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Marshalling Yards at March

1963 , March (Cambridgeshire)

Cat no. 205507

A local television feature following the operations at the rail marshalling yard at March, Cambridgeshire.

In a programme broadcast only a few months after the Beeching Report of 1963, presenter Antony Brown interviews the Yard Master in the control tower of the marshalling yard at March. The site covers some 250 acres, and the vast sprawl of rail track is visible from the tower. Intercut with the interview, the footage shows the head shunter, or 'cutter-up', unhooking each wagon for a different destination and recording it on the cut card. The operator in the control tower pulls the leavers controlling the flow of engines and wagons into the 42 separate sidings allocated to the different destinations. As wagons leave the 'hump', they clear themselves down the incline and are slowed down by retarders. The Yard Master points out that traffic is 24 hours a day through the yard, shifting goods and materials such as coal, beet pulp, fertiliser and limestone between East Anglia and the North and Midlands. A new employee expresses his optimism in the future of rail transport despite the ominous sounds coming from Government.

Featured Buildings

Control Tower, Marshalling Yard

Keywords

Rail transport

Manifestations

Marshalling Yards at March

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