Hump marshalling yards.
 

Following on from discussions about the run away wagons at Toton, and about hump yards in general.

I found this old film about "railways at March" about the railway town of March and the Whitemoor marshalling yards, the largest in Europe at one time. It also had a very large loco allocation at the shed on site.There is also mention of the horrific explosion at Soham during WW2, the train was crewed by March men.

The film and sound quality are of the period, but it's of an age that's long gone.

"A history of the Whitemoor Marshalling Yards at March in Cambridgeshire. At one point during World war Two these were the biggest Marshalling Yards in Europe. The video was recorded in 1992 and includes many interviews with the men who worked in the yards. Hump Shunting was used to sort the wagons into trains for London, East Anglia and the North."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD8YosxWRu0&t=6s



*

I hadn’t thought about it before, but I must have been confusing a marshalling yard with a junction. Back in the day, next to Clapham and one in America, Bescot was claimed to be the third biggest junction in the world. I would have thought Birmingham New Street would have more lines and destinations passing through?