Abandoned: How The Beeching Report Decimated Britain's Railways Timeline
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Date: 2022-07-19
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Comments and reviews: 20
education
I think it ought to be remembered that a significant number of lines were closed well before and after Beaching; due to the fact that many (lines) were built with no hope of being profitable.
The Braintree to Bishop's Stortford line is a good example. It was built to block another operator from running a line from Bury St Edmunds into London and closed to passengers in 1952 due to lack of demand. I walked the route from Felsted village to get to the old station; up a steep slope and a 20 min walk at least. No wonder when the busses came in the 1920-30s that picked you up in the village people chose that option instead. The motor car was just the nail in the coffin; ironically for busses also.
Thankfully, the main chunk of the line (Look up the 'Flitch Way') remains as a brilliant walking, cycling, horse riding and dog walking nature reserve. From Braintree you can travel to the outskirts of B/S Where the M11 stops it dead. Any remnants of the route into B/S have disappeared into gardens and commercial premises. However, the old stations at Takeley, Felsted and Rayne still exist.
Rayne station has a very successful cafe with an old bit of track and a train carriage to look at whilst you sit on the old platform with coffee and cake. At track level they've been known to have the odd music festival with craft beers.
It's a real asset to the community and a safe place to take your kids to ride a bike and enjoy the countryside. If only more track beds were repurposed in this way: end to end is 15-16 miles making the 30 odd mile round trip a decent ride.
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I think it ought to be remembered that a significant number of lines were closed well before and after Beaching; due to the fact that many (lines) were built with no hope of being profitable.
The Braintree to Bishop's Stortford line is a good example. It was built to block another operator from running a line from Bury St Edmunds into London and closed to passengers in 1952 due to lack of demand. I walked the route from Felsted village to get to the old station; up a steep slope and a 20 min walk at least. No wonder when the busses came in the 1920-30s that picked you up in the village people chose that option instead. The motor car was just the nail in the coffin; ironically for busses also.
Thankfully, the main chunk of the line (Look up the 'Flitch Way') remains as a brilliant walking, cycling, horse riding and dog walking nature reserve. From Braintree you can travel to the outskirts of B/S Where the M11 stops it dead. Any remnants of the route into B/S have disappeared into gardens and commercial premises. However, the old stations at Takeley, Felsted and Rayne still exist.
Rayne station has a very successful cafe with an old bit of track and a train carriage to look at whilst you sit on the old platform with coffee and cake. At track level they've been known to have the odd music festival with craft beers.
It's a real asset to the community and a safe place to take your kids to ride a bike and enjoy the countryside. If only more track beds were repurposed in this way: end to end is 15-16 miles making the 30 odd mile round trip a decent ride.
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Scopex
They destroyed one of the most beautiful picturesque lines in the world. the Glorious Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway! That line would have taken you all the way! Instead now the M5 is CLOGGED in summer with fumes and pollution. I did a 2 year feasibility study into reopening the S&D and it CAN BE DONE! Most of the trackbed is untouched so are the bridges and tunnels! A few need rebuilding and one viaduct (which was blown up deliberately) to prevent the line ever being reopened! It would take MILLIONS of vehicles of the road and bring PROSPERITY to an area that needs its rail link back! Also tourists would FLOCK in to travel behind steam on that line across Somerset and Dorset! It ALSO can take people to Glastonbury faster and without causing chaos on the roads. The S&D ran from Bath all the way to Poole, with branch lines to Burnham-on-Sea and Barnstaple! UK GOVERNMENT REOPEN THE S&D! It can take me 2 HOURS to drive to 30 miles to work!
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They destroyed one of the most beautiful picturesque lines in the world. the Glorious Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway! That line would have taken you all the way! Instead now the M5 is CLOGGED in summer with fumes and pollution. I did a 2 year feasibility study into reopening the S&D and it CAN BE DONE! Most of the trackbed is untouched so are the bridges and tunnels! A few need rebuilding and one viaduct (which was blown up deliberately) to prevent the line ever being reopened! It would take MILLIONS of vehicles of the road and bring PROSPERITY to an area that needs its rail link back! Also tourists would FLOCK in to travel behind steam on that line across Somerset and Dorset! It ALSO can take people to Glastonbury faster and without causing chaos on the roads. The S&D ran from Bath all the way to Poole, with branch lines to Burnham-on-Sea and Barnstaple! UK GOVERNMENT REOPEN THE S&D! It can take me 2 HOURS to drive to 30 miles to work!
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David
As previously stated on this thread Ernest Marples was the bringer of railway closure. Marples was an accountant who together with engineer Reginald Ridgway in 1948 founded Marples Ridgway - a road building company. Marples' wife (his former secretary) ended up as major shareholder and Chariman of Marples Ridgway as Ernest Marples didn't want to make conflict of interest so obvious. hmmmm. so his wife is now major shareholder and Chair of Marples Ridgway. so no obvious conflict of interest there then!
Marples was a crook who closed the railways to promote road-building and who eventually fled to Monaco to avoid a big tax bill.
The railway closures destroyed rural communities but hey ho. Marples made a few quid so what's the destruction of a few rural communities matter!
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As previously stated on this thread Ernest Marples was the bringer of railway closure. Marples was an accountant who together with engineer Reginald Ridgway in 1948 founded Marples Ridgway - a road building company. Marples' wife (his former secretary) ended up as major shareholder and Chariman of Marples Ridgway as Ernest Marples didn't want to make conflict of interest so obvious. hmmmm. so his wife is now major shareholder and Chair of Marples Ridgway. so no obvious conflict of interest there then!
Marples was a crook who closed the railways to promote road-building and who eventually fled to Monaco to avoid a big tax bill.
The railway closures destroyed rural communities but hey ho. Marples made a few quid so what's the destruction of a few rural communities matter!
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DrFod
For what it's worth I live near three branch lines closed by Beeching. They made no economic sense back then and they'd make even less sense today with private car ownership and road transport what it is. Having said that some babies were thrown out with the bathwater, the Great Central for one, if that line still existed and had been upgraded we probably wouldn't need HS2 today. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
People can blame Marples and Beeching all they want but I sense a lot of hypocrisy in the comments. What would you rather have, a car on your drive which you jump into and go almost anywhere at a moment's notice or would you rather trudge across town to catch a train?
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For what it's worth I live near three branch lines closed by Beeching. They made no economic sense back then and they'd make even less sense today with private car ownership and road transport what it is. Having said that some babies were thrown out with the bathwater, the Great Central for one, if that line still existed and had been upgraded we probably wouldn't need HS2 today. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
People can blame Marples and Beeching all they want but I sense a lot of hypocrisy in the comments. What would you rather have, a car on your drive which you jump into and go almost anywhere at a moment's notice or would you rather trudge across town to catch a train?
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peter
The major losses were not the Branch lines but overmanning in the larger depots. Marples gave his shares in his road company to his wife, temporarily so he could not be done for corruption. I left the Railways as a Fireman because the idiot criminal Beeching. 99% of the older Drivers blamed Nationalisation looking back on 'The Big Four' brought in 1926/8. A cooperation between Government & the Four Big companies that worked. IN 1951 the new Tory Government sabotaged & undermined the Railways to today. This guy clearly knows none of this or much else. I, my Father, Grandfather, Great Grandfather were firemen Drivers. You're an idiot Simon Calder.
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The major losses were not the Branch lines but overmanning in the larger depots. Marples gave his shares in his road company to his wife, temporarily so he could not be done for corruption. I left the Railways as a Fireman because the idiot criminal Beeching. 99% of the older Drivers blamed Nationalisation looking back on 'The Big Four' brought in 1926/8. A cooperation between Government & the Four Big companies that worked. IN 1951 the new Tory Government sabotaged & undermined the Railways to today. This guy clearly knows none of this or much else. I, my Father, Grandfather, Great Grandfather were firemen Drivers. You're an idiot Simon Calder.
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1914
There may well be a case for a rail service between Portishead and Bristol now, but that was not the case in the 1970s. For a few years around 1970 I commuted between Portishead and Bristol, my mode of transport a forty-year old Austin Seven with a top speed of 45mph. I could travel from home to work, door-to-door, in forty minutes, at a time to suit me. To use the railway would have required a twenty minute walk at one end, and a fifteen minute bus journey at the other, plus waiting time at the station - a minimum of 70 minutes and a very good chance of getting soaked most days. I never even considered catching a train!
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There may well be a case for a rail service between Portishead and Bristol now, but that was not the case in the 1970s. For a few years around 1970 I commuted between Portishead and Bristol, my mode of transport a forty-year old Austin Seven with a top speed of 45mph. I could travel from home to work, door-to-door, in forty minutes, at a time to suit me. To use the railway would have required a twenty minute walk at one end, and a fifteen minute bus journey at the other, plus waiting time at the station - a minimum of 70 minutes and a very good chance of getting soaked most days. I never even considered catching a train!
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Bob
In the US, we ended passenger rail at an even more rapid pace, and the oil/automotive companies bought up the streetcar lines and replaced them with diesel buses. To add to the injury, the rail rights-of-way were given up, and recent attempts to restore passenger services have been very expensive because of land acquisition.
There is no doubt that transport by rail is much more energy-efficient than by highway, and newer trains now are mostly electrically powered. As the move away from fossil fuels increases we're going to need those trains, and we're going to pay for the hasty closures in the past.
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In the US, we ended passenger rail at an even more rapid pace, and the oil/automotive companies bought up the streetcar lines and replaced them with diesel buses. To add to the injury, the rail rights-of-way were given up, and recent attempts to restore passenger services have been very expensive because of land acquisition.
There is no doubt that transport by rail is much more energy-efficient than by highway, and newer trains now are mostly electrically powered. As the move away from fossil fuels increases we're going to need those trains, and we're going to pay for the hasty closures in the past.
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Lenny
First off, I am not a Brit, I am speaking as an American. But here in the US people abandoned the rails in droves in favor of cars, airplanes and buses in the 50's, 60's and 70's. Here in the US tens of thousands of miles of track were abandoned. On the remaining tracks tens of thousands of miles of passenger service was abandoned as well leaving many medium sized railroads such as Lehigh Valley and Frisco freight only. I can't imagine the UK being any different.
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First off, I am not a Brit, I am speaking as an American. But here in the US people abandoned the rails in droves in favor of cars, airplanes and buses in the 50's, 60's and 70's. Here in the US tens of thousands of miles of track were abandoned. On the remaining tracks tens of thousands of miles of passenger service was abandoned as well leaving many medium sized railroads such as Lehigh Valley and Frisco freight only. I can't imagine the UK being any different.
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Declan
Very one sided.
1. The lines were built by private companies for developments that never came
2. Other countries embraced high speed and rebuilt their systems for it to keep passengers. UK network is inconvenient overpriced, slow and unreliable in comparison.
3. Barely any of the UK lines have been electrified
4. The report didn't go far enough to close useless stations
It's typical Britain. We were first and now we're the worst
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Very one sided.
1. The lines were built by private companies for developments that never came
2. Other countries embraced high speed and rebuilt their systems for it to keep passengers. UK network is inconvenient overpriced, slow and unreliable in comparison.
3. Barely any of the UK lines have been electrified
4. The report didn't go far enough to close useless stations
It's typical Britain. We were first and now we're the worst
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John
Poorly justified railways had been closing since the 1840s. Beeching just axed the third that contributed very little. Some realities still not being faced up to today. Most reopenings the achieving very little especially the imagined road congestion impacts
On third closure giving less than ten percent patronage reduction and most of that shifting to buses.
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Poorly justified railways had been closing since the 1840s. Beeching just axed the third that contributed very little. Some realities still not being faced up to today. Most reopenings the achieving very little especially the imagined road congestion impacts
On third closure giving less than ten percent patronage reduction and most of that shifting to buses.
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Paul
This isnt a uniquely British issue. A lot of branch lines and most passenger lines have gone in the USA as well. Beeching axed lines that had limited use he had no other choice. My grandad worked at a station that had only a couple of passengers a day in the UK. The big problem in a lot of areas the right of way has been destroyed so it cant be restored.
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This isnt a uniquely British issue. A lot of branch lines and most passenger lines have gone in the USA as well. Beeching axed lines that had limited use he had no other choice. My grandad worked at a station that had only a couple of passengers a day in the UK. The big problem in a lot of areas the right of way has been destroyed so it cant be restored.
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john
Lisa, the young woman in the documentary will have a greater shock when she attains retirement age.
Our UK Government has been using part of our National Insurance contributions to pay down part of the National debt(24. 2 billion) over ten years.
No wonder we have zero funds for railways. Our Government is always telling us the cupboard is bare.
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Lisa, the young woman in the documentary will have a greater shock when she attains retirement age.
Our UK Government has been using part of our National Insurance contributions to pay down part of the National debt(24. 2 billion) over ten years.
No wonder we have zero funds for railways. Our Government is always telling us the cupboard is bare.
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Andrew
The problem with these documentaries is the implication that railway closures didnt happen until the publication of the Beeching report. Wrong- they were happening from nationalisation and throughout the 1950s and early 1960s until said report was published. The Beeching report did not start railway closures, it simply speeded them up.
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The problem with these documentaries is the implication that railway closures didnt happen until the publication of the Beeching report. Wrong- they were happening from nationalisation and throughout the 1950s and early 1960s until said report was published. The Beeching report did not start railway closures, it simply speeded them up.
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smitajky
In this era of brexit the stopping all stations to nowhere is a popular choice. Although even that is a bit to avant garde for many. They seem to feel that it is necessary to stop part way along and reverse direction periodically so that you never quite get to central nowhere. You remain in the outer suburbs of it.
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In this era of brexit the stopping all stations to nowhere is a popular choice. Although even that is a bit to avant garde for many. They seem to feel that it is necessary to stop part way along and reverse direction periodically so that you never quite get to central nowhere. You remain in the outer suburbs of it.
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ikariworrior
I don't think this broadcast was entirely fair towards Beeching, because it seems to ignore the fact that those branchlines became closed for a reason and the reason was that they couldn't cover their own operating cost due to a decline in numbers of passenger as well as the tonnage of goods moved on rail.
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I don't think this broadcast was entirely fair towards Beeching, because it seems to ignore the fact that those branchlines became closed for a reason and the reason was that they couldn't cover their own operating cost due to a decline in numbers of passenger as well as the tonnage of goods moved on rail.
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Aussie
Don't forget that Britain's preserved railways can't compete with roads because they're saddled with a 25mph speed limit making them totally noncompetitive. They're there for people to ride on in their leisure time. The tourist market is their focus not the commuter market as they're forbidden to go any faster.
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Don't forget that Britain's preserved railways can't compete with roads because they're saddled with a 25mph speed limit making them totally noncompetitive. They're there for people to ride on in their leisure time. The tourist market is their focus not the commuter market as they're forbidden to go any faster.
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TheBrickGuy7939
The number of places where there are disused viaducts, cycleways, overpass roads with humps in them, level crossings, lone standing station platforms, open spaces where a yard or a line would be and locomotive sheds and workshops in the North West alone is massive. A great thing heritage lines exist.
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The number of places where there are disused viaducts, cycleways, overpass roads with humps in them, level crossings, lone standing station platforms, open spaces where a yard or a line would be and locomotive sheds and workshops in the North West alone is massive. A great thing heritage lines exist.
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Ian
Since this programme was produced the connection of the west Somerset railway between Taunton and Bishops Lydeard has been restored but I have not heard of any trains going from Taunton all the way to Minehead as yet so a change at Bishops Lydeard is needed to get to Minehead!
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Since this programme was produced the connection of the west Somerset railway between Taunton and Bishops Lydeard has been restored but I have not heard of any trains going from Taunton all the way to Minehead as yet so a change at Bishops Lydeard is needed to get to Minehead!
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Lasse
Beaching was a scape goat. UK didn't even fullfill his report properly. Also many countries did the same thing; Denmark, Germany, Canada that i know of in detail plus others ( what does that have to do with Dr Beaching? ). It was huge and the flavour of the day.
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Beaching was a scape goat. UK didn't even fullfill his report properly. Also many countries did the same thing; Denmark, Germany, Canada that i know of in detail plus others ( what does that have to do with Dr Beaching? ). It was huge and the flavour of the day.
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Norman
Think it's bad in the UK, you should try Canada. I live in Edmonton, Alberta. A passenger rail line existed between Edmonton and Calgary until it was cut in 1985. Now two cites with populations of 1 million each, 300 kms apart has no passenger rail service.
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Think it's bad in the UK, you should try Canada. I live in Edmonton, Alberta. A passenger rail line existed between Edmonton and Calgary until it was cut in 1985. Now two cites with populations of 1 million each, 300 kms apart has no passenger rail service.
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