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[Lizzie_Zoom]

Today we think of Dr. Beeching publishing his report on The Future Of The Railways.  It was a sad day when this accountant, who had no railway experience, and believed the age of the train was at an end, closed in rapid haste thousands of miles of track, thousands of stations, cut tens of thousands of jobs, destroying almost overnight a way of life and the ability of thousands to commute to places outside their communities. 

Yes, there were branch lines that would never be economic to retain, but many others, plus main lines, would close based purely on biased passenger counting, and with no consideration on the business they generated for the railways overall by feeding traffic into the main, profitable, lines, along with no regard for future traffic growth. A blinkered, unimaginative accountant at a stroke ruined the UK's once World beating transport system, putting thousands of loyal railwayman out of work, and the potential for it to grow and develop curtailed almost fatally. His masters of course were the politicians of the day, again a short sighted, unimaginative lot as well! Yes, the driving force was to save money, to stop huge losses, but there was another way to keep this vital national service alive and to save money. However, that would be too hard for Beeching and the politicians to deal with, so the easy option was taken.

Fifty years on the railways have beaten the predictions of 1963 and are handling more traffic than ever known before in their history, with the 'blank' railwayless areas of the country ruing the day Dr. Beeching was put to work.

Damn Beeching and his political masters. Long live the new railway age that is now and to come!

The future is fast, the future is high speed train! 

From the BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21951552

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I guessed that you'd be the first to comment on this, Lizzie.

Destroyer of railways or  simply a pragmatist with a job to do?

If you love trains then It's likely that you'd prefer the company of Satan to that of Beeching.

[Lizzie_Zoom]

I guessed that you'd be the first to comment on this, Lizzie.

Destroyer of railways or  simply a pragmatist with a job to do?

If you love trains then It's likely that you'd prefer the company of Satan to that of Beeching.

Dead right Opti!

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I guessed that you'd be the first to comment on this, Lizzie.

Destroyer of railways or  simply a pragmatist with a job to do?

If you love trains then It's likely that you'd prefer the company of Satan to that of Beeching.

Dead right Opti!

Michael Palin hates Beeching, too.......so he must be a bastard.

[05omegav6]

Dig him up and hang him for treason. Ankwa...

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Dig him up and hang him for treason. Ankwa...

.......It was good enough for Dickie 3. ...although he did get the hump about it.

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Dig him up and hang him for treason. Ankwa...

.......It was good enough for Dickie 3. ...although he did get the hump about it.

They did it, well dug him up and beheaded him, with the Lord Protector, Cromwell, and as a loyalist I have supported that action against a traitor!

[tunnie]

The biggest mistake was selling off the land, sure shut them down, rip them up to save money. But they should never have sold off the land.

That said, we have one of the best preserved railways in the world, closed lines have become a steam train heaven now.

If he had not shut all those lines, would we have what we have now? 100's of private run trusts for train lovers.

Some places have become more popular because there are no train lines....

[Lizzie_Zoom]

The biggest mistake was selling off the land, sure shut them down, rip them up to save money. But they should never have sold off the land.

That said, we have one of the best preserved railways in the world, closed lines have become a steam train heaven now.

If he had not shut all those lines, would we have what we have now? 100's of private run trusts for train lovers.

Some places have become more popular because there are no train lines....

Agreed Tunnie!   The land should have been retained in most cases for possible future railway use.

You are also right about the gains made by the steam / diesel preservation movement by all those lines being available for their use. But they only represent a few hundred miles of thousands lost, which the 'movement' will never be able to take over fully. i.e. the whole of The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway, and The Great Central Main Line - both very useful potential lines now, but both heavily destroyed by housing and commercial development.

[tunnie]

The other argument is if the cuts had not taken place, there would be no HS2 for you 

Lost big main line to London, but perhaps gained HS, some 50 years later?

Lines back then were build to serve freight, but that went down hill, no more slate, no more coal. At the time, it appeared the right thing to do.

[Lizzie_Zoom]

The other argument is if the cuts had not taken place, there would be no HS2 for you 

Lost big main line to London, but perhaps gained HS, some 50 years later?

Lines back then were build to serve freight, but that went down hill, no more slate, no more coal. At the time, it appeared the right thing to do.

That Tunnie is of course speculation now. It could be argued that if the powers to be had kept faith with the future of railways, Britain could have developed a HS system, as Japan and France has, long ago.  HS2, and 1, and possibly 3 & 4 could have existed by now leading the World.  Typical of GB, short sightedness and dull imagination took over, and the result is what we have today.  A system needing billions, possibly trillions of pounds to come up to date and recover from at least 70 years of neglect.

[STMO123]

Dig him up and hang him for treason. Ankwa...

.......It was good enough for Dickie 3. ...although he did get the hump about it.

They did it, well dug him up and beheaded him, with the Lord Protector, Cromwell, and as a loyalist I have supported that action against a traitor!

Loyalist...or Royalist?

[hotel21]

Beeching had a job to do so a job he did - suitable for the then projected needs as seen.

Looking back from now with inflated fuel costs for cars, road conjestion as well as the strength of preservation societies et al, perhaps sale of the land the lines ran on were a mistake. In my opinion there is a current demand for rural lines and tourist type traffic. There is a need round my way for a line round he east Neuk of fife simply as a tourist route to and from St. Andrews and in my (limited) opinion, it would be cost effective as a preservation line. Sadly, the land is sold and gone so costs now to reinstate would be outrageous!

[Marks DTM Calib]

For me Beeching was a scape goat for the governments of the time. He produced a report as per his remit and parliament carried out what they wanted to do (and were already doing).

Also remember, he made modern freight.

For me a man who was miss understood

[STMO123]

For me Beeching was a scape goat for the governments of the time. He produced a report as per his remit and parliament carried out what they wanted to do (and were already doing).

Also remember, he made modern freight.

For me a man who was miss understood

They knew how much flack he would get, all deflected from them. That's why they paid him £20,000 to produce it, the equivalent of £350,000 today.