Re: Dr Beeching

[Geoff Bannister <gbannister.rcts@argonet.co.uk>]

In article <369a58a8.24284519@news.freeserve.co.uk>,
news@nospam.freeserve.co.uk (Tony Polson) wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 08 Jan 1999 13:20:00 GMT, in uk.railway Geoff Bannister
> <gbannister.rcts@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> <snip>
> >It was the
> >Government which stampeded BR into accelerating the Modernisation
> Programme
> >by massive orders for untried (and sometimes unbuilt!) classes and
> started
> >the worsening financial slide which brought Beeching, who by the way was
> not
> >a railwayman but a hard nosed businessman, into the equation.
> 
> Why blame the Government?  

Why not? The 1951 Conservative administration was, in its way, as
doctrinaire and dogmatic as the Major government in its attempts to
interfere with the nationalised system. The '51 government did a great deal
to undo and undermine the structures of nationalisation which had been set
up by the two Attlee administrations - not only on the railways.

Perhaps BR was unresponsive to changes in its base load but since it had to
spend a lot of time watching its own back when people like Ernest Marples
got their head, it is not surprising that the Plan was a bit half-baked. My
premise is still that the main line diesel programme went haywire /because/
the government pressured BR to do something about its losses and perceived
wisdom was that by eliminating steam as inefficient and wasteful, that goal
would be achieved. A wrong perception maybe, but much of the blame needs to
be laid at the door of HMG.

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