Re: Dr Beeching

["Barry S. Doe" <tbc002@argonet.co.uk>]

In article <771u23$od4$1@reader1.reader.news.ozemail.net>, "David Proctor"
<daproc@spam_this.umpires.com> wrote:
> 
> Suffiuce to say that Dr. Beeching, although despised at the time for
> closing
> a lot of railway lines, was probably the saviour of the railways in the
> United Kingdon, in that if those lines had NOT closed, the railways would
> have lost far more money than they did, and the closures eventually would
> have been greater!

I disagree. He did not achieve what he set out to do and the railways
continued to lose money. The answer was only much later seen by governments,
viz., that there was no point trying to make them pay and instead they
should be subsidised provided they were socially necessary.

By this time it was too late for much of the network. However, some branches
that managed to keep going (usually as replacement buses couldn't get to the
local stations) have since greatly improved and one can only wonder as to
how well some of the prime routes that closed would now be doing had they
continued (S & D, Borders, Great Central -  and note some of them are down
for re-opening which proves my point).

One should also remember the dishonest way Beeching obtained figures to
prove closure need. Seaside branch termini like Swanage, Lyme Regis,
Sidmouth etc, were closed on the grounds of the revenue collected at those
stations only (or any others on the branch) and no account was taken
whatsoever of tickets sold say, in London, to get to those places - despite
the fact that the latter revenue greatly exceeded the former.

In short Beeching was appointed by a government that doubted rail had any
furture except for a few trunk routes and commuter lines and told to prove
it and ditch most of it. Its been said vefore but worth repeating: the
network was like a tree - cut the branches away too much and the trunk dies.
Put another way, few people railhead or catch buses for part fo the journey
and tend, where possible, to drive all the way, meaning a loss for the main
trunk leg as well.

If only we had modernised the whole system instead of only part of it we
would now have a very different society with fewer roads, a better
environment and towns - and more people alive. 

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