Beeching Axe.

Guisborough station
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Billingham "Railway Station" [?!]
Access?
Comfort?
Assistance?
Attractive alternative to road users?
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How important this line alone could be in providing a vital link from the North East to Leeds and provide services to an area of expanding population since closure - with the continuing increased congestion of our roads by the motor vehicle.
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The Harrogate to Ripon line was closed in 1967 but was temporarily reopened shortly afterwards as a diversionary route when there was a major accident on the East Coast Main Line near Thirsk. You'd have thought the penny might have dropped then that the route had an inherent value greater than its day-to-day traffic but it didn't.
 
The most under-rated BR locomotives - class 44/45/46 "Peak" diesels:

They were heavy beasts, not particularly fast on acceeration, but could sustain 90mph over long distances and clock 100 on occasions - especially on the stretch between Syston and Hathern [ just north of Loughborough]. They werent "glamourous": their predicament was summed up by their key role on the forgotten secondary main-line between St Pancras - Derby / Nottingham - Sheffield. The 46`s saw service on the Newcastle-Plymouth and Newcastle-Liverpool route. Towards the end of their life they were rosterd for coal trains to the various Trent power-stations from the Yorkshire coalfield.
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Before new nameplate - "The Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry".

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Thames-Clyde Express through Skipton.

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St Pancras - Sheffield near Cricklewood.

Chesterfield
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Bristol
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I cabbed all the Cromptons and a large number of 45`s, but only a few 46`s.
 
Craggyjohn said:
Whitby west cliff Station and the line to Loftus closed in 1961 which was before the Beeching cuts
Click to expand...
You are right of course.
The run - down began after formation of "The Big Four" and was accelerated by the proliferation of motor vehicles - including lorries, buses and the motor-car. After the war - the railways were in a very poor state.

Extract:
www.railwaymagazine.co.uk

End of the Line: British railway closures from 1948 to Beeching

Covering the period from the birth of British Railways in 1948 to the Beeching era and beyond, End of the Line chronologically traces the history of 467 long forgotten railway lines, region by region, from their opening to closure and in a few cases to reopening
www.railwaymagazine.co.uk www.railwaymagazine.co.uk

For such a small country, Britain once possessed one of the most intensive rail networks in the world which, by the outbreak of the First World War, had reached a peak of 23,440 route miles. In 1923 Britain’s 120 railway companies were amalgamated to form just four large, mainly regional, companies: the LMS, LNER, GWR, SR. Closures followed at a slow pace and by the outbreak of the Second World War a total of 1,264 route miles had been lost.

At the end of hostilities in 1945 the ‘Big Four’ were in a very rundown state. Nationalisation followed in 1948 and the newly-formed British Transport Commission (BTC) wasted no time in seeking to reduce mounting losses on lightly used rural lines. Years before Dr Beeching came on the scene, the BTC’s Branch Line Committee drew up a list of these lines and over the next 14 years a further 3,300 route miles were closed.

Then on 27 March 1963 Dr Richard Beeching’s report, The Reshaping of British Railways, was published. This was the final nail in the coffin for Britain’s railways which eventually brought closure over the following years to a further 4,500 route miles, 2,500 stations and the loss of 67,700 jobs. 2023 will be the 60th anniversary of the publication of the ‘Beeching Report’.

The Times End of the Line: British railway closures from 1948 to Beeching Hardcover – 13 Oct. 2022 ​

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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Times-End-Line-history-closures/dp/0008468001/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1Z69J60GCO87P&keywords=end+of+the+line+julian+holland&qid=1660896312&s=books&sprefix=end+of+the+line+julian+,stripbooks,77&sr=1-1
 
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The Esk Valley is a lovely line, but its always going to be costly to run once it became a 100 years old, with numerous stone/iron bridges. The regular population it serves is small once it gets past Nunthorpe.It is useful for taking children to school in Whitby (avoiding high ground), but I would guess the numbers of children have dropped as the Esk Valley becomes cottage holiday land. People fill up their people carriers to get to their holiday cottage. The steam railway is a pure leisure romantic trip/spiritual treat and has a lot of volunteers to help it survive and give donations.

Somebody posted up the numbers using the Scarborough to Whitby line out of season in the early 1960s and it was tiny. In the 1970s there were regular buses to use. The romance was gone, but it was well possible on bus/coach public transport and the buses had more stops.
 
The Loftus line must've cost a fortune to maintain with 3 tunnels and 5 viaducts. The section next to the golf course would be on the beach now. A great journey though
 
Will_Graham said:
Oh right, ermm...thanks.
Sorry to bother you.
Click to expand...
Thats alright.
Dont be offended.
It refers to the plans to make Redcar Central into a modern station with facilities for those with ambulatory issues - like lifts and wide door ways and disabled toilets and comfortable waiting - rooms. Those plans, include a coffee shoppe and a newsagents. The sort of basics we can reasonably expect in 2023. Instead, we have a rotting station building - a ticket office under threat of imminent closure and a bus shelter - which is a bluddy insult for the disgracefully extortionate fares we are charged.
Locomansion says he has that enamel "Redcar Central" station sign. I believe him. That photograph represents neglect and broken promises.
The paying public awaits the next arrival of a promise to get on with the project.
So far it appears to have been like every Trans-Pennine Express service - Cancelled.​
 
Some interesting photos of West Cliff Station in Whitby by Roofie - I remember it as the Council Depot and its probably over 38 years since I have walked past it, so the newer photos added to my knowledge.

When at Whitby School we were sometimes forced to run a long the old line from Caedmon's school playing fields after our football lesson/game. It was in a deep cut. The last one back was wacked by the P/E teacher. It was on e those middle aged teachers in a permanent red track suit with sun tan and tache and drove a MGB and was always sniffing after any new young female PE teachers or trainee female teachers. He though it was Yorkshire's answer to Patrick Mower.
 
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