REALLY SideTracked – Long Stanton
Flanders and Swann Slow Train event No 12
A geocaching meet-up between 12pm and 12.30pm on Saturday 26th October, near the site of Long Stanton station in Cambridgeshire.
This is the next in a series of SideTracked events based on the song Slow Train by Flanders and Swann. Written in 1963, the song laments the closure of many stations and railway lines under the Beeching cuts of that era.
"I'll travel no more from Littleton Badsey to Openshaw.
At Long Stanton I'll stand well clear of the doors no more..."
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Long Stanton station in March 1976.
(Photo by Nick Catford)
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Long Stanton station was on the former railway line from Cambridge to March via St. Ives, which opened in 1847, and closed to passengers in 1970. The line remained open to freight to St. Ives until 1992, and the track was finally lifted to 2007, when the route was converted to form part of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway. At 16 miles in length, it is the longest guided busway system in the world.
We will meet on the footpath opposite the remaining station building, which is now a private residence. The event will allow like-minded cachers to meet up to chat, discover and swap trackables.
Related web pages:
(Background images - Donald Swann and Michael Flanders in concert, 1966; disused track near Dunstable Town station in 2006, copyright Nigel Cox, CC-by-SA)