Minehead Branch line closure 50th Anniversary

It was 50 years ago today on 2nd January 1971 that the Minehead Branch Line closed by British Rail after years of struggle and decline. The railway had been recommended for closure in Dr Richard Beeching's the Reshaping of British Railways report in 1963, but wasn't until eight years later it finally closed. The railway would reopen five years later as the now privately preserved West Somerset Railway. In this video we see pictures of the railway in 1972 a year and a half after it's closure, looking sadly rundown, neglected and overgrown. The music with just a few notes really fits a haunting echo of the Beeching era, when many railways closed.

[@robmasterman]

A wonderful record of the line before preservation Ryan....Happy New Year...Bob

[@RailPreserver2K]

I heard you like North American steam I have good news another articulated has been restored Chesapeake and Ohio 1309 is back