The Beeching Axe and after effects.

[@dvidclapperton]

The devastating after effects of the Beeching closures are still being felt even now.

[@bobtudbury8505]

labour closed the lines beeching had no power

[@SeaToby11]

We lost a lots of railroad lines in the US too, not many of the branch lines have survived. When the freight business closed, the branch line closed. As the interstates skirted towns and cities, new factories and warehouses were built on the edge of towns and cities. All of this was done in the private sector, as the government didn't run the railroads. Switched to diesels from steam locomotives as well.

[@MarmiteCrumpets]

How odd that Beeching was commissioned by then tory Transport Minister - Ernest Marples, who totally coincidentally owned a civil engineering company which built roads, and indeed went on to build Britains first motorways... But then again I'm just a hard bitten old cynic, and truly do believe that these people have our best interests at heart! Marples later fled to his French chateux to avoid criminal charges of Tax Evasion in the UK. He never returned.

[@bobtudbury8505]

labour closed the lines not beeching or marples

[@Grichal1981]

@lotwyo I think you'll find that the branch lines were only a fairly small part of the reason BR was losing money. The government in the 50s refused to allow them to raise fares of freight charges in line with rising costs, but expected them to make a profit! Beeching's drachonian cuts only reduced the deficit by about 30%. A vast amount of transport infrastructure thrown away for very little gain. Try reading 'The Great Railway Conspiracy" by David Henshaw.

[@Jeffybonbon]

Yes but keep the track bed so if we needed it it could be used again

[@Steven_Rowe]

the sad thing is how short sighted it all was. I can't blame him for not having a crystal ball though. they should never have sold off the lines though just abandoned them. many would now have reopened. interesting the branch line from Sevensisters to Palace Gates closed on 5th Jan 1963, had been in decline since 1930s due to the tube but now cross rail 2 wants a connection between woodgreen and seven sisters and they could have used the existing line. Britain has been totally ruined by the car with one person driving around in 2 tons of metal with a large foot print consuming vast sums of oil.

[@bobtudbury8505]

labour closed the lines not beching

[@chrisc7455]

Interesting to read the comments here. I certainly mourn the passing of so many interesting rail routes that could have been retained and used for other simpler transport options such as tramways helping many communities. This would have allowed them to have returned to full rail services in the future more easily. However, to suggest that Beeching was somehow responsible for the end of steam is not true as steam was on its way out on BR in any case. What Beeching did was to propose the closing of routes which were "vandalized" really quickly after closing in many cases. (The road lobby was very strong then) There is an odd irony here, as it could be argued that Beeching could be seen as the savor of operational steam today as, if many of those lines were not closed, preservation societies would not have been able to save, store and run many of the rail routes as steam services now. I am sure it was not what he intended!

[@SkarloeyRailway01]

That scen inthe scrap yard... :( Thank you for posting this.

[@TheBritishLegions]

I must thanks to Dr Beeching for this we wouldn't have preserved railways without him!

[@bobtudbury8505]

labour closed the lines not beeching

[@willr90]

The class 47 seen briefly at 2:52 (D1648) still exists - its now 47851.

[@ninfilms]

Beeching underestimated the railways which has turned out that too many people have got cars which now in certain cities have charged the public to drive on certain roads. Now the public want the trains back.

[@Paulwherrell]

@Grichal1981 I agree. What Beeching et all failed to understand was that the branch lines acted as feeders into the mailines and when they closed, passenger numbers on those trains fell so the railways started to lose even more money. The Beeching cuts never really achieved what they set out to do as it was heavily used commuter lines were the biggest drain on railway finances at that time. Regrettably, many of these lines can never be brought back into use again.

[@steam-powered-cyborg]

I remember watching this video in History Class back in secondary school. The railfan in me felt uplifted then.

[@JeffreyOrnstein]

Beeching: You stink! And I'm not even British...

[@xhguoguo]

Hi there I'm a postgraduate working on the portfolio for my degree of journalism atm. Can I embed some of the clips in this film into my project? As a student assignment It won't be broadcast anywhere! :) Many thanks!

[@Hunkiralyfi]

What year?

[@Femmenition]

@burnley5960 That's an understatement. Less than 10 years after the Axe finished, there was some kind of fuel shortage on the roads, and had the railways not been victimized as they were, they could've kept Britain going.

[@alzeNL]

nice video, thanks for uploadin.

[@NearAbbeyRoad]

Germany, France, Japan, etc, kept their railways and modernized them. Look at what they have now!!!! The Tories were shamelessly overt in that some of their ministers were into road building and the Road Transport Lobby funded their party. Some fought back. Beeching wanted to close the urban electric line from Liverpool. The council fought back and had them connected up forming a complete metro - a smaller London underground. Still miles of tunnels and trackbed to reuse. Need rail not roads

[@TheBrickGuy7939]

This is what sparked a lot of heritage lines.

[@JBofBrisbane]

"The plan is drastic enough to make you very unpopular in some quarters, what is your reaction to this?" "I've always been unpopular. Next question?"

[@Jeffybonbon]

i really dont understand why the track bed was sold it could have been used now ?????

[@NearAbbeyRoad]

@Paulwherrell "so the railways started to lose even more money." Rail never lost money, as it created economic growth. It was environmentally clean once modernized. No pollution running past our front doors.

[@respomanify]

@Intercity47GBRail Network rail closed lines is not the most pathetic example of the Beeching report. Midlands mainline was another example (it was basically newest line before HST1 in 21st century). It was advanced line with little inclines and no sharp turns. If it wasn't closed it would be HST2 with little effort. Now it must be rebuilt, land cleared from nothing.

[@Intercity47GBRail]

Quite ironic that some of these lines are being reopened by Network Rail.

[@peterfreeman6677]

Like the Oxford to Cambridge line, being laboriously re-opened one stretch at a time and at huge expense.

[@microbusss]

to me the Beeching cuts were & still are a big FAT mistake >=P Thank goodness for railway presevationists & railfans!

[@Ben31337l]

Thing is, the beeching cuts were to try to make the railway run a more profitable railway business, With road just taking off and the M1 being built, cars were a more popular way to travel back in those times as people could reach their destinations faster and more directly. Because the M1 was just being built by the government, it meant new speed signs being developed and a lot of investment going into a lot of the roads, There were no such thing as "grid locks" or "traffic jams" to delay your journey times by several hours back then, nowadays, with todays civilisation waking up to long delays on motorways which are overpopulated. Watch the "look at life" videos, which are between 1959 and 1969.

[@Steven_Rowe]

+Ben 1337 your point is very valid, and it was intersting watching the m1 opening in 59. Did you know that Midland red were running a Brum to London bus service and were doing 90mph. I think the big mistake was not so much closing the line but selling off the lines. if they had kept the lines or track bed I believe many would been reopened. Whist private cars have there place they are over used for the sake of convenience. The car has ruined the UK

[@Ben31337l]

steven rowe Here's what I wonder: Yes, they shouldn't have sold the land, but there's another benefit BR could have done; They could have replaced the railways with toll roads, the Tolls could help finance the railways and the roads and sustain profitability while still having the ability to relay the railway.

[@stanleybetts422]

I

[@Shunteration]

He did what he thought was the best at the moment - but forgot to discus it with people who actually knew about these things, and more importantly, his ears were deaf to advise and criticism.

[@Cinesound01]

I have been reading; Fire & Steam by Christian Wolmar In that book has has critised the British Government in one of the chapters of Nationalising the Railways in to a'unified network'; The goverment had no basic idea of running a railway and the senseless closures of many branchlines which now are paying the price on roads whom are full of lorries & cars While in the early 1950's the Labor goverment diverted all the money on railways to the Motorway projects. Desk Jockey+Rail= Disaster

[@b3n35chs5]

agree with burnley5960 only now are governments realising that the rapidly escalating road traffic is unmanageable and no amount of tolls etc. will reduce this but there was a perfect alternative network in place ie. rail that just required proper management as does the current service ! funny that most other countries run railways very efficiently yet we balls it up

[@NearAbbeyRoad]

They never costed the "savings" Rail makes a profit - but not in ticket prices, so the Tories said they made a loss. Rail is mechanism enabling economic growth to be created. Problem is that the wealth they create was not fed back into the cycle to fund & modernize the railways that aided the wealth creation in the first place. Private owners creamed off and left the rail shambolic - having to fall into the arms of the state to keep going. We picked up the tab & the privateers again moved in.

[@petehall1985]

If it was right and thinking people understood why is the university varsity line from Oxford to Cambridge reopening ? 50 years on and were reconnecting oxford with marleybone. The reality is we didn't or couldn't all drive and the lines and trains he left are now overcrowded. Guy screwed up

[@BernieHollandMusic]

Question - Who built the M1 - Answer Marples-Ridgeway - Question - Who was Minister of Transport at that time - Answer - Ernest Marples - NUFF SAID !

[@mrangry1960]

Beeching was just a front man, the real villan was Ernest Marples who was minister of transport, who appointed Beeching. Marples was basically a bent bastard. He was co-owner of a ROAD construction company, guess who got the contracts for building new roads when the railways were closed? Also, he was told to get rid of his shares in the company, due to conflict of interest. he did.. to his wife..He ended up having to do a runner as inland revenue were on his case.

[@toffeeblue2201]

Should've been behind bars!

[@wheelsdown1]

'Get everyone off the trains and onto the roads where we can TAX the crap out of them'. Hence the fixed freight tariff set by the government that BR had to publish that allowed road haulage companies to instantly undercut them. Oh, and the enormous amounts contributed to government by the road construction companies. Close the branch lines and rip em up quick before anyone comes along and runs them properly.

[@CrisisOnACanoe]

It's a shame we can't bring back the engines like we can bring back the lines, for they're all melted down and gone. At least we have dedicated preservationists and new-builders.

[@jacksugden8190]

1963: The end of the line Richard Beeching's brief as chairman of the British Transport Commission was simple: "Make the railways pay". British Rail was losing £140m a year when Dr Beeching took over the commission. His solution, announced on 27 March 1963, was equally straightforward - massive cuts. The Conservative government welcomed the report, but thousands of people - many in remote rural areas - were horrified they would lose their local branch lines. Opposition from the pressure groups failed and during the 1960s "Beeching's Axe" fell on 2,128 stations and more than 67,000 British Rail jobs.

[@Jeffybonbon]

save 50 to 100m a year why did we sell the track bed I want to know ???

[@oo0Spyder0oo]

well if it wasn't making money I can understand this but I think the real error was ripping it all up so those lines with carparks or shopping centres on them can't be reopened.

[@petehall1985]

Incidentally the money spent on network rail and subsidising of lines to help virgin et. cost more than BR ever lost.

[@philipedwards9432]

Dr Beeching gets a bad press. As chairman of the British Railways Board (which took control of BR after the dissolution of the British Transport Commision) his name was and always will be synonymous with the report which led to the closure of a large proportion of the rail network. However he was appointed by the then Minister of Transport one Ernest Marples. It was he who was ultimately 'looking after' the railway network when the Beeching Report was written. A controversial figure at the time and afterwards, Lord Marples had earlier introduced the Transport Act 1962 which led to the closure of the BTC (above) & included a set of measures which simplified the closing of railways. His company Marples Ridgeway, at the time of the Beeching Report, had interests in road building (M1 motorway, Chiswick flyover, Hammersmith Flyover), and even though he was a government minister, he and then his wife, to whom he sold them, still held up to 80% of the shares in his former civil engineering company. As a result became substantially well off, became a life peer and scarpered to Monaco just before the taxman was due to check his books and just before he was to be sued for 100s of thousands of pounds by various disgruntled parties. Make of that what you will......As I said Dr Beeching always gets a bad press.

[@MrJezza31]

Beechings first candidate for closure Edinburgh-Peebles is going to be reopened - Ironic?

[@peterfreeman6677]

Very ironic. It's open now. As elsewhere where closed lines are being brought back, the cost is immense. What did Beeching save - 50 million, 100 million? Even allowing for inflation, that was a petty windfall compared to the cost of undoing his mistakes.

[@Paulwherrell]

@NearAbbeyRoad Unfortunately the powers that be never see it that way. Politicians in the UK always look to the short term therefore there's been very little joined up thinking since WWII. We've paid the price ever since...

[@NearAbbeyRoad]

@mrangry1960 "Ernest Marples who was minister of transport, who appointed Beeching. Marples was basically a bent bastard. He was co-owner of a ROAD construction company," The Tories and Ernest Marples were shameless in the corruption.

[@railtrolley]

3:47 Spot the Rambler American convertible - next to the Mk1 Cortina estate. What's that doing there?

[@wangdangdoodie]

Rusting and falling to bits, most likely!

[@Femmenition]

Can I just point out that the music you use is kinda creepy. >_>

[@SamMitchell90]

This man is a joke. And today, the current politicians should focus on spending the £32 set aside for HS2, on reopening old railways closed by the arsehole Richard Beeching!! It's a travesty so many lines were closed. Only near me, the South Staffordshire Line is a line that was closed to passengers in 1965 and is completely overgrown.

[@johnwalton6642]

CORRECTION. The cost of HS2 replacing the Great Central is likely to be £50 BILLION PLUS and not 50 million. Apologies for seriously understating the cost of DR RICHARD BEECHING and EARNEST MARPLES.

[@theredraven]

@BhanuHabbo Not at all. As anyone will tell you I'm a train fan. I'm just not blind to the problems railways face. Neither are people like Pete Waterman.

[@annajeannettedixon2453]

thinking people he just did not have a brain too think with he was only thinking in money

[@Grichal1981]

@theredraven Unfortunately, no railway system today can survive without government subsidy. And since the government isn't going to give billions of pounds of public money away to private train companies without having a big say in how it is spent, no truly private railway is possible. Which was of course the fundemental flaw with the so-called "privatisation". We now have a system which is far more complicated and expensive to run than under BR. We might as well just renationalise it properly.

[@bobtudbury8505]

beeching? he produced a report, the labour party closed all the lines inc many not on beechings list. this continued until the tories got in again in 1970,

[@steamengineshooray]

good thing Stepney survived

[@Cliffjumper24]

@accadaccasuperstar No he didn't! Steam was killed off by the 1955 modernisation plan... 6 years before Beeching joined BR. Even then, the railways evolved as technology improved. Diesels and electrics are better than steam in every measurable way ... and now locootives have given way to multiple units.

[@goodwood-rc4nx]

was reckonby some the cuts only saved around 1.7 million which was enough money to build 2k of motrway a few years later

[@Bunbiichuffn]

Seeing the scrapyard scene is a low blow for me..at least some were lucky enough to find life after steam..if you get what I mean, that is..

[@Mike8981]

They did what they thought was right at the time. Beeching was only doing his job. Many lines were loosing a massive amount of money with only one or two people using some stations on some days. Remember that the country was practically bankrupt after the Second World War. The car was seen as the future and car usage dramatically expanded at this time. Still sad though!

[@NearAbbeyRoad]

@Grichal1981 "Unfortunately, no railway system today can survive without government subsidy. " It is NOT subsidy, they make a profit!!! They create economic growth. The wealth they created was creamed off, and still is, as it is not fed back into the cycle that aids making the wealth in the first place - the RAILWAYS. Imagine London if the Underground was closed tomorrow? The city would economically collapse contracting to the size of Birmingham. Rail creates economic growth - very viable

[@59n1tr0n72]

wow... I always thought his eyes were too close together in wiki, but now i see that he's THICKER THAN I EVER THOUGHT POSSIBLE, tw@. Pardon la Franglais

[@haniparrtel2896]

To many cars on the roads of the U.K today - HS2 will make no difference to timing either, just another bad idea from "Great Britain" .

[@Ben31337l]

HS2 is politically driven and it generally doesn't take into any account the impact it would make to the surrounding country areas, the Pendilino can be increased to 140MPH just by changing signalling, which would reduce journey times anyway, in my opinion, HS2 is undeveloped.

[@haniparrtel2896]

Ben 1337 The Line that should never of been shut is the Great Central Railway. That Line could of been used for so many useful things which would of reduced traffic on the Mainlines. I bet HS2 will have endless issues after it will be eventually built. Such a unnecessary plan. Waste of Space and Money.

[@Ben31337l]

***** Yeah, many lines shouldn't have shut during the beecing cuts, but they have been. I've been wondering whether BR should have sold the lines to private local companies / the local councils compared to ripping up the rails and selling the land.

[@sameyers2670]

hani Parrtel The problem with the Great Central was it didn't exclusively serve any major towns and had never fulfilled it's original purpose of allowing through running to the continent, do the people in charge at the time saw it as a duplicate main line. If it had been saved HS2 wouldn't be needed now

[@annajeannettedixon2453]

well he was the fall guy the real man behide all this is one Mr Maples

[@timothysmith8300]

he was a hit man allright he murderd the railways railways that should have not been closed s,d gcr smj northampton to bedford ,wellingborough ,mkt harborough to northampton. and many in devon cornwall,somerset,norfolk,ect.

[@sameyers2670]

I agree the closures went too far but it wasn't all Beeching's fault, the railways were hemorrhaging money at the time and the likes of Marples thought they were finished. Would we have had as many preserved railways if the report hadn't happened?

[@annajeannettedixon2453]

Now there mean a lot too the young Steam is the best form of power

[@theredraven]

Poor Dr Beeching. Given the task of making a giant nationalised industry turn a profit. He should have just privatised it.

[@NCNGRR05]

oh god 4:40 - 4:51 its seraphim from jimmy the jinty

[@Grichal1981]

@theredraven Hmmm what a big success privatisation has been.

[@theredraven]

@Grichal1981 What privatisation? Network Rail and the TOCs get billions in taxpayer subsidy. You don't have privatisation. You have Zombie Nationalisation.

[@theredraven]

@BhanuHabbo Yes, fuck something which gives people a lot more freedom then they had.

[@TankEngine75]

Aleast The Bluebell Railway,The Tallylyn Railway And The Festinog Railway Exists Before The Beeching Axe.

[@ejcmoorhouse]

Dr. Beeching did I admit close many of lines that would be very useful today, but at the time it was logical. The Reshaping of Britains Railways did however propose and credit to Beeching here that the railway should carry what it was best at doing long distance bulk freight, Beeching was responsible for the introduction of freightliner trains. So in that aspect the Beeching plan was spot on also Britain at the time had too many railways many of which should have never been built if the governments of the 1800's had directed the development of railways Beeching very much laid out a network which should have been done then. He also proposed that if loss making lines where to be retained then a formal public subsidy should be set up. Not only did Beeching propose chopping the railways he also proposed how they might be retained shame the government of the day wasn't too favourable to the railways but thankfully lines haven't closed for a few decades now and the national network mileage is on the grow slowly for surely, and to critics of HS2 get lost this is a good thing but it should be done along with many other things such as a link to HS1 and a well managed railway would make it work, but we don't have such a thing.

[@respomanify]

Sorry, my mind was somewhere else :D

[@respomanify]

*somewhere in other place

[@goodwood-rc4nx]

less us forget labour ministers closed lines long after beeching reurned to ICI

[@Grichal1981]

@theredraven Yeah free to have all those traffic jams and pollution.

[@bsg549]

@theredraven :l Oh. Carry on then :P

[@nigelcarter9503]

Agree the the last comment

[@Shunteration]

Did this guy purposely told his hairdresser and barber to make him look like a Hitler caricature? Talk about cutting under yourself!

[@andy126128]

britans railways are crap now if beaching hade thort abite more we wude of more line today i dont think britan hse the money to spend on stupidley fast trains thay ned megga strate trake i dond think the guvverment wude do thate units are useless i say we shude skike loco hald send the units to the scrap cutter

[@kentcyclist]

Close all rail and turn into roads

[@bsg549]

@theredraven Road Rager l:l