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March to Spalding - Is re-instatement possible ?

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PhilipW

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With much freight from the East Anglian ports being routed via Ely and March to Peterborough and plans afoot to then route it via Spalding and Lincoln to Doncaster and onwards, I am sure that there must be many in the industry who regret the closure of the direct March to Spalding link, even if that regret is never expressed publically.

I never hear of any proposal to re-instate that link, so my assumption is that the route has been obliterated to such an extent that re-instatement is nigh on impossible. If true, that is very sad.

It's flat country, it's in a straight line. Could the route be re-instated, even with a few small diversions if necessary ? There is a lot of freight traffic that could use it. It does sound like a good idea.

Any views ?
 
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TheBigD

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At the March end Whitemoor prison is built across the formation of the old Whtiemoor yard. You would have to put the line either behind the prison or run it off the disused Wisbech branch. The bridge is also missing at Twenty foot drain.

At Rings End/Guyhirn the bridges and the viaduct have been demolished and there's a bowling alley/nursery built across where it used to be, along with a realigned A47.

Going North you can follow the old formation which is still there for a few miles but some of it has now been converted back to farmland.

At Cowbit the old formation has been breached by a new road (A15?), a bungalow across the old formation near the old station.

At Spalding there's a big house built across the formation south of the River Welland and a new housing estate just north of it.

If you were hell bent on reopening it it is doable but a huge and costly job. You would be far better off building a new alignment across the farmland from just west of March through to South of Spalding.

Or you could grade separate Werrington Junction to get the capacity increase, albeit with increased journey times (about 15-20) mins that compared to March - Spalding direct.

On a separate point a lot of the old signal boxes are still there, some in private ownership and some in a decaying state.
 

LE Greys

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Think I'd go for the Werrington option, plus reinstating the ECML down slow. Getting freight onto the joint line is important, but not at that cost.

Incidentally, another thing I'd like to see is a quicker route to Grimsby from London, but reinstating the East Lincs would be another nightmare.
 

TheBigD

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Think I'd go for the Werrington option, plus reinstating the ECML down slow. Getting freight onto the joint line is important, but not at that cost.

Incidentally, another thing I'd like to see is a quicker route to Grimsby from London, but reinstating the East Lincs would be another nightmare.

Reopening the former East Lincolnshire Line would be far more problematic.

At the Grimsby end you've got Peaks Parkway that consumed the former alignment through the suburbs of Grimsby, along with some encroachment in New Waltham.

Then you've got the Lincolnshire Wolds line, who I think own about 8(?) miles of the line and plan to reopen it. I did hear that some relaying towards the south was imminent so if anyone could confirm I'd be grateful thanks. Amazingly the rails are still in place on the former Fotherby crossing some 32 years after it was closed and can be veiwed on google maps.

This is followed by a lot of building over the route through Louth. Though the level crossing gates, signalbox and station buildings remain the formation south through the town has been obliterated.

The formation is pretty much intact from the edge of Louth through Legbourne Road where the former station has some old railway stuff including a relocated signalbox there.

Further South the formation has been returned to farmland in a number of locations but a fair bit of it is intact until Alford where a lot of the former railway land has been built on. some of it quiet recently.

Heading further south the formation is pretty much intact until Willoughby where again, the old railway land has been built on.

The line is again pretty much intact until the former Burgh-le-Marsh station where it has been breached by a new road, though the former Station and Signalbox still survive.

As you head towards Frisby, where it joins with the current Skegness line, some of the formation remains but you'll find very little of the railways existence there.

South of Boston virtually all of the former line is now the A16 through to the outskirts of Spalding, where the old alignment can be glimpsed as the A16 curves around the town.

Not Sure what's left of the old line in Spalding.

Sorry to bore you all to tears but I would recommend reading the The East Lincolnshire Railway by A J Ludham and also...

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.enefer/lincs/lincs.htm
 
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At the March end Whitemoor prison is built across the formation of the old Whtiemoor yard. You would have to put the line either behind the prison or run it off the disused Wisbech branch. The bridge is also missing at Twenty foot drain.

At Rings End/Guyhirn the bridges and the viaduct have been demolished and there's a bowling alley/nursery built across where it used to be, along with a realigned A47.

Going North you can follow the old formation which is still there for a few miles but some of it has now been converted back to farmland.

At Cowbit the old formation has been breached by a new road (A15?), a bungalow across the old formation near the old station.

At Spalding there's a big house built across the formation south of the River Welland and a new housing estate just north of it.

If you were hell bent on reopening it it is doable but a huge and costly job. You would be far better off building a new alignment across the farmland from just west of March through to South of Spalding.

Or you could grade separate Werrington Junction to get the capacity increase, albeit with increased journey times (about 15-20) mins that compared to March - Spalding direct.

On a separate point a lot of the old signal boxes are still there, some in private ownership and some in a decaying state.

The viaduct at Guyhirn is there, all what missing is the bridge that crosses the road and the bridge over the river
 

TheBigD

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The viaduct at Guyhirn is there, all what missing is the bridge that crosses the road and the bridge over the river

The viaduct at Guyhirn was demolished in the 1980's when improvements were made to the A47.

I suspect you are refering to the viaduct just south of there at Rings end.
 

Bevan Price

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As some people on the route of the Croydon Tram found out, the existence of buildings does not stop a closed railway being rebuilt & reopened. However, I have doubts that any Government (current or future) would provide the funds to reopen March to Spalding.
 
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As some people on the route of the Croydon Tram found out, the existence of buildings does not stop a closed railway being rebuilt & reopened. However, I have doubts that any Government (current or future) would provide the funds to reopen March to Spalding.

No, it would be cheaper to put in 4 tracks in the odd place here and ther on the existing Pboro to Ely line which is where the problem is
 
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