The railway in March were the biggest employers after farming. March is in the flat fens were farming on this reclaimed land was the main industry. Railways from Ely ran to March and from Peterborough and Spalding. there were also lines from Wisbech and one from St Ives ( Cambridgeshire) all meeting at March. These lines gave access to all east Anglia and the many small stations with sidings for farmers and coal sidings for domestic coal plus the odds and sods that travelled on the railways PRE World War One and even up to the late 1950s. All this was done in wagon loads for tiny villages with much shunting and trip movements. Coal from the East Midlands and Doncaster grew to so many trains for so many desernations that some thing had to be done as it was taking weeks to get it were was supposed to be.Then the empty wagons had to return to the coal mines from were they came from. This was also made worst at harvest time with barley for Scotland and sugar beet and srawberrys ect.
The flat empty land was ideal for a marching yard and March was picked for a new large yard. This opened on 3rd march 1929 on the site of an old yard on the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway line. There was just 24 sidings in the old yard. 1,265 Wagons was all these siding could hold. traffic threw these siding was about 3,000 a day. There were other siding in March but wagons were held as far away as Peterborough awaiting there turn. Trip working from yard to yard were also slowing things down.
The LNER Decided on a Hump Yard with Frohlich hydraulic brakes the first time they had been used in this country, This was for the up line with 43 sorting sidings were provided with room for 4,000 wagons for 350 desternations. In 1933 a down yard was added and by the start of the Second World War 8000 wagons could be sorted each day.
Trains were stopped at reception sidings the train engine removed, wagons were uncoupled and a cut card made out .This was taken to the control tower by pneumatic tube like the shops use to have. Then NE T1 4-8-0s pushed the wagons over the hump at 2mph (a speedometer was fitted on this engines to get the wright speed) the control tower setting the points the wagons being retarded by the right amount by the retarders. this depended on the number of wagons already in the siding. The wagons were supposed to stop or hit the wagons very slowly and shunter ran along side with a stick in these yards to help this happen.
More siding were added and a large Mpd was needed for all this traffic .In the 1960s line closures and station closures meant that the need for these large yards was no longer needed. On 27th January 1972 the down Yard Closed . The Up Yard takeing its trains. In 1982 the GN&GEJR line closed. The Departure sidings were now only used and Traffic transferred to Peterborough. The Site of main yard was pulled up This is now Whitemoor Prison.The MPD has now also gone and there is just the one track to Wisbech left of all the siddings that were at Whitemoor..
The book to get about WHITEMOOR... The illustrated history of BRITISH MARSHALLING YARDS by Michael Rhodes OPC1988
The book to get on the March MPD .......GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY ENGINE SHEDS part one by Cris Hawkins & Geige Reeve WSP 1986
