Beeching may have destroyed the railways of Britain, but at least Lord Serpell didn't get his way....

Last weekend I picked up a copy of an excellent book commemorating 50 years since the publication of Dr Richard Beeching's "Reshaping Britain's Railways" report.  He is still regarded as the "butcher" or "axeman" of British Railways as he was brought in to make cost savings on a rail network that was making heavy losses year on year.  The car was the future, road building programmes were beginning to take shape and railways were seen as costly and a thing of the past.  Whilst more lines shut after Beeching between 1966 and 1970, the wisdom of these decisions is now being questioned as our roads are becoming increasingly congested.  Indeed if Beeching had got his way he would have instigated a second wave of closures focusing on all minor secondary routes and all we would have had left would have been the main lines that link all of the major cities in the U.K.  Beeching's proposals were rejected and he resigned his position.  However in 1983 the spectre of more rail closures appeared on the horizon through the Serpell Report.

Lord Serpell was appointed by Margaret Thatcher in much the way that Lord Ernest Marples brought in Dr Beeching.  His mandate was to find ways of saving money on the UK rail network, which in 1982 had seen passenger numbers drop to record lows and had also seen its cost base increase.  One of the proposals that he suggested (pictured left) would have seen no railways in Wales beyond Cardiff.  The West Country would have lost its entire network and Scotland would have had no rail provision outside of Edinburgh or Glasgow.  Thankfully his crazy ideas were rejected by the UK Government due to the public outcry that ensued.  Pro rail campaigners certainly helped to ensure that our network didn't get decimated further although small freight lines did close such as the Bodmin to Wenfordbridge china clay line (now part of the Camel Trail cycle route).  It is funny to think that at regional and national Government level discussions are now taking place to reverse some of Beeching's decisions half a century later.  Lines such as Portishead to Bristol, Uckfield to Lewes, Tavistock to Plymouth and Oxford to Bletchley are all on the agenda for reopening so maybe the closure trend is about to change.  Passenger numbers are now at record numbers and continue to increase each year so maybe rail is the future after all.  This is a prospect that really excites me and if these schemes reach fruition then there will be no complaints from me.