Category:

Vlog

Duration: 32:06

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8

Hello Rail Explorers!!. In this vlog BLS team members Samuel Beamon, Jordan Deveson, Daniel Wyatt & Sam Arner explore the currently mothballed/abandoned Bramley Line Branch from March to Wisbech. Although not recommended for closure in the Beeching Report of 1963, the series of lines around Wisbech were gradually closed from the 1960s onwards. Coldham station was closed in 1966, followed by the station at Wisbech and the line from Wisbech to Watlington in September 1968. The line between March and Wisbech remained open for freight traffic until Summer 2000, carrying steel coil for the Metal Box factory, and occasional parcels, coal and pet food trains from Nestle Purina, but was singled in March 1972 with the lifting of the down rails. Wisbech was left with no passenger service since 1968, and no railway connection at all since 2000.

The Wisbech March Railway Group was formed on 22 October 2003 by Wisbech businessman Peter Downs. The Bramley Line Preservation Group obtained a licence from Network Rail which permits them to clear vegetation but not to undertake track maintenance. The Track Clearance Team commenced at Coldham in July 2006 and continued until November 2014, working back towards Wisbech. The team also replaced and painted fencing at various sites and an isolated siding was laid at Waldersea, with a site office being provided to serve as the group's headquarters. The Group were working to raise the money to pay Network Rail's legal fees to obtain a lease on the line for the purposes of restoring it for tourist trains.

In February 2005 the Bramley Line Group purchased five Class 488 coaches, comprising a rake of four Standard class and one Club Class vehicles. A public appeal raised £2,500 to move the coaches to March but, following vandalism, it was decided in November 2007 that the coaches should be sold; being purchased by a New Zealand-based railway in May 2008. Bramley Line also acquired the former Smeeth Road signal box, complete with lever frame. Since closure the box had been used as a hairdressers and was complete and in good order. It was removed to a site in Wisbech, where it was stored, but not restored.

In November 2014 the project ceased work, and declined an offer of heritage rolling stock, while the future of the route is decided.

In May 2016 a working party of volunteers worked on track-laying around the proposed Waldersea station and depot.

In this video you see us tackling Brambles, Bridges and a whole plethora of obstacles and hazards. We ask no one to try and replicate the scenes captured within this film as it could cause serious injuries and bodily harm.

Want to see more Railway Exploring videos? take a look at our members only video of the former Faversham Creek Branch....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kITrY28Y6rg

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