That's very true, a lot of attention when looking at the Beeching axe falls on passenger services and closures of lines. The GCR did a great job recreating BR in the 1960s.
But the point that is invariably overlooked is that Dr.Beeching compiled a report as he was bid by Ernest Marples, the Minister of Transport at the time. The report then had to be sanctioned by Marples and then presented to the Government for approval. It's one of those ironies of history that Beeching was blamed for the recommendations in his report that had been approved by both Marples & Government. The following Labour Govt. with Tom Frazer responsible for transport, then renaged on their election promise to stop the closures and also caused further closures that weren't even suggested in the report - !
@simongee8928 in doing research for this video, I discovered that the Beeching Report totally failed. It failed to take into account so much of what the railways did and how they worked, closing of lines didn't mean an instant stop to losses. I think it was only a few million a year that was saved. Many lines fed into the wider network, making up money elsewhere. The reforms were an attempt at the British Rail becoming a for profit business, when really as they are seen in other parts of the world, they are a public service. This, should have been decided at the inception of British Railways.
@@AdventuresWithTrains Also for years successive Governments had been financially and legally encouraging road haulage and passenger services to the detriment of the railways. That certainly didn't help the rail situation.
The government should have taxed the truck companies to make it more profitable to transport freight long distance by rail. They should have also mothballed the branch lines instead of destroying them so they could be reopened if the commuter population grew in the future
Hindsight is always in 20/20! Road haulage had been originally nationalised with the railways, but when it was suddenly separated and privatised, British Railways found themselves in a 'loss' for the first time. Closures just meant even less traffic was being fed into the larger system, and the railways slipped away from being the general carrier that they had once been.
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Great little video, it's often forgotten that The Beeching Report also impacted the movement of goods by rail, as well as passenger services!
That's very true, a lot of attention when looking at the Beeching axe falls on passenger services and closures of lines. The GCR did a great job recreating BR in the 1960s.
@@AdventuresWithTrains good to see more of these moments in railway history recreated.
But the point that is invariably overlooked is that Dr.Beeching compiled a report as he was bid by Ernest Marples, the Minister of Transport at the time. The report then had to be sanctioned by Marples and then presented to the Government for approval.
It's one of those ironies of history that Beeching was blamed for the recommendations in his report that had been approved by both Marples & Government.
The following Labour Govt. with Tom Frazer responsible for transport, then renaged on their election promise to stop the closures and also caused further closures that weren't even suggested in the report - !
@simongee8928 in doing research for this video, I discovered that the Beeching Report totally failed. It failed to take into account so much of what the railways did and how they worked, closing of lines didn't mean an instant stop to losses. I think it was only a few million a year that was saved. Many lines fed into the wider network, making up money elsewhere. The reforms were an attempt at the British Rail becoming a for profit business, when really as they are seen in other parts of the world, they are a public service. This, should have been decided at the inception of British Railways.
@@AdventuresWithTrains Also for years successive Governments had been financially and legally encouraging road haulage and passenger services to the detriment of the railways.
That certainly didn't help the rail situation.
The government should have taxed the truck companies to make it more profitable to transport freight long distance by rail. They should have also mothballed the branch lines instead of destroying them so they could be reopened if the commuter population grew in the future
Hindsight is always in 20/20! Road haulage had been originally nationalised with the railways, but when it was suddenly separated and privatised, British Railways found themselves in a 'loss' for the first time. Closures just meant even less traffic was being fed into the larger system, and the railways slipped away from being the general carrier that they had once been.