Abandoned: How The Beeching Report Decimated Britain's Railways | Timeline 

Get 3 months History Hit access for $3 using code 'timeline' bit.ly/TimelineSubscribe

The number of places where there are disused viaducts, cycleways, overpass roads with humps in them, level crossings, lone standing station platforms, open spaces where a yard or a line would be and locomotive sheds and workshops in the North West alone is massive. A great thing heritage lines exist.

It was , of course, sheer coincidence that, at the time Ernest Marples was the Minister of Transport, he was the Managing Director of Marples Ridgway - a company which built ROADS .

The tram network, which was once pretty much continuous over the country, is largely forgotten. It wasn't just confined to the cities, but extended into rural areas. It was of course a patchwork of small companies with no strategic rationale, but it was another option for travel. In 1936 it was possible to travel from Liverpool to London entirely by tram (with the occasional bit of legwork where there were gaps) and at a fraction of the cost of even a 3rd class rail ticket for the same journey. The only downside was that the journey by tram would take three or four days as opposed to the few hours a train journey would take.

Marples was the real villain of the piece. Beeching was just doing his bidding. Marples had his own construction company that built roads, amongst other things. Go figure.

Nice to see Simon Calder presenting a programme instead of always commentating on the travel problems on the news.

Reopening to Portishead looks like a no-brainer - just like a large number of other routes that should also be resurrected. It's vexing that there are so many obstacles to achieving that.

I seem to remember Marples had a business interest in road haulage transport at the time. Which meant that reduced railway transport benefited his business interests.

It is no surprise that many bustling seaside resorts have declined since their railway was closed. The wider social and economic cost likely far exceeds the so-called "savings" made by closing these lines.

It breaks my heart when I read about the train lines and stations that were taken out of service back then but I also feel that they also made (not intensionally) the public love the railway environment even more. There is such a huge fan base for steam locomotives, disused stations and previous train lines some of which are being restored..... I guess we will never know if the love of the railways would have still been this strong if they had of left everything in place and removed nothing 🤔

Anything Simon Calder's involved in is always quality.

Continuing government shortsightedness makes one want to weep. Great presentation Simon. If only those in power could be forced to watch this and act positively on it.

We have similar problems in USA. The motorways (interstates) are supported by the gov't and the air transport is also subsidized but rail gets nothing- we got Amtrak. I was been in Minehead some years ago. We were at Templemeads in Bristol.

I'm impressed how the man can ride that amazing bike everywhere, and I learned something new!

Speaking with a retired physicist who was a chum of Mr Beeching, he is of the opinion that had the the government reinvested the money saved from branch line closures into the British Rail infrastructure, as Beeching himself advocated, longterm good would have come from the exercise. Sadly , this didn't happen to much extent. and the sell off of land etc continued right into John Major's government. in the nineties

If you check out the wiki article, the line for portishead is repopening in 2021. 20 years after the freight service was restarted to the port, and 57 years after it closed.

I absolutely love train travel. There’s just something about it that makes me feel like I’m going on some grand adventure every time, even if I’m only on it for 30 minutes or so. ☺️ I do hope the politicians pull their thumbs out of their arses at some point and get the rails back up.

I think it ought to be remembered that a significant number of lines were closed well before and after Beaching; due to the fact that many (lines) were built with no hope of being profitable. The Braintree to Bishop's Stortford line is a good example. It was built to block another operator from running a line from Bury St Edmunds into London and closed to passengers in 1952 due to lack of demand. I walked the route from Felsted village to get to the old station; up a steep slope and a 20 min walk at least. No wonder when the busses came in the 1920-30s that picked you up in the village people chose that option instead. The motor car was just the nail in the coffin; ironically for busses also. Thankfully, the main chunk of the line (Look up the 'Flitch Way') remains as a brilliant walking, cycling, horse riding and dog walking nature reserve. From Braintree you can travel to the outskirts of B/S Where the M11 stops it dead. Any remnants of the route into B/S have disappeared into gardens and commercial premises. However, the old stations at Takeley, Felsted and Rayne still exist. Rayne station has a very successful cafe with an old bit of track and a train carriage to look at whilst you sit on the old platform with coffee and cake. At track level they've been known to have the odd music festival with craft beers. It's a real asset to the community and a safe place to take your kids to ride a bike and enjoy the countryside. If only more track beds were repurposed in this way: end to end is 15-16 miles making the 30 odd mile round trip a decent ride.

Jim From across the Pond-USA, I have been of the Impression that the UK had a Railroad on both the east and west coast. i guess this what Beeching did to the railway. The only way to make Traffic move is to put two rail lines on each coast to put the Car back into Garage. Your traffic jams look like Route 101 in California. Viewing this video makes me to have great passion for the people of the UK. Put the Rail tracks up on Concrete Pedestals that would solve the problem, Japan does it that way and they have the best rail system in the world.

There are still many routes in the UK where the track beds are still there and both rail and stations could be re-instated. The problem we have is a useless Transport Minister with little or no fore-sight. Giving over £60 billion to ONE railway (HS2) to get you to Birmingham 10 minutes faster,and allocating only £1.5 billion to regional railways is pathetic.But as per usual,i've no doubt big business dictates policy and their profit is at the centre of decision making.

Oh Dr. Beeching! What have you done?! There use to be a railroad now there is none. I’m going have to get bike ‘cause I cannot afford car. Oh Dr. Beeching what a naughty man you are!

As previously stated on this thread Ernest Marples was the bringer of railway closure. Marples was an accountant who together with engineer Reginald Ridgway in 1948 founded Marples Ridgway - a road building company. Marples' wife (his former secretary) ended up as major shareholder and Chariman of Marples Ridgway as Ernest Marples didn't want to make conflict of interest so obvious....hmmmm....so his wife is now major shareholder and Chair of Marples Ridgway....so no obvious conflict of interest there then!!! Marples was a crook who closed the railways to promote road-building and who eventually fled to Monaco to avoid a big tax bill. The railway closures destroyed rural communities but hey ho...Marples made a few quid so what's the destruction of a few rural communities matter???!!!

The Track beds should have never been sold in the UK

We had a station in West Lavington nr Devizes Wiltshire, it was on the route from Paddington to the West Country. Trains still run through it and there were discussions about reopening it. The nearest station is Westbury but you have to drive there and pay the big parking fees. There was also a branch line in Devizes which went to Swindon. It isn't cheaper by road these days and what about pollution all the lorries are diesels.

We had the same issue in the USA. The car and oil industry together with the government killed rail lines, tramways, etc. So, we also have terrible traffic problems. The Washington D.C. beltway is a classic example.

Maldon in Essex is another example it had two stations and two links one via Witham and via The South Woodham line. Proves dont let Politician think /plan long term as they are unable to do so..

Follow the money. Kickbacks from car manufacturers, fuel companies and greedy politicians.

A system should be established where heritage trains can somehow coexist with mainline trains both in the UK and in Australia.

2008. Still no station in Portishead in 2019.

So did I hear that correctly, it takes 2 hours to drive the 12 miles?. And I thought I had it bad in Chicago because it takes me an hour to drive 26 miles to work. Compared to this my commute is not that bad after all.

Sounds an awful lot like what the US did to its various rail and tram lines in the 1940s-1960s. It's been long enough ago, most people don't know what advantage commuter and passenger rail have over the individual car.

The railway to Portishead is expected to Reopen in 2024

First off, I am not a Brit, I am speaking as an American. But here in the US people abandoned the rails in droves in favor of cars, airplanes and buses in the 50's, 60's and 70's. Here in the US tens of thousands of miles of track were abandoned. On the remaining tracks tens of thousands of miles of passenger service was abandoned as well leaving many medium sized railroads such as Lehigh Valley and Frisco freight only. I can't imagine the UK being any different.

Think it's bad in the UK, you should try Canada. I live in Edmonton, Alberta. A passenger rail line existed between Edmonton and Calgary until it was cut in 1985. Now two cites with populations of 1 million each, 300 kms apart has no passenger rail service.

Remember taking concrete to the disused line that ran into Glastonbury to change it into a road ,I wondered at the time would it be change back into a railway line in the future.

Geography lesson needed here, the last time that I looked Somerset was in the WEST of England.

UK used to have a very successful world wide company called Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). Doctor Beeching was a director of ICI who was given time off from his ICI duties to destroy Britain's railways. ICI directors later destroyed ICI.

Shocking parking at 9:05

Shout out to the Beck backing track!!

Ernest Marples was Minister for Transport at the time of the Beeching Report. He was also on the board of Taylor Woodrow who were busily building motorways. Work it out for yourself why the railways were savagely culled.

Beeching and Marples could not of known that many millions of extra people would live here years later, the roads were a pleasure to use back then along with getting seat on the railways,still successive governments knew best and we vote them back in.

This, in the country where trains and railways came into being.

A great documentary. Beeching massages the figures too.

The touch of Portishead for the music is nice!

Br could have survived easily into the 21st century if sir Charles Topham Hatt was in charge

That Lisa is rather nice

Dr Beeching was the head of the road haulage association ,funny that

Beaching was a scape goat . UK didn't even fullfill his report properly . Also many countries did the same thing ; Denmark , Germany , Canada that i know of in detail plus others ( what does that have to do with Dr Beaching ? ) . It was huge and the flavour of the day .

Hi my name is Phil I did 50yrs on the footplate I started at edgeley shed on the 4th of April 1961 in 1962 I was made a fireman at Trafford Park shed I did 8 yrs on steam I finished my time out at longsight as a driver I finished in 2011 Regards Phil.

Like Todd Andrews in Ireland mass 1960s closures and the tracks were lifted plus the land was sold off. Even into the 1970s and 1980s lines were closed and now the beds are been turned into Greenways. Was in Temple Meads many times , have reletives in Bristol.

Only wish there was more of the knowledgable transport expert, David Henshaw. He could do his own show.

3:00 “Adequate alternative facilities”. Political double speak. The alternative they used to claim a line or station wasn’t needed was “oh, everyone will drive by car”.

Remember watching this a few years ago. Things are happening in some plsces but not fast enough ...

Its the main line - short line dilemma. I see it here also. I would love to own my own short line. Short lines supplying the mainline are important, passenger still overrides though. I love trains BTW.

Wow 👌. Very good case for reopening passenger services all over this area 👏 of the country

It took 50+ years to realise the government mistake but blanket killing the railways was a social and environmental own goal of the highest order! Mantra of government always to save money short term, never mind the implications.

The Excel X5 bus runs a 40 minute service between Portishead and Bristol!

There may well be a case for a rail service between Portishead and Bristol now, but that was not the case in the 1970s. For a few years around 1970 I commuted between Portishead and Bristol, my mode of transport a forty-year old Austin Seven with a top speed of 45mph. I could travel from home to work, door-to-door, in forty minutes, at a time to suit me. To use the railway would have required a twenty minute walk at one end, and a fifteen minute bus journey at the other, plus waiting time at the station - a minimum of 70 minutes and a very good chance of getting soaked most days. I never even considered catching a train!

Excellent video,Thank you.I could go and on about that stupid short sighted decision. Money? But at the moment this is what we are left with.I just wonder how many people leave their computer desk at home to commute in their air polluting cars, to do the same thing they could do at home, at their office desk?In the near future if all road vehicles are electrically powered we will still have the same bloody gridlocks.

They could start by reopening the S&D and Cheltenham to Southampton, opening all intermediate stations. And the Ruabon to Barmouth line. The whole of Mid-Wales does not have a train!

Poor ad placement, interrupting the narrator right in mid-sentence.

awesome video could there be a update please ?

I'm from Cali, and i find this bs! BRING BACK PASSENGER TRAINS!

It's really a shame because Britain is small enough and small width roads to make train travel still viable. It's like General Motors destroying trolleys / street cars systems to sell their buses. Now too expensive to put them back in.

we have the same thing in USA . Many gov't supported interstates & airports, the result was Amtrak which is not great. We also have many lobbyists in DC. Our railways were privately owned so no support from the gov't. We do not have buffers so where did that come from.

I don't think this broadcast was entirely fair towards Beeching, because it seems to ignore the fact that those branchlines became closed for a reason and the reason was that they couldn't cover their own operating cost due to a decline in numbers of passenger as well as the tonnage of goods moved on rail.

I wouldn't drive into Bristol. I'd find somewhere to park and cycle the last 5-10 miles. If possible that is. I used to cycle to work 6.5 miles taking 20-25 mins depending on traffic and catching lights.

What's the Portishead commute time like now, with so many people working from home?

Classic TORY cockup.

What's the track on the end credits called?

Beeching was most likely told NOT to look at the bigger picture when deciding what lines to close

Whilst rail travel remains more expensive than road travel we will not see any change. Our railways should be re-nationalised, as many other European countries have recognised, that commercial interests are not compatible with public transport.

Beeching s cuts ,the worse of which is the old Great Central even more so when HS2 is using some of the old track bed at Calvert

Since this programme was produced the connection of the west Somerset railway between Taunton and Bishops Lydeard has been restored but I have not heard of any trains going from Taunton all the way to Minehead as yet so a change at Bishops Lydeard is needed to get to Minehead!

The Beeching Report did more than decimate Britain's railways. To 'decimate' means to reduce by one-in-tem (10%) and Beeching reduced our railways by much more than that.

Thank god to the west summer set railway at least it's better by rail than road. Good old steam this proves steam is king better than the car

It would have been a joy to watch but constantly being interrupted by google adverts it became frustrating.

In the US, we ended passenger rail at an even more rapid pace, and the oil/automotive companies bought up the streetcar lines and replaced them with diesel buses. To add to the injury, the rail rights-of-way were given up, and recent attempts to restore passenger services have been very expensive because of land acquisition. There is no doubt that transport by rail is much more energy-efficient than by highway, and newer trains now are mostly electrically powered. As the move away from fossil fuels increases we're going to need those trains, and we're going to pay for the hasty closures in the past.

Put them all back ,It would be cheaper then all the road repairs they have to do on a daily basis and cut down on the traffic jams.

Thanx for posting and thanx to the BBC. Politicians .....the minister of transport in most countries has never driven a tractor/truck/train..............the minister of agriculture has never milked a cow by hand......the minister of arts and culture might get by with a D pass in music O level............Hey let's swap portfolios!..... seriously folks........people who love trains......and yes ....steam trains.......like me .....that have probably grown up in the 60's next to a marshalling yard.....or main/branch. line ......days when freight WAS moving......shunting through the night......it breaks my Northern Irish heart............and yes ...we used to have electric milk floats bringing milk to you door in glass bottles!!! . (Benny Hill? where are you?) I am very lucky to see a steam train here in Kaapstad at the Elgin Railway market when I get gigs there on Saturdays............I love it...and so do MANY other people! (the train ..not..the music!) Love ..peace and puff puff puff!

How long would it take on your bike.

When was this programme made?

The problem with these documentaries is the implication that railway closures didn’t happen until the publication of the Beeching report. Wrong- they were happening from nationalisation and throughout the 1950s and early 1960s until said report was published. The Beeching report did not start railway closures, it simply speeded them up.

perronprth in north cornwall which had 7 thru trains from paddington was closed because of beeching

USA - 1930's - Firestone, Standard Oil and GM - Purchased most of the Trolley Producing Manufacturers in the Country. Trolleys or ' Light Rail ' transported most people in the Urban/Metro Areas ( Cities ) . In 1949 Federal Courts convicted the " Three Big " of forming a Consortium to " Destroy Public Transportation " in USA; they were fined $ 5,000.00 US each. Two years later, the USA approved the Funding of Federal Highway Act to build Super Highways in USA - About $ 49,000.00 US Today. Nothing New ! Thanks & Bye.

I know this guy, I was in London and stayed at a 5* hotel,he was in the bar, I had one before sleep and he sat next to me, I left after a short conversation,headed for the lift and he came in and just stuck his tongue at my mouth, I told him the truth that I had to sleep and left,it is him, lol,there were BBC staff there.

what kind of car is the 2 seater near the beginning

MPs never change, always in it for what they can get for themselves. Its still the same today! No political will = Nothing in it for me!

In this era of "brexit" the stopping all stations to nowhere is a popular choice. Although even that is a bit to avant garde for many. They seem to feel that it is necessary to stop part way along and reverse direction periodically so that you never quite get to central nowhere. You remain in the outer suburbs of it.

Well, between missing trains and congesting cars there always fit busses...

The UK is tiny and could fit inside the Canadian province of Ontario 4x over yet is has a population 4.5 times greater. It should be crisscrossed with efficient high-speed rail, why it's not is sheer madness and incompetence.

At 8'40'' she drives across the Menai suspension bridge - Telford's famous masterpiece, built in 1826 and the first significant railway bridge ever built. No wonder the cars are bumper to bumper - it was never designed for this sort of thing. If you are going to use the old rail alignment for bikes (and you should) then build a 4 lane road bridge elsewhere and use the old bridge for bikes - a great tourist attraction.

Beeching did not close the railways it was Marples who did that

Only just come across this video... and the reopening is underway, with construction expected to start in october 2024

Cutting down road traffic accidents and pollution seems reasonable to me

If it wasn't for Beeching we would have far less open spaces for cycling and leisure. So not all bad.

Why was this uploaded anew? It had been up before o_O

Read up on Marples, what his agenda was, and even more importantly,what became of him.He was the real villain,and big time.

Please: RAILWAY tracks. I'm actually British, and even for me to hear the Americanism "Train Station" is like squealing chalk on a blackboard.

we invented railways, we have destroyed our invention