crossings on reopened railways. Realistically, any hope for Spalding-March reopening died when the Lincoln avoiding line closed in 1983, condemning all freight routed this way to snarl up the level crossings in central Lincoln. Unlike Spalding-March, which has a lot of trackbed intact, the Lincoln avoider has now been built over almost entirely. Back in the early 80s the rail unions often refused to man track recovery trains on controversially closed routes....this is why Woodhead was not lifted until 1986-87 despite closing in 1981. It seems there was less controversy amongst railmen about this closure? Your video is also a useful reminder of global warming....snow in February was an everyday occurrence in 1985.

Anne Scholey you can stil get there by train, it just takes a bit longer and you have to change in Peterborough.

You're welcome!

No it was all pulled up together 😘

Thank you very much!

@@royharrison4122 Youre welcome. I'm from Ireland and didnt venture into your side of the Irish sea til 2004. I gor The Railway Magazine from Oct 1980 to Summer 1988. Thanks to your videos aand others, I get to see them move and hear them. I didn't get a camcorder till Dec 1995. I captured Clapham Junction with my 2nd camcorder in 2004.

yes sad indeed.

Yes it was

It will only work when people will it to work. Put there for purpose, then accountants decide it's purpose, or not as the case may be. Not good wisdom.

I think that would be a good idea but unfortunately I won't happen😔

They are always in a hurry to build houses on the Track Bed over here. We are getting very crowded on our small Island, You seem to have loads of room in the USA. I love watching your Trains on You Tube.

Yes, they would have lasted for years