Too Good to Lose Thread, Beeching Cuts A Big Mistake?

In the 1960's the then Chairman of the British Railways Board, Dr.Richard Beeching shut down almost a third of the railway system. Five thousand miles of track and 2,000 stations were closed.

Beeching's remit was to put the railways on a sound financial footing. When money has been put into the railways it has always been described as subsidy but when money is put into road building it is called investment.

Building more and more roads doesn't seem to ease problems on the roads. With so much road congestion should we now be reopening some of the lines?

I think we should, even though I work for a truck company, I would like to see far less huge trucks on the roads and more freight trains.

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The size of a cars engine doesn't always equate with the size of the driver's brain

Some of them are already re-opened Graham such as the North Yorks Moors Railway, between Pickering and Grosmont, twenty miles of track passing through some of the finest scenery in North East England. It has an impressive total of steam locos some ex NER but also LMS represented with Stanier "Black 5s" and locos from other parts of the country and even other countries, such as the USA. Although the company does not own them, a Gresley Pacific, "Sir Nigel Gresley" is often on loan as is "Blue Peter" and Class V2 "Green Arrow." I've been pulled by most of them, at one time or other. They also have diesel locos including a Deltic.
During the summer, there's an arrangement with the mainline railway company, for steam locos to transfer to the mainline on the Middlesbrough-Whitby run at Grosmont so you can leave Pickering, have a day in Whitby and return in the afternoon. It continues to run services during the winter, this is a line which people use.
I only wish I'd bought shares in it because I worked on it at weekends, in 1968, in the early days, when it was just a dream. I think it quite rapidly exceeded people's imagination and has been a huge success - obviously profitable.
One of the highlights is the "war weekend" during October, when people dress up in 30s and 40s clothes, uniforms of the Armed Services during WW2 (including American) and the train is boarded by kids dressed up as evacuees!
http://www.nymr.co.uk/

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"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy." --Benjamin Franklin

I reckon Beeching did more damage to this country than Hitler ever did. There are some things that have a social worth far in excess of their financial cost. The railway was one such service. Sadly, capitalism only recognises the price of everything and the value of nothing and so we have congested roads and large communities bereft of decent public transport.

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...the Daily Mail - not so much a newspaper as an idiot's guidebook issued in bite-size daily instalments.

Yes, I agree.

Had the railways had the investment anything like the roads system we would have a rail service to be proud of.

What passes for our rail service today is just a shoddy reminder of was once a good means of travel.
Now it is an expensive long-winded exercise in avoiding using a car.

I'm very much in agreement with KE here. However, closed railways, in the main, still have the major engineering works, especially cuttings, tunnels and bridges. After all this time, it would still take major investment to get the track bed ready ie drainage works, bridges and tunnels would also require a lot of restoration, indeed some will have been removed altogether. However, heavy as this investment would be, it would be a lot less than building a new railway. Perhaps it's time to look at some of these closed railways, in terms of how they could serve today's demands.

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"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy." --Benjamin Franklin

Down here in Devon there was, once upon a time, two ways of getting a train from Exeter to Plymouth. Now there is only one and it has suddenly become apparent that the surviving line, along the sea wall to Teignmouth, is going to become prohibitively expensive to maintain in the event of rising sea levels. Thus there is renewed looking at what we once had to see if it would be possible to reopen it or, as is slightly more likely, lay an entirely new route - both highly costly alternatives....the price of shortsightedness.
They could, of course, abandon the train link to Plymouth and Cornwall altogether but that would be political and economic suicide, wouldn't it?

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...the Daily Mail - not so much a newspaper as an idiot's guidebook issued in bite-size daily instalments.

In 1958, there were two railways from Middlesbrough to Whitby.
The shortest was along the coast, the longest through the Esk Valley. The coast one was "Beechinged" that year. Since then, much of the track bed has fallen into the sea! Interestingly, in the late sixties, half of the line was re-opened to serve the Boulby Potash Mine, which was just coming on stream. I've actually been down that mine, fascinating. However, the line to the mine was not along the coast.
There are two seriously impressive tunnels, at Kettleness, between Runswick Bay and Whitby (on the costal section), one of them is about one and a quarter miles long!
The Esk Valley route was never threatened and still runs today.

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"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy." --Benjamin Franklin

How many steam "buffs" do we have here? Whenever we holiday in this country , I quietly observe how near the nearest steam railway is,and make sure we go there.
I wear my anorak with pride!
Beeching cut the railway line from Woodham to Maldon and now vast amounts of traffic from the new estates in Maldon have to travel by car in order to get to London each day.
The old track bed is still in place so why not re-open it as the cost of fuel rises?

http://tinyurl.com/545mee

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We have just had a big fight here in the Bath Bristol area to stop the Governments idea of re-opening the old line from Bathe to Bristol via Bitten Warmly Fishponds.

It has been very successfully as a walking and cycling route for commuting and pleasure for the last ten years.

Just like the canals given up by industry for years, opened up again by Volunteer's then the authorities come in on the act. Then take the glory. :wink:

If the Victorians built the railways in the first place how come we cant build them tunnels and all. :?

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