RogerH Posted October 24 Report Share Posted October 24 .......Or was he!! In this months 'Heritage Magazine' there is a letter from one of the readers giving a little more information surrounding the Beeching cuts to BR in the early 1960's according to the author he did not actually do any cutting. He was asked to make a report of what was going on so that BR could possibly stop/reduce the massive hemorrhaging of money. So after a fair bit of work he came up with his report. However over many years before Beeching ALL the regions were scrapping engines, carriages, and actual lines that were little used. So rail cuts was not a new thing. Beeching actually tried to create a working railway that would blend with the up and coming European network. The big Euro boxes that fitted onto lorries as well as rail wagons was part of this package - sadly you can't make deaf ears work properly Upon finishing his report a new labour Gov't came into power - 'Arold and his mob. The first Min of Transport, Tom Fraser, was asked by the Southern region (Railway company) to rescind the proposed closure of the Shanklin-Ventor line on the IoW. He publically stated that he could not - this was a down right lie. There are many examples of the labour minister and his subsequent follower, Barbara Castle, cutting lines and stopping improvements and many were suspiciously associated with non-labour voting areas. Nothing was above board. Who gave the order to lift the tracks of closed lines within a matter of days of closure !!!!! So rather than the devil Dr.Richard portrayed he was more of an angel that nobody listened to - yet he got the universal blame and hatred Worth a read Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cew Posted October 25 Report Share Posted October 25 I have often wondered if road transport, i.e. cars ,buses, lorries and the like, had developed alongside railways instead of almost 100 years later, whether the railways would have gone the same way as canals. With their difficulty in climbing anything steeper then a mole hill and the enormous amount of space they need to turn a corner, the sheer cost of the infrastructure is enormous. Don't get me wrong I like trains and train travel (not so much in this country!) and because the infrastructure is in place, they are very good at moving large amounts of goods over great distances albeit very expensively compared to road transport. As to Rogers' point, successive governments of all colours, over a very long time have thought the railways should be profitable, very much a pipe dream as I don't believe any railway World wise isn't subsidised one way or another, even the Swiss which is (or was) probably the most efficient certainly in Europe, doesn't run at a profit I believe, therefore the closures in the sixties attributed to Dr Beeching were probably unnecessary and almost certainly politically motivated. I bet the "green" politics of today would hanker for earlier times. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted October 25 Author Report Share Posted October 25 Some mole hills are pretty steep Sadly the steam engines have bags of BHP but are deficient in Torque. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BlueTR3A-5EKT Posted October 25 Report Share Posted October 25 On 10/24/2024 at 4:42 PM, RogerH said: .......Or was he!! In this months 'Heritage Magazine' there is a letter from one of the readers giving a little more information surrounding the Beeching cuts to BR in the early 1960's according to the author he did not actually do any cutting. He was asked to make a report of what was going on so that BR could possibly stop/reduce the massive hemorrhaging of money. So after a fair bit of work he came up with his report. However over many years before Beeching ALL the regions were scrapping engines, carriages, and actual lines that were little used. So rail cuts was not a new thing. Beeching actually tried to create a working railway that would blend with the up and coming European network. The big Euro boxes that fitted onto lorries as well as rail wagons was part of this package - sadly you can't make deaf ears work properly Upon finishing his report a new labour Gov't came into power - 'Arold and his mob. The first Min of Transport, Tom Fraser, was asked by the Southern region (Railway company) to rescind the proposed closure of the Shanklin-Ventor line on the IoW. He publically stated that he could not - this was a down right lie. There are many examples of the labour minister and his subsequent follower, Barbara Castle, cutting lines and stopping improvements and many were suspiciously associated with non-labour voting areas. Nothing was above board. Who gave the order to lift the tracks of closed lines within a matter of days of closure !!!!! So rather than the devil Dr.Richard portrayed he was more of an angel that nobody listened to - yet he got the universal blame and hatred Worth a read Roger The railways are littered with stupidity. It is said that….Census of rail use was done after 9 am and before 3pm on the Camelford railway branch. All the use was commuters leaving at 8am and returning after 5 pm. Census report. A little used railway branch. Decision close it. Also. LMS went to diesel traction, replacing their steam locomotives. The union demanded that a fireman be kept on the footplate of the diesel locomotives, and there he sat. What could they do on a diesel traction loco driven by a skilled driver? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted October 25 Author Report Share Posted October 25 4 minutes ago, BlueTR3A-5EKT said: The railways are littered with stupidity. It is said that….Census of rail use was done after 9 am and before 3pm on the Camelford railway branch. All the use was commuters leaving at 8am and returning after 5 pm. Census report. A little used railway branch. Decision close it. Also. LMS went to diesel traction, replacing their steam locomotives. The union demanded that a fireman be kept on the footplate of the diesel locomotives, and there he sat. What could they do on a diesel traction loco driven by a skilled driver? but it got worse before it started During the 1950's all four regions were tasked with trialing diesel engines over a 5 year period. After 3 years BR (the Gov't) stepped in and shut down the trial and gave the regions diesels that BR wanted them to use. Needless to say it was a common sight to see the soon to be scrapped steam engines towing the dead diesels back to base. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Peter Cobbold Posted October 25 Report Share Posted October 25 No Beeching, no heritage railways today ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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