Re: Gundagai - Last Use Of Line?

["David Proctor" <daproc@spam_this.umpires.com>]

Chris Brownbill wrote in message <36908867.B74CE5B8@enternet.com.au>...

>The next timetable, that of 27 November 1983 saw the replacement of the
>Cootamundra to Tumut railcar with "road coaches" running Cootamundra
>Tumut Adelong to more or less the same schedule as above.  This was a
>very sad timetable because in one fell swoop it saw the abolotion of
>services on very many branch lines, Cootamundra-Tumut,
>Cootamundra-Wyalong-Lake Cargelligo, Narrandera-Hay,
>Narrandera-Tocumwal, Harden-Young-Cowra, Cowra-Blayney, Parkes-Forbes,
>Moree-Inverell, Tamworth-Barraba and Narrabri to Walgett. All in all a
>candidate for the worst timetable ever published!

You cannot be serious! I, as much as anybody, like to see trains running
instead of buses. However, you have to be realistic. There is no way that
these branch lines could sustain a passenger service in this day and age. In
the 1980's, 90's and beyond, there really is only a place for main-line
services, and branch lines (as well as places that are not on the rail
network) are definitely best serviced with coaches.

Whilst the timetable mentioned above may be the "saddest" timetable, it is
in no way the "worst" - in fact, replacing some of those branch lines with
coaches, and thereby greatly reducing the amounts lost, they may have
contributed to less cost-cutting than we have seen. This is certainly the
opinion in Britain, where the Beeching era cuts, whilst drastic, are widely
acclaimed to be what saved the railways from even more drastic closures.

DaveP
http://derek.jenkins.net/ozemail/index.html