This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/28/beeching-created-the-modern-railway
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Beeching created the modern railway | Beeching created the modern railway |
| (7 days later) | |
| Andrew Martin's piece marking the 50th anniversary of the Beeching report (Comment, 27 March) is emotive but not very good history. I was there, as a railwayman at the start of my career, and I know how necessary the surgery was – not just of branch lines, but of scarcely used coaches, decrepit sidings and ancient wagons (I accept mistakes were made). More important, and what inspired my generation, was what Andrew does not discuss: the development of the inter-city business, the focus on bulk freight and container-carrying trains, and the brilliant industrial design that gave us the double-arrow symbol and sense of a national system of which we could be proud. Dr Beeching's role was to open opportunities for visionary managers who were already developing these concepts and it is a fascinating historical "what if" that without them we might not have today's successful railway. | Andrew Martin's piece marking the 50th anniversary of the Beeching report (Comment, 27 March) is emotive but not very good history. I was there, as a railwayman at the start of my career, and I know how necessary the surgery was – not just of branch lines, but of scarcely used coaches, decrepit sidings and ancient wagons (I accept mistakes were made). More important, and what inspired my generation, was what Andrew does not discuss: the development of the inter-city business, the focus on bulk freight and container-carrying trains, and the brilliant industrial design that gave us the double-arrow symbol and sense of a national system of which we could be proud. Dr Beeching's role was to open opportunities for visionary managers who were already developing these concepts and it is a fascinating historical "what if" that without them we might not have today's successful railway. |
| However, that railway requires planning to identify priorities. In the network that still effectively connects our largest cities and interchanges, the poorer links need bringing up to the standard of the best (including filling the gap between the west coast and Midland main lines along the M1 corridor). I suspect such schemes would have a rate of return better than any of the ragbag of reopening proposals that spring from the romanticism obscuring Beeching's legacy. Jonathan Tyler Passenger Transport Networks | However, that railway requires planning to identify priorities. In the network that still effectively connects our largest cities and interchanges, the poorer links need bringing up to the standard of the best (including filling the gap between the west coast and Midland main lines along the M1 corridor). I suspect such schemes would have a rate of return better than any of the ragbag of reopening proposals that spring from the romanticism obscuring Beeching's legacy. Jonathan Tyler Passenger Transport Networks |
| • Andrew Martin ascribes all railway line closures to Beeching and the Tories. Line closures, albeit on a small scale, started in 1923 under private ownership. From 1948 onwards British Railways began a series of closures that by 1963 amounted to 3,700 miles. The Beeching report merely continued this trend at a faster rate so that from 1964 to 1973 a further 3,700 miles were closed. As one wag said of the Beeching report's publication: the government asked Beeching a silly question, "Can you make the railways pay?"; so he gave a silly answer. Andrew Barnard Staines, Middlesex | • Andrew Martin ascribes all railway line closures to Beeching and the Tories. Line closures, albeit on a small scale, started in 1923 under private ownership. From 1948 onwards British Railways began a series of closures that by 1963 amounted to 3,700 miles. The Beeching report merely continued this trend at a faster rate so that from 1964 to 1973 a further 3,700 miles were closed. As one wag said of the Beeching report's publication: the government asked Beeching a silly question, "Can you make the railways pay?"; so he gave a silly answer. Andrew Barnard Staines, Middlesex |
| guardian.co.uk today is our daily snapshot of the top news stories, sent to your inbox at 8am |