The future of British Rail | British rail | Beeching cuts | This Week | 1969

What is the future for British Rail? The Beeching cuts are still biting, are more lines set for closure, and what are the reasons for this. 'This Week' investigates.
First shown: 23/10/1969
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Quote: VT101022

[@wombat1238marsupial]

What a turnaround as of 20th November 2021 the Exeter to Oakhampton line will reopen😊😊

[@kevinball477]

Okehampton. ;-)

[@philiprufus4427]

Many of these lines nationwide should never have been closed.They shoud have been modernised. Along with some city tramways. The man behind all the closures was shady.

[@markcaiger-watson1104]

​@@philiprufus4427 Beaching had shares in road haulage companies. Corruption was alive and well back then too.

[@metalman4141]

Lots of closed lines in the West Midlands are now opening and being used by trams

[@warmstrong5612]

Closing down lines because they're "not profitable" is to miss the point. Feeder lines make the bigger lines much more profitable. Expecting all necessary lines to make money is like putting the cart before the horse.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

They closed because too many people shifted from the trains to first the bus and then their cars. Take the Whitby to Loftus line, when it closed in 1958 it had 4 trains each way, whilst the local bus company ran a bus every half hour. You can see where the passengers were.

[@grahamariss2111]

The intercity express services we got as result of Beeching were only possible, because Beeching freed the mainline of many of the mostly unused slow branch services that clogged them up and led to the irregular express services we had before InterCity branded regular services with regular running time were introduced in the 60s. As it says in this program passenger revenue was increasing, this was because of the success of InterCity.

[@philiprufus4427]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 Till the railways were closed ad the land used for development.Then the buses were withdrawn. Four years after this programme was made,the price of fuel doubled, and the cost of running a car continued to rise beyond expected inflation to this day, over fifty years on.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@philiprufus4427 in many locations the buses were indeed withdrawn. Quite often those bus services swerved the okd station sites instead of the village whose name they bore. Thus the bus service was as bad as the railway service it replaced and the people chose nitro use it. The trackbed in rural areas was sold to the farmers and in some areas they use it as a farm track in others they've ploughed it up to grow crops. Station sites were redeveloped into industry or homes. In the urban areas trackbed were sometimes redeveloped across improvement schemes after compulsory purchase by local authorities.

[@philiprufus4427]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 Not everyone wanted to travel by bus,but they were compelled to,at least till the bus service was removed on the same pretext. Another gov agency (of course) Bingo ! Everyone buys a car. Now there are too many cars,local filling stations are closed,allong with the railway station which is probably a car park or new housing for out of towners and there are no buses either, but ther is wall to wall cars, in smost country towns. Total Super ! As the Germans would say. Really Smart !

[@fatlad5090]

they should of moth balled them not sell the land and rip bridges down we need all these railways now.

[@fasthracing]

Hindsight being such a wonderful thing.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@fasthracing yes, takes 60 years to notice.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

For how long and whose going to pay for it?

[@andrewlong6438]

Mothballing comes with a cost. If you leave tracks down you will have to spend money to bring them back into life as well cut back weeds etc.

[@philiprufus4427]

@@fasthracing Hindsight B - - - R All there was fortunes to be made, building on railway land made available to a selected few at knock down prices.

[@390h8er]

Wonderfully clear and succinct explanation from Geoffrey Freeman Allen of how rail cuts increase the costs to the remaining traffic and helps deter their custom. A vicious cycle indeed.

[@williammason7017]

Brilliant interviewer and presenter ,showed real interest in her subject ..

[@timchalk6810]

Sir Henry Johnson was like pinocchio. Trains were deliberately retimed to miss connections. Point in case being the S+D at templecoombe. They actively discouraged passengers in order to close the lines that they did not want.

[@AndreiTupolev]

"We do not close any passenger lines. At least we only do so at the behest of the Minister". What a classic politician's answer

[@philiprufus4427]

And if the Minister just happens to be like Ernie Marples,chairman of a construction conglomerate with a shedload of government contracts for new roads and motorways ? Bingo More Roads UK.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

​@philiprufus4427 you mean the ex-chairman. Plus most of these cuts were ones that the Big 4 were considering before nationalisation.

[@TechnoJonny]

The ironic thing is, the line to Oakhampton has now Re-opened to passengers, Network Rail bought the line from Cowley Bridge junction to Meldon Quarry from it's last (private) owner & then spent a fair amount of money relaying the track, I would rather see closed lines reopened than Billions of pounds of Taxpayer & (some) private money being spent on HS2.

[@chairmakerPete]

Thank goodness the previous private owner (Meldon Quarry) kept that line open and the housing developers off it as long as they did. Agree entirely that HS2 could have paid for hundreds of projects to have been completed of far greater benefit than that white elephant.

[@duncancurtis5108]

In 1969 the car was king and the oil crisis was in the distant future, making it one of the worst years and it wasn't over yet. Borders, Lincs and Norfolk were already doomed.

[@AndreiTupolev]

Nice cab view from the Bubble Car passing the Warship on the ballast train

[@philiprufus4427]

You have no idea how good train travel was for a kid then if you liked trains every big works had a rail connection and usually a shunter. Deisels were a novelty especialy shunters. The North Clyde Electric service was something else. You could sit right behind the driver and see forward then.T here was lots to see too,oil installations for the then Admiralty usually with works shunter,Babcox Dumbarton Diesel Shunter ,(Sentinal,Pug and Diesel.) John Browns Shipyard,Dennys Dunbarton,(spot the hovercraft,)Scotts of Bowling,BR shunt,Ballantynes, sometimes BR shunt,usually small Ruston. Clyde Submarine Base and Metal Industries Shipbreakers,The Vanguard,Aircraft Carriers,Liners and numerous railway locomotives,steam and diesel. All gone for razor blades. I once travelled the West Highland and C & O including Killin Branch in the cab of a multiple unit. Would not be allowed now. Yes it was a great time to be a kid

[@ronaldweir712]

They closed the Waverley line a year later. They had previously closed all the branch lines connected to the Waverley route. The line has been reopened to Tweedbank.

[@AndreiTupolev]

Interesting to see Geoffrey Freeman Allen, one of the great railway journalists. Being interviewed in the Ian Allan Group's Pullman car Malaga, at Shepperton I believe

[@97channel]

This is the first time in my life that I have ever watched anything recorded in black & white & yellow.

[@stephenmatura1086]

TOPS did a lot to stop the rot of the freight traffic handling but it arrived too late to reverse the exodus of cutomers to road haulage.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Really? Speedlink failed and that was introduced after TOPS.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

At the same time that we rippes up our railway Japan invested in there's. We had the same problem and their solution worked and ours didn't. Let alone how obvious the corruption was with people involved owning shares in car companies. With so many cuts made to inconvenience, not to save money. Look at the Aberystwyth to Carmarthen line, which connected Cardiff with central wales they got rid of that for unknown to this day reasons (apart from if you want to make lots of money in road construction) meaning to get to mid wales on the train, you have to leave wales and to go a 1 and half hour car jounrey from Camarthen to Aberystwyth can take up to 7 hours by train!

[@ThePanzer6]

Fascinating look at the way of life 50+ years ago

[@philiprufus4427]

YEAH !The only difference ? Now they are quite open about their skulldugery.

[@richiesquest3283]

The beeching cuts are now viewed by the majority of people as a complete disaster.

[@bobtudbury8505]

the lines were closed by the labour party not marples not the torys not ever beeching. hindsight is great, just like the current sir beer stammer

[@lennylaa1686]

Most branches should never have been built. Never made a penny in profit, very light passenger use. From the 1930's, people used buses, much more convenient. And the 16-day rail strike in Dec. 1955 was the last straw, millions got their own car instead.

[@richiesquest3283]

@@lennylaa1686 The car is a victim of its own success using one to commute in any city in the UK due to congestion is painfully slow and many people are returning to trains.

[@alantraish3368]

Beer starmer lol. Vindicated take that! No trot iff again with your bile and inaccuracies

[@lennylaa1686]

@@alantraish3368 Labour investigating Labour! lol Labour - the most corrupt political party on Planet Earth. Remember Sleazy Blair and all his scandals and corruption? Boom and bust Labour, economy destroyed and mass unemployment and look how they shared NHS and housing with the rest of the world and now UK is screwed by diversity and overpopulation.

[@garfstiglz3981]

You'll notice all of these people attempting to defend the cuts at the time all spoke "with a plum in their gob", to quote a phrase. Also the owner of Crossley Carpets saying only a change in the economic balance would change his mid about using British Rail again. Crossley went out of business a mere thirteen years later in 1982.

[@JohnDoe-tx8lq]

wow, I've never seen the Thames logo like that, in B&W and not filling the screen. (Googled...) used in '68 and '69 then Thames began colour broadcasting colour in November '69. This clips looks like some scenes where recently digitally tinted with colour, like the reporter's coat and the overalls. 13:51 Maybe early colour TV varied depending on the technology of the cameras used to film... looks nice though!

[@leelishman7137]

Just shows how the government had a real disinterest in Railways in 1969. The myth that the railways was safe uunder Labour shows it to be no better than what went before.

[@stephenchappell7512]

Only the line featured wasn't closed until well into the follow-on conservative administration in 1972

[@martinbitter4162]

What is interesting is that in most countries they came to the same conclusion at roughly the same time.

[@JohnDoe-tx8lq]

- Tell me, do you think we will ever have next day parcel delivery? - Ha ha, gracious me, no, impossible! The very idea!! 😁

[@gerrynewton3147]

The common carry act was instrumental in taking business away from the railways and putting it on to the roads. The road hauliers cherry picked all the profitable business and left the railways with the unprofitable business.

[@philiprufus4427]

What do you expect when the Transport Minister is pro road,chairman of a construction company for roads and appoints a man(who knows nowt about railways,unlike his predecessor) at twice his predecessors salary to rationalise everything ! Scams are NOT NEW,they just get exposed more often. Nothing happens though.They allways get away with it ! Ernie Baby Became A Tax Fugitive and did a runner overnight to the Continent.

[@charlesburgoyne-probyn6044]

This was the sneak act, and the irony is that when privately owned the government imposed the regulation after 14 years of state ownership abrogated it just like when they compelled the railway companies to keep the canals in operation once they nationalised they promptly closed down many canals

[@AndreiTupolev]

The Ind Coope Brewery truck at12:52is noteworthy; a Dodge with I think Cummins V8 engine. Very very rare to get one of them on film

[@amazoniaamazonia7225]

The private company’s were never keen on investing in the wagon fleet, the majority on nationalisation only had hand brakes. Marsh was a disappointment showing his true colours when he publicly supported Thatcher and joined the Tory party.

[@Rabchog]

2 lines from Cambridge Westwards were closed in the 60s, both could have been used to travel to Oxford if they were still there. Now people in South Cambs are up in arms at a new line to reconnect Cambridge to Oxford.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

There were only 2 direct trains, Monday to Saturday, each way that went between Cambridge and Oxford taking over 4.5 hours. Most passengers between the 2 university cities took the faster more frequent services via London.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

When Speedlink closed the local trip workings and marshalling/remarshalling conisted of about 70% of the operating costs of the service. Suppliers had to send out 10 wagon loads per day over a distance of 500 miles to cover the cost of the service. BR looks at cost cutting measures - if they could have cut 40% of the costs then only 15% of the Speedlink traffic flows could make a profit.

[@tominnis8353]

And the result is our very heavy lorry clogged impossible road system we have today.

[@dackesjulag]

No leaves on the line at 3.00min.

[@nkt1]

British Rail certainly sold the APT, but not in the way Richard Marsh might have hoped.

[@user-qp9cd5ng3w]

It's fascinating to see how the Beeching cuts have shaped the rail network. This investigation really highlights the challenges and decisions faced by British Rail in 1969. Thanks for sharing such a valuable historical perspective. If you want to learn more about the history of the British Railway, watch the playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLbkIohgbg3ZNXQ2yFZ92zn-sXxO350Aa2

[@dbrek8692]

Worst thing that ever happened to britain

[@timchalk6810]

That br chairman new exactly what was going on

[@oldclip70]

The days before roller bearings. The last journal boxes in the states were used in California around the end of 1993. Sugar beats were transported to the processing facility near Santa Barbara. Don’t worry Britain, with PSR….this here will look modern.

[@PeaveyPV20]

Beeching did alot of good too, new railway wagon programme, intercity services and slimmed down un-manned stations, he saw into the future

[@philiprufus4427]

Gen Sir Brian Robertson was doing better ! He along with other Allied generals were responsible for rebuilding the European railway systems after The U S A A F and The R A F bombed and rocketed them out of existance. Its a popular misconception that The Nazi's were highly mechanised most of their supply was rail borne or horse drawn hence the air targets. Having a late uncle who flew Typhoons. He told me,'One of the lads favourite occupations was beating up trains.' . Das Reich Armoured Div were supposed to move from The South of France to Normandy by rail. The ressistance with Brit help took care of that by filling the flat cars bearings in sidings along the route with abrasive. It took Das Reich a week to reach their destination with ambushes delaying them by road and their armour stressed mechanicaly with road travel. The Germans took over 3 million horses into Russia alone.

[@danielferstendig]

It's the troublesome trucks.

[@gzk6nk]

1969? WAY after Beeching! BR made many cuts which were not on Beeching's list, and unlike the Beeching closures these were usually main lines which should have remained open! Beware a nationalised railway (which, contrary to common belief, is what we have today in all but name).

[@philiprufus4427]

Name one,Beeching was 'The Patsy for Marples anyway. The Scam Merchant,he who fled overnight to the continent owing thirty years back tax with The Profumo Affair Involvement hanging over him,and chaired one of the biggest construction conglomerates in the land to whom he handed out government contracts for new roads and motorways.

[@gzk6nk]

@@philiprufus4427 Here's 2. Woodhead line. Buxton to Derby.

[@ChangesOneTim]

@gzk6nk: Beeching Report was earlier in the same decade and line closures were still in full swing at least until that year. Recheck the history.

[@gzk6nk]

@@ChangesOneTim My history is as I stated - correct. Re check yours.

[@ChangesOneTim]

@@gzk6nk No need. The (not mine or yours) history follows the factual evidence and sequence of events. Whether or not Beeching recommended a given closure, BR could only go ahead with it after statutory consultation and MoT approval. Nationalised or privatised railway, we can surely assume that government would still have intervened back then with very similar statutory closure processes on private owners, with the MoT still having the final say. Beware transport ministers, not nationalisation.

[@metalman4141]

Has this film been colourised

[@markofsaltburn]

No; it’s been bleachified.

[@metalman4141]

@@markofsaltburn Oh, no idea what that means

[@mikemartin2957]

It's a 53 year old 16mm film report & was shown in the first week that the main ITV regions were showing Colour on about 60% of network programmes. If it was recorded on Video chances are the colours would be more defined & more likely to have been wiped, unless a telerecording was kept, Terrific footage of a Britain that seems to have disappeared.

[@AaronSmart.online]

@@metalman4141 it was originally colour but has faded, most of the red has gone

[@philiprufus4427]

Have you been colourised,yet ?

[@hypercomms2001]

Who is the interviewer? What happened to her?

[@AndreiTupolev]

I think it's Her Majesty the Queen 🤔

[@jasonayres]

Oh 🤔 I now understand why they had to have 400 aeroplanes of different types, and large diesel engine cars shuttling around the delegates at the recent Environmental concern conference in Glasgow.

[@nkt1]

Glasgow is well-served by 125mph intercity trains, and has an excellent suburban rail network, second only to London's in the UK.

[@jasonayres]

@@nkt1 Oh 😯 They might have time to mingle with the public and get a nice cup of tea, too, I imagine, if they had taken the time..

[@sonicscott9119]

@@jasonayres But they're the "rich and elite", they can't be seen mingling with us common people. How embarrassing would that be for them?

[@ginajones1003]

@@sonicscott9119 It was primarily to do with their security. What annoys me is that the conference could have been done by Zoom. This would have been much safer and more environmentally friendly. The behind the scenes talking could have been done by telephone. The trouble is that the people who are leaders have such big egos and care only about what will keep them in power.

[@philiprufus4427]

@@nkt1 Yeah ! By default,not by desighn, Glasgow airport used to be one of the biggest R N A S and aircraft repair facilities in the country, with Canadian and Americans also using it.I went there in its last days as a child. You should also have been around in the seventies when the Scottish Press were slagging off every effort BR made regarding the 125train.Its not thanks to some in Scotland that we have an electrified suburban rail network.

[@Rog5446]

I thought loco drivers had to retire at 65? The driver in the cab of a diesel at time mark 15:33 was at least 80.

[@chriswatson3464]

15:33

[@mickeydodds1]

People had hard lives in them days .....

[@True_NOON]

5:31 no but to make them , for a time be writing numbers of black , wich takes in veiwing a lack , that they offer more than a singular branchline dime , especially around that sort of time

[@philsooty61]

4:03 his he telling the truth I'd love to hear a body language experts view!

[@grahamariss2111]

The program misses the fundamental problem with BR at this time, it was with the exception of a few modernised lines like the West Coast Main Line was a 19th century system with 19th century working practices for things like signalling with mechanical signals, points and level crossings. If you are down to running single carriage "bubble" rail cars on a line, then you cannot justify either continuing to run and or modernising the line, because a bus service can do the job better. The failure of Beeching for rural communities was not the closure of the railway, but that the politicians (both left and right) were not prepared to properly subsidise these rural bus services in a time of increasing car ownership, even though it was a fraction of the cost of subsidising the rail line.

[@philsooty61]

its never got any better has it, no foresight at all.

[@mikesmith2905]

Sadly non of the motorways is making a profit, presumably these and the peripheral sub-routes should be de-funded. Mr Marples (of Marples Pochin the road builders) would presumably argue against this but his position would be difficult to justify.

[@BlackRose-vi2yg]

Things ain't much better now 😂😂

[@nounoufriend1442]

Ernest Marples (Lord Marples) was the man behind Beeching he wanted to close west coast mainline and all lines west of Exeter , he made his fortune building roads ! need I say more , fled the UK leaving years of unpaid tax bills

[@neilsaunders2520]

On real to this country gone too

[@volvos60bloke]

tremenduos now we have are brexit these are the day's we can go back to

[@philiprufus4427]

Marples does not think so,things worked out very nicely thank you very much.

[@davepearson3992]

And now people want lorries off the road and on to rail and guess what we aint got no goods facilities

[@chairmakerPete]

When government runs anything, it's run badly. Those who want the railways nationalised would do well to see how that turned out last time it was tried.

[@ChangesOneTim]

Today in 2023 the government does run the railway, certainly passenger train services which are all now effectively 'nationalised' and operating under tightly-controlled management contracts, which has led to daily meddling from Whitehall to an extent not seen in peacetime. Politicians created the current mess in 1993 - despite all the warnings - and look what's happened since. Railtrack spectacularly imploded just seven years after formation and five years after privatisation; the passenger franchising model collapsed; cost control failures despite some pretty hefty investment projects. The central lesson not yet learned is to get the industry structure right first, THEN decide which bits of it are best run by the private or public sector. Railfreight has had its problems, but at least it operates in a comparatively sane market within this crazy system.

[@alandawson2130]

Works well in Japan and France 🇫🇷 why not here?

[@chairmakerPete]

@@alandawson2130 Japan's railways are privatised The French system is not one you'd want to emulate: massive debt, constant industrial disputes, restrictive practices, and beyond the TGV network, appallingly unreliable, expensive and inefficient. Freight volumes have almost halved in the last 15 years.

[@dukedepommefrite1467]

Beeching was an absolute clown!

[@annpeerkat2020]

they seem to have missed an "N" from beeching cuts

[@bobtudbury8505]

the lines were closed by the labour party not marples not the torys not ever beeching

[@alantraish3368]

You never stop with your lies do you?

[@bobtudbury8505]

@@alantraish3368 it's fact , why is your forehead so hard?

[@yellowbelly06]

@@alantraish3368 Who’s lying? This film was made in 1969, reporting on the decisions made by the then Labour government led by Harold Wilson and who had been in office since 1964. The Beeching Report which led to the closures was commissioned in 1960 and the first part delivered in 1963, both under Conservative governments. Labour had the chance to ignore the report (and the second part delivered in 1965) and leave the railways as they were but despite pleas by the rail unions to do so, they happily enacted the proposals delivered by Dr Beeching. But hey, let’s not have the facts get in the way, eh?

[@alantraish3368]

@@yellowbelly06 this bloke continually blames only Labour for railway closures. Thats where his lies come in. This closure like the S&D and others were advocated by the tories but finally implemented by Labour and particularly Barbara Castle with others and I know this already so no facts getting in the way. No party comes out smelling of roses here fact is which I acknowledge is they both had agendas at the time

[@yellowbelly06]

@@alantraish3368 as I said, Labour could have refused to enact the recommendations of Beeching. The fact was they didn’t and you cannot somehow excuse that by saying it was the Conservatives who advocated the plan originally; the power to stop Beeching’s plan lay with a Labour government and it was they who failed to exercise that power, not the Conservatives.

[@silversurfermusicco5263]

Tories like to cut austerity? Sounds familar ah !

[@skintclint]

bring back the south wales line and give us jobs.