Mutant Child of Two Obsessions Mystery Cache
Mutant Child of Two Obsessions
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(other)
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The cache is not at the listed coordinates. The coordinates are for the former March Whitemoor marshalling yard.
Nowadays, March is known mainly for the maximum security HMP Whitemoor and as a centre of excellence for the vegetable packing industry. However for over 100 years in the 19th and 20th centuries it was an important railway town.
The first railway arrived in 1846, on the east-west line between Ely and Peterborough built by the Eastern Counties Railway. This was followed within two years by the north-south line between Wisbech and St. Ives. In 1862 the Eastern Counties Railway, having swallowed up most of the smaller railways in East Anglia, renamed itself the Great Eastern Railway. Plans by the GER to build a railway northwards from March to Spalding were thwarted and instead a similar route was built by the GER's big rival, the Great Northern Railway, and this opened in 1867. There followed fifteen years of legal manoeuvring as the GNR sought to extend southwards further into GER territory and the GER coveted the route towards the industrial north. Eventually, in 1882, the GER and GNR agreed on joint ownership of the lines south to St. Ives and north to Spalding and beyond to Doncaster. This gave the GER access to the Yorkshire coal fields and set the scene for a rapid expansion of the railway facilities at March and corresponding increase in the town's population. New engine sheds and goods yards were constructed and in 1885 a new station was built which boasted no fewer than seven platforms.
In the 1923 railway grouping the GER and GNR were both absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway, and it was during the LNER years that March enjoyed its railway heyday. The LNER embarked upon a fresh round of modernisation and expansion of the facilities at March. Between 1929 and 1931 a huge new marshalling yard at Whitemoor was opened, employing the latest technology. By 1939 it was the largest marshalling yard in Britain and the second-largest in Europe.
The Second World War years marked the peak of railway activity at March, as Whitemoor handled a massive amount of munitions, fuel and equipment for the military in addition to the regular goods traffic. The yard was so important that a decoy yard was built four miles away at Stag's Holt in an attempt to fool German bombers; this decoy was an array of lights that matched the layout at the real yard and was switched on at the same time as Whitemoor's lights were switched off. Whitemoor became the largest yard in Europe courtesy of the RAF and USAF.
The post-war years brought nationalisation, and inevitable decline to March's railways. During the 1960s the line to St. Ives closed and passenger services to Wisbech were withdrawn. Parts of the marshalling yard were abandoned and in 1982 the line to Spalding closed. In the late 1980s the prison was built on part of the Whitemoor site, and in the early 1990s the Whitemoor yard closed completely. By the end of the century all that was left were the lines to Ely and Peterborough, a shrunken station and a disused track that fizzled out at a pet food factory in Wisbech.
However the 21st century has brought something of a renaissance. Network Rail have reopened part of the Whitemoor site as a maintenance and recycling facility and the Bramley Line group hope to reopen the March to Wisbech line for tourists and shoppers keen to stock up on pet food.
If you'd like to know more about March's railway heritage (and who wouldn't?) I can recommend a visit
to the March and District Museum (www.marchmuseum.co.uk) where there is a display commemorating the 125th anniversary of March station, plus many albums of railway photographs and documents.
As for the cache, you need to solve the following:
A = Cambridgeshire
B = Hinchingbrooke
C = Gazelle
D = Southesk
E = Claverhouse
F = Coldstreamer
G = Glenfinnan
H = Immingham
I = Flamingo
J = Velocity
K = Jutland
L = Hazeldean
M = Valour
N = Ravenswood
O = Glenalmond
P = Kingfisher
The cache can be found at:
N52º A-B+C.(D*E/F)+G-H' E000º I+J.(K*L*M)-N-(O/P)'
The checksum of all the digits in the final, calculated coordinates is 35.
You will need a pen and some tweezers. The cache is push- and wheelchair accessible to within about two metres or so.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ner lbh jrnevat lbhe nabenx?
Treasures
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