Beeching Axe.

Dr Richard Beeching was a physicist, latterly Baron Beeching, seconded from ICI where he was a board director and returned to the chemical giant after relinquishing his post with British Railways and the implementation of The Beeching Act.

#UTB
 
NoloBoro said:
Although there may have been a need to economise but It seems so severe. , I once read somewhere that he had a vested interest in road haulage. I’m not sure whether that’s true
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That was Ernest Marples, the Transport Secretary who appointed Beeching. He owned construction companies that built part of the M1 and other major road projects.
 
Beeching was seen as one of our top industrialists, ICI at the time was an expanding Chemical giant.

I don't think the Government thought the Civil Service Mandarians, capable of the job.

Beeching was told to make the railways profitable. At the time rail passenger numbers were falling a lot before the Beeching cuts. In the late 1950s most families had cars or motorbikes or scooters. for the first time ever. In the early 1960s many Motorways were been constructed for the first time. The train was being seen as from a previous age.

Whitby lost a lot of it railways - line to Saltburn, line to Scarborough, line to Pickering. At the time though the numbers were very small using the railways there. Tourism was declining around Whitby as people wanted to fly to Spain and Greece by the mid 1960s or go to a British Holiday camp. Maintenence was also very expensive for rural type Victorian lines. With hindsight the Whitby to Scarborough line possibly could have survived, now tourism has picked up on the Yorkshire Coast. Also the branch line to Guisborough from Nunthorpe as Guisborough expanded and grew alot in the 1970s.
 
chickenrunner said:
No Rosedale railway? Poor effort.👎
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Rosedale railway closed with the mines around 1930. It certainly was designed for ironstone transport only to Teesside. I don't know if people hopped on to go to Boro games and watch George Camsell or shop for a dress in Newhouses department store.
 
Redwurzel said:
Beeching was seen as one of our top industrialists, ICI at the time was an expanding Chemical giant.

I don't think the Government thought the Civil Service Mandarians, capable of the job.

Beeching was told to make the railways profitable. At the time rail passenger numbers were falling a lot before the Beeching cuts. In the late 1950s most families had cars or motorbikes or scooters. for the first time ever. In the early 1960s many Motorways were been constructed for the first time. The train was being seen as from a previous age.

Whitby lost a lot of it railways - line to Saltburn, line to Scarborough, line to Pickering. At the time though the numbers were very small using the railways there. Tourism was declining around Whitby as people wanted to fly to Spain and Greece by the mid 1960s or go to a British Holiday camp. Maintenence was also very expensive for rural type Victorian lines. With hindsight the Whitby to Scarborough line possibly could have survived, now tourism has picked up on the Yorkshire Coast. Also the branch line to Guisborough from Nunthorpe as Guisborough expanded and grew alot in the 1970s.
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I walked the cinder track to Whitby and wondered how it connected to the other rail line from the Esk. I know the track used to go across the golf course and down to sandsend way, but was there a junction further back to join the Esk line?
 
speckyget said:
Interesting cove, your Ernest Marples. The original Tory bad egg - corrupt, amoral, eventually scarpering to Monaco to escape the fallout of 30 years' unpaid tax.

Would barely move the needle on the repulsive-o-meter these days.
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About the same time councils were getting backhanders to put them s***y blocks of flats up.

While now the same thing happens - for student flats. Not much changes…
 
In fairness to Beeching he did the job that was asked of him and also recommended a far greater investment in buses which the government agreed to but never did (surprise)

I would also argue the other great error with the railways was the political decision to stick with steam power in order to indirectly support the coal industry rather than to switch to electricification and diesel.
 
Redwurzel said:
Beeching was seen as one of our top industrialists, ICI at the time was an expanding Chemical giant.

I don't think the Government thought the Civil Service Mandarians, capable of the job.

Beeching was told to make the railways profitable. At the time rail passenger numbers were falling a lot before the Beeching cuts. In the late 1950s most families had cars or motorbikes or scooters. for the first time ever. In the early 1960s many Motorways were been constructed for the first time. The train was being seen as from a previous age.

Whitby lost a lot of it railways - line to Saltburn, line to Scarborough, line to Pickering. At the time though the numbers were very small using the railways there. Tourism was declining around Whitby as people wanted to fly to Spain and Greece by the mid 1960s or go to a British Holiday camp. Maintenence was also very expensive for rural type Victorian lines. With hindsight the Whitby to Scarborough line possibly could have survived, now tourism has picked up on the Yorkshire Coast. Also the branch line to Guisborough from Nunthorpe as Guisborough expanded and grew alot in the 1970s.
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And the Whitby to Saltburn would be greatly used now.

Reversing Beeching would be a far smarter move for this country than HS2. Environmentally, economically and would level up far more than any quicker train.

In recent years the Galashiels and Okehampton lines reopening have been hailed as successes but they’re only rebuilding what we once had. Needs to happen everywhere.
 
thewanderer said:
In fairness to Beeching he did the job that was asked of him and also recommended a far greater investment in buses which the government agreed to but never did (surprise)

I would also argue the other great error with the railways was the political decision to stick with steam power in order to indirectly support the coal industry rather than to switch to electricification and diesel.
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Also Beeching recommended that the trackbed of the closed lines be left in situ, so that the lines could be brought back into service at some future date. This wasn't done. Bits were sold off in completely haphazard ways.

If you go to Richmond (the N Yorks one) and walk southwards from the old station (which is now a nice little shops/cinema/cafe complex) along the old trackbed and over the river, somebody has built a house right on the trackbed in front of the bridge. With that there, there's no hope of ever restoring a train service to Richmond. There's pretty much nothing along the rest of the line, all the way back to Eryholme junction, where it joined the East Coast mainline. So a whole railway scuppered by one house. Weird.
 
Jonny_Rondos_Disco_pants said:
I walked the cinder track to Whitby and wondered how it connected to the other rail line from the Esk. I know the track used to go across the golf course and down to sandsend way, but was there a junction further back to join the Esk line?
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Whitby to Saltburn line didn't really join the Esk Valley line until Whitby Town Station. The Saltburn line had a station at West Cliff which is now abandoned down a little cul de sec. You would never know it was there. It was useful for tourists from say Teesside direction to leave the train there. The line did drop down a 1 in 50 gradient (steep for a train) behind Whitby Grammar School (now Whitby School)and later Caedmon School fields toward the Town gas works under the large viaduct across the river Esk, to meet the Esk Valley line and proceed past Fishburn Park and into Whitby Town Station. I can't remember any of the Beeching cut railways operating, but the cinder tracks left with still fresh in the 1970s.
 
Redwurzel said:
Rosedale railway closed with the mines around 1930. It certainly was designed for ironstone transport only to Teesside. I don't know if people hopped on to go to Boro games and watch George Camsell or shop for a dress in Newhouses department store.
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I think they probably did, wasn’t the last Whitby train via Sandsend a football special for a night match?

Even in the old Redmire station now there is an historic advert from 1931 for a Boro v Arsenal football special from the Yorkshire Dales.
 
Soutra said:
Also Beeching recommended that the trackbed of the closed lines be left in situ, so that the lines could be brought back into service at some future date. This wasn't done. Bits were sold off in completely haphazard ways.

If you go to Richmond (the N Yorks one) and walk southwards from the old station (which is now a nice little shops/cinema/cafe complex) along the old trackbed and over the river, somebody has built a house right on the trackbed in front of the bridge. With that there, there's no hope of ever restoring a train service to Richmond. There's pretty much nothing along the rest of the line, all the way back to Eryholme junction, where it joined the East Coast mainline. So a whole railway scuppered by one house. Weird.
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You could soon bulldoze that house….
 
Redwurzel said:
Beeching was seen as one of our top industrialists, ICI at the time was an expanding Chemical giant.

I don't think the Government thought the Civil Service Mandarians, capable of the job.

Beeching was told to make the railways profitable. At the time rail passenger numbers were falling a lot before the Beeching cuts. In the late 1950s most families had cars or motorbikes or scooters. for the first time ever. In the early 1960s many Motorways were been constructed for the first time. The train was being seen as from a previous age.

Whitby lost a lot of it railways - line to Saltburn, line to Scarborough, line to Pickering. At the time though the numbers were very small using the railways there. Tourism was declining around Whitby as people wanted to fly to Spain and Greece by the mid 1960s or go to a British Holiday camp. Maintenence was also very expensive for rural type Victorian lines. With hindsight the Whitby to Scarborough line possibly could have survived, now tourism has picked up on the Yorkshire Coast. Also the branch line to Guisborough from Nunthorpe as Guisborough expanded and grew alot in the 1970s.
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When people talk about railways they always focus on passenger numbers but freight and the farming communities used to rely heavily on the rural trains. It was stupid to get rid rather than modernise.
 
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