Lord Beeching Interview 1981

[@englishjona6458]

As in London now living in Leicester regularly A tear comes to my eye At the sheer devastation this man has done

[@josephbennett2457]

Oh, Dr Beeching! what have you done?There once were lots of trains to catch, But soon there will be none, I'll have to buy a bike, 'cos I can't afford a car, Oh, Dr. Beeching! what a naughty man you are!

[@bobtudbury8505]

oh dear , labour not beeching closed the lines

[@graemeconnelly8849]

"you have been watching"

[@davidjones3758]

Beeching was a total butcher who was friends with the transport minister,who by coincidence built roads,probably on some of the closed lines.What on earth did a man from the chemical industry know about railways.

[@malenurse35]

I’m 100% not a fan but I guess he did what he thought was right......with his motorway loving fan!

[@bobtudbury8505]

oh dear it was labour no one else that closed the lines

[@blueskiesabove3950]

"I had support from Ernest Marples".... Says it all really

[@bobtudbury8505]

labour closed the lines, what are you on about

[@petergriffin3194]

@@bobtudbury8505 We should just agree it was a bad thing to do

[@gdj6298]

@@bobtudbury8505 So you are saying that the Beeching report had no influence ?

[@bobtudbury8505]

@@gdj6298 it's got to have done but only so far. (BR was losing millions of pounds and it could not even tell you how many people it employed, exact figure! ) Remember labour closed lines down not on beechings report even too , that was pure liebour. liebour also closed more pits in the 60's then scargill and thatcher ever closed in the 90's . liebour also saved no pits in the 90's , blair , Labour are not your friend my friend

[@richardprew9954]

It was the conservative party that commissioned the report and went ahead with the closures. Labour carried on with the closures but they didn't start them. ​@@bobtudbury8505

[@gdj6298]

Must be wonderful to go through life thinking you've never been wrong.

[@LostsTVandRadio]

I thought Richard Beeching was a black and white chap and here he is in colour!

[@MarmiteCrumpets]

I see Beeching remained unrepentant for the havoc he'd unleashed by destroying our railway infrastructure, some of which is now desperately needed to resolve the laissez faire free market transport "policies" of recent governments. The economic cost of his closures remain far outweighed by the social isolation of huge areas of the country, from which almost 60 years later they have not recovered (Scotland, Wales, the West Country and East Anglia) and the overcrowding of both roads and trains today. Marples however is the chief criminal in all this. How naive the British public in overlooking his vested interest in closing railways at the time his construction company was being awarded huge government contracts for road building. The shitbag eventually left the UK for his home in the South of France to escape charges of tax evasion which ran to millions of pounds. Even when this interview took place, Thatcher was planning further cuts to the railway network, moved more by a dogmatic hatred of the Nationalisation programme of the early postwar Labour government than by pragmatism, and that was precisely the process Beeching undertook on behalf of Marples who enriched himself greatly as a consequence of commissioning Beeching to produce a report that intentionally mislead and was based on inaccurate data from the outset.

[@bobtudbury8505]

labour closed the lines , right up to heath winning in 1970, beeching had no power,marples closed nothing , it was the socialists

[@m18tankdestroyer43]

He closed to many routes which would pay today. Second to many routes ( trackbeds) were sold on, big mistake.

[@calldfwp2230]

@@soulman3590 the interesting thing is that was only phase one of the plan. There was actually a phase 2 which didn't get government support and never happened. Then in the 1980s there was the serper (I think that's what his name was) report which even beeching would have opposed it was that drastic. But luckily they got rid of that plan for instead putting buses on train wheels.

[@srfurley]

Selling tracks was nothing to do with Beeching; what should happen to lines after they closed was not within his terms of reference.

[@limeyfox]

The fact that in 1981 he still thought that Newcastle to Edinburgh could be closed and that the only hardship would be to the people in Berwick-upon-Tweed proves that he wasn’t remotely as intelligent as he thought he was. What about the people in Newcastle, Darlington and York who want to go to Scotland?

[@gordonjohnson8432]

Two words....Earnest Marples!

[@jameshodgson5644]

There was a case for closing some lightly used lines but BR was guilty of closure by stealth on some routes by deliberately running services at inconvenient times and making connections with other services difficult, reducing maintenance to such an extent that severe speed restrictions were implemented putting people off using the line then saying we have to close it down because it is too expensive to repair etc. More thought should have gone into preserving the right of way on some of the closed lines to enable future reopening should new need arise (population growth, new housing developments etc). BR was very quick to sell off land and aggressively destroyed railway infrastructure and permitted building and development blocking routes of closed lines that should have preserved in mothballs.

[@mjradar]

Some of the lines closed would be very useful now instead the roads are full and getting worse and because they sold the land no chance of reopening ever again

[@MLampner]

I found this fascinating. I doubt anyone would suggest that his plan was a success but the one thing he pointed out which was ignored then and is ignored now - here in the states as well as in the UK is that truckers not having to own the right of way grants them an unfair advantage over rail. One wonders with the development of the rail infrastructure in the UK as being a road which for profit companies operate on as truckers do on highways might make for a better system in the long run. Certainly in the states railroads have proven they can make money on freight even with owning their right of ways, but in the UK we've seen an expansion of passenger service, over the rails.

[@JohnWayne-n3i]

Wow, this video taught me so much about how the Beeching Axe changed trains in Britain! I had no idea that so many stations and tracks were closed because of it. It's sad to think about how it affected rural areas and made things harder for some people. But hearing Dr. Beeching's reasons for doing it made me understand a bit more. Overall, it's interesting to learn about something that had such a big impact on transportation. Consider watching the history of Dr Beeching Report for more insights by Hand Drawn History

[@LucavlogsandgamingOFFICIAL]

He died in 1984 when he saw ghostbusters and was scared of the ghosts of the old railways

[@dazzlingdaz187]

And they gave him a peerage! Hopelessly unapologetic, couldn't see the wider picture that closing lines would give with an expected rise in road traffic, didn't see the benefits of retaining lines, didn't see why lines should be electrified. What a useless fool.

[@annamcuthbert3993]

The Great Northern Greenway by Breadsall and the Monsel trail in Derbyshire are lovely walks. I like to know more about the old train lines etc

[@enemyofthestatewearein7945]

Railways still don't pay, and neither do roads, or even airlines, all get massive subsidies one way or another. Sensible governments now finally recognize that transport infrastructure is not a zero sum game, it's an essential part of the wider economy and social fabric. Besides energy use, which is now top of the agenda due to climate change, railways are also incredibly efficient in terms of land use, which is very important for a relatively small but crowded country like the UK, but of course successive governments had to discover all this the hard way.

[@garfunkelstiglitz9673]

The problem was that Beeching was looking at cost saving and the bottom line as an economist, not at all at improving the railways. Were some of the lines he closed open now a full service could be run during engineering work or unfortunately when fatalities occur. Also there wouldn’t be as much delay along routes such as London to Bedford where due to the ridiculous Thameslink timetable 125mph mainline express trains are brought to a full stop to allow a Thameslink commuter train preferential routing in front of it at a max speed of 100mph if you’re lucky. And all after £180 million was spent on the line speed improvement program a few years ago to upgrade mainline speed out of St Pancras to Bedford from 110mph to 125mph. What a waste of taxpayers money.

[@JamesTilsley1]

Yes he did go too far cutting some lines, but; the general idea that Britain should have a modern railway focusing on the trunk routes with modernised clean stations, operated by electric or diesel trains was a good idea. Introducing the British rail double headed arrow identity was a brilliant move, it gave the railway one iconic identity that’s lasted years. And don’t forget he practically saved freight on the railways by introducing containerisation.

[@bobtudbury8505]

he cut nothing, labour closed the lines. in fact they closed more then beeching reported, right up to 197- when the torys got in and stopped it

[@redmozzy]

@@bobtudbury8505you are wrong, just because you obviously don’t like labour doesn’t mean you can rewrite history

[@noeldunford4955]

We are crying out for the railways now beaching

[@Martindyna]

Ironic that the much maligned Class 142 Pacer would have helped in keeping some routes open due to their low cost to both buy and run, and due to their reliability, had they been available back in the 60s.

[@havingalook2]

I found this most interesting. Yes I know all the history and the rhetoric but he did have a task to do and the railways would cost you the taxpayers in the long run. I found this conversation with him somewhat refreshing. He was articulate and accurate and I did appreciate that he would state that he could not comment or speculate as he was not up on the current data and statistics - I thought that was a fair response and not at all evasive. Also he mentioned a few times he was very much in favour of rail transport and not giving it to the road carriers. He sighted a very good example into Cornwall. As we now know how detrimental it is to the environment all the goods being moved by road when the rails could do it better. So I found this interesting and I looked at him with a slightly less "evil eye". Time does and should heal. These are just my views and comments - you need not agree and most likely won't. Thank youi

[@GreatWestern175]

Now isnt it ironic that lines that were closed by Beeching, are in dire need of reopening and use in certain places around the country. To get people to go to work or places by train to reduce road congestion, caused by heavy overpopulation of certain cities. No denying that there!

[@MrDavey2010]

A terrible & catastrophic blunder to close so many lines in favour of the motor car. We are now seeing how serious was this mistake.

[@scottpeacock5492]

One Rail line which was not on Beeching axes list was the East West Rail Varsity line between Oxford and Cambridge, Barbara Castle was to blame for the closure of the branchline as it was losing money.

[@bobtudbury8505]

labour closed all the lines and more on top. beeching closed nothing

[@hawickrfc]

Amusing as a Hawick chap hearing that twit saying few folk used the bus in the borders - the bus was slower than the train which pushed people towards cars! Indeed as Madge Elliot famously said - it's quicker from Hawick to Edinburgh by hearse than bus! Of course, on the other side, without Beeching's cuts and the rushed modernisation, we wouldn't have most of the preserved railways and they wouldn't have all the stock to run.

[@enderplant]

Is it ok if we can call him Hitler?

[@aussi3212]

looking at a railway map of the UK from the back then, it is just insane how many railway line there where, too many that's for sure, but what Beeching should have done was culled lines based on proximity to other railway lines, so to average out route mileage over the whole of Britain in the true sense, and not isolate large areas or kill lines that serviced remote villages and towns, losing those smaller lines as feeders onto the main routes. i cant understand the mass kill off all in one hit, why not study sector by sector, region by region line by line, not just throwing away the billions of capital investment, but seeing what worked and what didn't.

[@richardskelton5119]

You could say there are too many roads as well! But if you yourself use that road, you would probably not want it to be closed.

[@heikofirestormtiger4969]

At 6.01 min the Times article written by William Rees-Mogg. That surname reminds me of a recent bloke in politics. ...

[@calldfwp2230]

@Bocaan The Humble that explains why he liked beeching.

[@cjmillsnun]

Yep it's the haunted pencil's father. Also known for writing books on disaster capitalism.

[@DeepakVerma-cd4fe]

What a horrible person Dr Beeching was Newcastle station is more busier nowadays him closing Newcastle station would have been a disaster. Glad that did close

[@bruceimrie673]

1962 the year I returned to nz with Maureen and Grant Wages went from £22 to ¥ £ 9 per week plenty of over time, average pay in uk about £11?

[@alanrobbo6980]

Beeching, and his Friends made Millions out of the closing of thees lines, Building many miles of Roads and pocketing all the Taxpayers Money, and more that the railway could have used to improve. Not to mention the Car & Lorry manufacturing that we are NOW COMPLAINING ABOUT, (CO2 Global Warming), Can you Imagine the Fantastic network we’d have now had he never existed.

[@malenurse35]

I’m no fan but he was put in an impossible situation. A lot of iffy stats, a lot of pre planned decisions .....no one can see into the future.

[@englishjona6458]

Nonsense this man profited immensely his family is still profiting to this day you shouldn’t talk about stuff you don’t really know about you haven’t done any research

[@Jason-ng1xt]

With The train lines Beeching closed it’s way the roads are packed now and way the motorways are all ways having work done on them

[@DudeFrom1972]

Maybe the british government shouldn't have nationalised the railway in the first place, because then it would have gone into bankruptcy and oblivion all by itself.

[@scottpeacock5492]

And look what privatisation has cause to the railway in 2022/23 , strikes every other week or weekend due to the Tories not giving rail worker a pay rise they deserve. The privtisation of the railways is in a right mess

[@samstratford8878]

The fact he said he wanted to close the north end of the ECML says it all. What a misguided man.

[@frederickmiles327]

At one level its ruthless deductive, rational economics, but its a bit like Enoch Powell, on economic, defence, heath, defence or just about anything, or Thatchers, economist and bureaucrats on just about anything, Joseph, Lawson, Walters. I mean Beeching's first report and proposed reduced 1963 route map appears austere, and a ruthless pairing but some ways sensible. But gradually it became apparent he was like Enoch, he was star struck over his own fame.and essentially a fanatic, and essentially unable to see the variables of a railway system are not largely fixed and in most cases could be changed. Beeching operated on the narrow assumption that rail passenger would be effective at 75"mph average for up to 4hrs or 100-300 miles. But the French saw when the wires ripped off the Minstral high speed electric test at 205mph that the Future of rail actually required a new rail system like TGV or Tokaido as it emerged and even with electrification, conventional rail did not offer sufficient advantage over even steam Chaperone Pacifics or Merchant Navy or 40,000 lb reactive effort Hudson's offering 4000 HP let alone medium distance air.or motorways

[@LucavlogsandgamingOFFICIAL]

I hate beeching i like to call him bad beeching he ruined the prosper of uckfield closing two lines which would be huge today

[@JamesHodgson-v2r]

He comes across as somewhat pompous and unrepentant during that interview however he was used as a fall guy and stooge to do the dirty work of slimy politician Marples the real villain the time who was in the pocket of the roads lobby, railways were then seen as relics from the Victorian age that should be got rid of in favour of the new motorways, also the BR board wanted rid of the branch lines and we’re not interested in trying to make them pay by making economies such as using rail busses and light rail operations. BR were very quick to dismantle the lines after closure and destroy the infrastructure to ensure almost out of spite that they could never be reopened in the future. Yes there were too many railways and a lot of duplicate routes built at a time when the only other forms of transport were the horse and cart, canals and coastal shipping however Beeching went too far and no effort was made to preserve right of way for future reuse

[@sutherlandA1]

If the cuts were part of a program of reinvigoration than it might be justified but it seems that the short term ill advised cost cutting wasn't balanced out by investment and development of what remained which could of panned out and paid dividends in the long term. Looks like a case of sabotage of the railways for the benefit of road especially knowing the corrupt figures involved, the mistake was realised early on and only recently are they being rectified and he had the nerve to suggest the cuts go further, may his legacy always taint his reputation

[@englishjona6458]

And British rail has lost 100 million a year ever since even when they sold it off to their friends in France 🤔

[@englishjona6458]

This man stole all of that money and our health By taking it off the railways and putting it on the roads which she had major shares in

[@krystlewhite7897]

The comments here really are quite comical, people who can't accept the case for closing any part of the system. The majority of lines that closed hardly carried any traffic and had never made any money, indeed many should possibly have not been built in the first place. It would have impossible to predict, at that time, the demand that exists today. Indeed, if he had put forward an argument that lines should be kept as they may be needed in 50 years time, it would have been flatly rejected. Even today, many routes that remained open and hugely loss making and only survive with subsidies. If some of the closed lines had remained open, the financial burden would be even greater. Benching was given a job to do and an objective to meet. Whether he met it or not is up for debate. However, he did what his employer asked of him and the government did not stop the closure programme. Indeed, the Wilson Labour government actively carried it on. Contraction of rail networks was happening all over the world. The UK still has an extensive network that is carrying more passengers than ever before, even with its smaller size. Its a success story.

[@calldfwp2230]

I understand what you're saying. But some lines could have been made profitable by getting rid of staff instead of having to close the entire line.

[@conscienceaginBlackadder]

How come then ones that did reopen? Aberdare, Melksham, Cannock, Mansfield, Heysham, Galashiels, Alloa.

[@john111257]

ruined rail

[@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.

[@bobtudbury8505]

and then labour closed the lines

[@jacksugden8190]

@@bobtudbury8505 Needs more clarity more reading to find the facts.

[@bobtudbury8505]

@@jacksugden8190 the facts are labour were in power when beeching presented his report, they did not close all his things but closed down 100's of miles on top of what beeching said, this continued until heath the tories got in ( thank goodness) in 1970 . now whats your point??

[@michaelbraybrook1316]

Excellent decisions by Beeching.

[@lenniecapuano521]

beeching made sence why pay tax for linse that didnt pay

[@englishjona6458]

They done all that damage Condemn the seaside resorts to what we see now 😢 This makes me so angry You shouldn’t talk to kids in school the reason why you never vote Tori

[@bobtudbury8505]

labour cosed all the lines, beeching had no power

[@srfurley]

No, Labour and Conservatives both closed lines. Labour closed more, but they were in power for longer during the period of the closures. 13:39

[@TrenyCwm]

Hero of the modern rail network

[@srfurley]

I wonder what would have happened if he had been appointed in 1948 when the railways were nationalised; would the modernisation money have been better spent?

[@thomasciarlariello]

He had the right idea.

[@LordTantrums007]

The Beeching closures went too far!

[@cjmillsnun]

Completely unrepentant.. What a ****

[@hb6986]

And where were the Unions? Both rail unions were walked over and just caved in, disgusting