Friends of the Rail Forum

Michael Palin on the impact of Beeching's rail cuts (video)

Devastating effects of Beeching rail cuts (ITV video)

End of the lines: The rural railway resurgence 50 years after Beeching

a number of lines closed at the time are now being reopened as train travel expands to record levels...

Rail reminders: Britain hits the buffers – then bounces back

Fifty years ago, Richard Beeching's damning report saw the railways diminished by a third. Now, they're making a return...

Protests mark Beeching anniversary

PROTESTS are taking place at more than 35 stations around the country to mark the 50th anniversary of the Beeching 'reshaping' report...

A lot of stuff and nonsense across the nation's media about Beeching today

After 41 years, Dorset railway turns tables on Beeching cuts

Special service heralds forthcoming return of scheduled trains to Swanage line after victory for volunteers...

I have always thought that the villain in this saga was not Beeching, who was told to do a certain job. That job was to shut down large sections of the railway network. Staff sent proposals to BR HQ on how various lines could be improved, only to receive a verbal reprimand and told " the task is to shut the line". The mastermind behind all this was Mr Marples, Minister for Transport, who just happened to be deeply involved with a major road construction company.
As soon as the railway lines closed the road construction took off with huge sums of money put into the projects. Money that could have saved vast areas of the rail network. The public was told that a survey of passengers and freight would be carried out prior to shutting any line, it was carried out and took just five days with figures submitted that bore no relation to reality.
At the time the local councils in North East Scotland were in agreement with the closure of all rail lines other than the one from Aberdeen to Inverness. Councillors stated that people should not worry as the roads can cope! Track routes were converted into cycle paths for about ten people per day to use, and the roads were on gridlock. Now those same councils are scrambling around trying to reopen railway lines, which they have allowed people to build houses on, with owners that are on the board of the NIMBY assoc.

Yes, as with most things it's more complex than the sound-bites! I've read elsewhere of Marples' supposed conflict of interest due to his background and shareholding with road-building company Marples-Ridgway. It has also been pointed out that some of Beechings' reforms such as the introduction of containerised freight, merry-go-round coal deliveries, block trainloads, etc were positive for the railways.

From The Railway Magazine, April 2013, p 6

GBP 20m fund to put Beeching into reverse

A GBP 20 million New Stations Fund has been established by the Government for the reopening of a number of stations closed as a result of the Beeching cuts of the 1960s...

How civil servant risked jail in plot to save Aberystwyth train service

A civil servant in Whitehall was almost jailed in the 1970s for saving Aberystwyth’s train service and many others targeted for a wave of Beeching-style closures, it has been revealed.

The Director of Public Prosecutions ordered police to track down the Whitehall mole who leaked a top-secret report on shrinking the rail network...