Beeching: The wonderful gift of hindsight.

[Tiny Tim]

I have a theory about this, though I can't produce any evience to back it up!

I think that following Beeching, there was a mindset both within government and BR that it was really living on borrowed time.

The feeling ran until at least the late 1970's, and the feeling was that the network would slowly wither away, with lines and routes becoming more and more run down and unecessary as the population continued to embrace car ownership.

(Clearly little thought was given to longevity and ehalth issues amongst the elderly in those days, clearly people were expected to drive until they died at around 70!).

Anyway, one of the ways that BR tried to counter this vision of the future was to try and eliminate any signs it was 'living in the past'. Nowadays we look on it as being ashamed of its heritage, but I think it wa smore borne out of fear of the future.

Put bluntly, if BR had retained water towers, bridge sections and disused stations, not only would this have cost money, but would have left the organisation open to accusations of being irrelevant, living in a bygone age, and wasting taxpayers money on rusting relics of the Empire.

When you also consider the way that, during the 1960's and 1970's old housing was also wiped off the map in many areas to be replaced by hideous, futuristic concrete tower blocks that would not last three decades, it's not surprising that BR acted the way it did.

I'm not saying they got it all right, far from it, but I can understand the motives and pressures the industry was under at that time.

I think that you've summed up the situation very well. BR's quest to look modern required them to sever links with the past. Ironically, some of the railways that they 'slighted' turned out to be the future.

 

[Gwenllian2001]

This is one thing I struggle with - the conspiracy theories that British Rail wanted to act like the Romans alledgedly plowing Carthage and sowing salt into the soil rather than risk any railways be re-opened.

I’m not so sure about any of this. Rail closures were nothing new and had been going on for a long time before the ‘Beeching’ era. The older closures generally left things in place, even after the tracks were lifted. It was not uncommon to find platelayers’ huts; signal boxes and even signals left in place. Station buildings often became dwellings or were simply left to moulder. Bridges were usually left alone, unless considered dangerous and it was not difficult to visualise abandoned routes being quickly resuscitated, if the need arose. Even a by-way like Cowbridge – Aberthaw, closed in 1932, was in place until after WW2 and was used as a long siding, during the war, to store ammunition. The stations all became dwelling houses and were still rented to railway staff until the Sixties. Aberthaw ceased to be a dwelling when it was destroyed by fire. St Athan Road survived as a dwelling until it was deemed unsuitable, having no mains water or drainage although it still stands, just, in a poor state. St Mary Church Road, however, still survives complete with signal box. Sadly the fine Goods Shed succumbed to storm some years ago.

The closures of the Sixties were, nearly always, swiftly followed by the demolition gangs, seemingly hell bent on putting any future re-opening beyond reach. This happened to Porthcawl even before it was officially closed. There might not have been a conspiracy, as such, but it sure as hell looked like it.

 

[brianfraser]

I spend a lot of time in Germany and it seems like every town has a railway station. The French rail network is also very extensive. Did these countries not have a "Beeching" period? Not only did we shut down a third of our network, we also neglected much of the remaining infrastructure until privitisation in the early 90s.

Do roads make a profit? Why are little-used highways never closed?

 

[John55]

Think of the way in which the Doric Arch was demolished at Euston to create a "modern futuristic station" or the way in which the King's Cross frontage was allowed to become cluttered in the 70s to create a more modern image - a policy which is now going to be reversed to allow the spendour of Cubitt's original design to be admired.

The frontage of Kings Cross was a mess long before the 1970s. I remember the current arrangements being put in place to general acclamation for rescuing the train shed from the mess in front. All the photographs I have seen of Kings Cross from the earlier 20th century confirm this view. I have no doubt that when the present buildings go after the PO games the station front will look better than ever before if only because more of it will be visible.

At the risk of causing more unhappiness to those inhabiting this thread the Doric Arch had to be removed from the station at Euston. The Arch was located on the north side of Drummond St with the Great Hall north of it. If you look at a map this shows the Arch is north of the current concourse.

The most important factor for Euston is it is a railway station and up until the rebuilding in the 1960s Euston was a terrible excuse for a railway station. I never used the old Euston but everyone I know who did has pretty much agreed the best thing that ever happened to it was demolition.

 

[yorksrob]

At the risk of causing more unhappiness to those inhabiting this thread the Doric Arch had to be removed from the station at Euston. The Arch was located on the north side of Drummond St with the Great Hall north of it. If you look at a map this shows the Arch is north of the current concourse.

Moved certainly, but not necessarily removed. Infact I remember reading in one of the railway publications that the architect of the new Euston included with his scale model a moveable model of the arch incase BR wanted to re-erect it elsewhere.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

or the way in which the King's Cross frontage was allowed to become cluttered in the 70s to create a more modern image - a policy which is now going to be reversed to allow the spendour of Cubitt's original design to be admired.

There is something of the old BR in the Heath era Kings Cross frontage that I quite admire. Cheap, pragmatic and eminently practical, it's served its purpose well and can now be safely removed to reveal the Victorian splendour.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I have a theory about this, though I can't produce any evience to back it up!

I think that following Beeching, there was a mindset both within government and BR that it was really living on borrowed time.

The feeling ran until at least the late 1970's, and the feeling was that the network would slowly wither away, with lines and routes becoming more and more run down and unecessary as the population continued to embrace car ownership.

(Clearly little thought was given to longevity and ehalth issues amongst the elderly in those days, clearly people were expected to drive until they died at around 70!).

Anyway, one of the ways that BR tried to counter this vision of the future was to try and eliminate any signs it was 'living in the past'. Nowadays we look on it as being ashamed of its heritage, but I think it wa smore borne out of fear of the future.

Put bluntly, if BR had retained water towers, bridge sections and disused stations, not only would this have cost money, but would have left the organisation open to accusations of being irrelevant, living in a bygone age, and wasting taxpayers money on rusting relics of the Empire.

When you also consider the way that, during the 1960's and 1970's old housing was also wiped off the map in many areas to be replaced by hideous, futuristic concrete tower blocks that would not last three decades, it's not surprising that BR acted the way it did.

I'm not saying they got it all right, far from it, but I can understand the motives and pressures the industry was under at that time.

I agree with a lot of that. The Beeching cuts belong to the same mindset as "Streets in the Sky", Ronan Point, concrete overspill towns and obtrusive ring roads - think the Abercrombie Plan for London (and I'm not talking about trendy threads kids !).

To be fair to BR, I don't think its mindset was that it was on borrowed time as such - more that anything not Inter-City or South Eastern commuter route was on borrowed time.

 

[Greenback]

To be fair to BR, I don't think its mindset was that it was on borrowed time as such - more that anything not Inter-City or South Eastern commuter route was on borrowed time.

That is probably a more accurate statement!

 

[TonyGosling]

I got this by email
Discuss
As we know also the Beeching business came in
AFTER the crippling 1955 rail strike so there was a political motive
IMPLEMENTED by a director of road building firm Ernest MArples of Marples Ridgeway
all in all the motive for Beeching is simply financial IMO

The reason I write is the UK Transport topic and Beeching's Axe.
Having worked in the oil industry a fair part of my life, I have often wondered why this noble **** ripped our heritage up so fast. Politicians argued taxpayers losses. What rubbish. All industries owned by the nation, are manipulated by the bean counters to alter public opinion.
My thoughts were drawn to the timing of the discovery of North Sea oil, and Beeching's axe.
My theory was American Oil Moguls telling the UK government what will happen. i.e. You have a transport infrastructure that is far too efficient Where are you going to sell your oil? The OPEC countries are under our control and we do not want your oil upsetting our cosy world market. You will have to sell it on your home market. If you agree, we will give you the zillions of bucks to build your rigs, because you can't afford to build them, and we will assist you in sucking your oil out and polluting your fishing grounds...... BUT you must rip up your tracks and build for the road lobby. Look at the taxes you can rip the public off for........ ZZZzzzzzz. The rest is history.

Hence, I live in France.

 

[Greenback]

I got this by email
Discuss
As we know also the Beeching business came in
AFTER the crippling 1955 rail strike so there was a political motive
IMPLEMENTED by a director of road building firm Ernest MArples of Marples Ridgeway
all in all the motive for Beeching is simply financial IMO

It's quite possible that knowledge of oil in the North Sea may have been a factor in the brave new world with fewer railways, but I doubt that it happened exactly in the way that the email suggests!

As for the road building empire of Marples, that is pretty common knowledge now and has been discussed many times.

 

[exile]

I spend a lot of time in Germany and it seems like every town has a railway station. The French rail network is also very extensive. Did these countries not have a "Beeching" period? Not only did we shut down a third of our network, we also neglected much of the remaining infrastructure until privitisation in the early 90s.

Do roads make a profit? Why are little-used highways never closed?

The French certainly did have a "Beeching axe" - it happened in 1938! It was known as "co-ordination" and followed immediately after nationalisation of rail and bus companies. The idea was that bus routes should not parallel rail routes, but also that little used rail services should be "bustituted".

At around the same time the huge network of narrow gauge railways was closed down.

The French rail network is still extensive - but then it serves a country twice the size of the UK. Train services in rural areas are generally slow and infrequent and bus services almost non-existent.

Germany is a different case - closures have happened but rural train and bus services are still excellent.

And finally - roads indeed don't make a profit - but maintenance costs per mile and per vehicle are far less than for railways.

 

[TonyGosling]

Are people aware of Richard Beeching's work for Royal Ordnance?
First as an explosives expert man during the war at ICI
Secondly as one of the key people designing Britain's independent nuclear deterrent, ie the British Atom Bomb, at Fort Halstead near Chevening in Kent after the war.
This is a little known aspect to Beeching's pre Axe Man days.
He was also known as a safe pair of hands who would do the job and keep his mouth shut.

Please don't pussyfoot around folks.
The Beeching Axe was a deliberate attack on Britain's collective strength by big oil and a large part of our post war decline - as the success of Britain as a manufacturing and trading nation was predicated on the railways providing transport efficiently and effectively at cost price.
Nowadays the oil companies, banks everybody, including the government, is in on the transport racket and on the take somewhere down the line.
The Beeching Report was not a mistake, or a pity, it was a treacherous crime.

 

[ainsworth74]

Secondly as one of the key people designing Britain's independent nuclear deterrent, ie the British Atom Bomb, at Fort Halstead near Chevening in Kent after the war.

Source?

 

[TonyGosling]

Forthcoming book by a former MEP which I've seen the MS of.
Check out Beeching's history and you'll see he fits the bill too.

During the Second World War Beeching, at the age of 29, was loaned by Mond Nickel on the recommendation of a Dr. Sykes at Firth Brown Steels to the Ministry of Supply, where he worked in their Armament Design and Research Departments at Fort Halstead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Beeching,_Baron_Beeching#Early_years

Source?

Okay here's a link to a, somewhat cheeky, extract from the MS - first on the net earlier today.
http://www.911forum.org.uk/board/viewtopic.php?p=162431#162431

 

[Jonny]

Forthcoming book by a former MEP which I've seen the MS of.
Check out Beeching's history and you'll see he fits the bill too.

During the Second World War Beeching, at the age of 29, was loaned by Mond Nickel on the recommendation of a Dr. Sykes at Firth Brown Steels to the Ministry of Supply, where he worked in their Armament Design and Research Departments at Fort Halstead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Beeching,_Baron_Beeching#Early_years



Okay here's a link to a, somewhat cheeky, extract from the MS - first on the net earlier today.
http://www.911forum.org.uk/board/viewtopic.php?p=162431#162431

Is the moustache on the forum's picture of Mr Beeching edited? If not it looks like a certain Mr H. hock: