{"id":5836,"date":"2023-03-29T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/?p=5836"},"modified":"2023-03-24T16:45:20","modified_gmt":"2023-03-24T16:45:20","slug":"beeching-60","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/?p=5836","title":{"rendered":"Beeching @ 60"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Something different this week as we are otherwise engaged in stuff we&#8217;ll tell you about in a future blog entry. A few weeks ago we promised to have a look at a pivotal event which happened sixty years ago in March 1963:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Reshaping of British Railways 1963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PlQnqNWsnFI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Reshaping of British Railways &#8211; 1963<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On Wednesday 27<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;March 1963 Dr. Richard Beeching, the Chairman of the British Railways Board (BRB), gave a news conference on his report on the future of Britain\u2019s railways. Available from Her Majesty\u2019s Stationery Office for one shilling the report entitled \u201cThe Reshaping of British Railways\u201d was to have a profound effect on public transport in the UK. The idea that Beeching started the mass closures, is of course, a false one as since 1948 approximately 3,000 miles of track had already been closed prior to 1963 as the railways depleted the Treasury. The 1955 \u201cModernisation and Re-equipment of British Railways\u201d plan was an attempt at dragging the railways into a new era, and indeed was still ongoing \u2013 for example the rebuilding of Euston station was in progress and would not be completed until 1968 &#8211; but lack of central government finance and a lack of a coherent policy over locomotive types being introduced resulted in money being wasted while modern steam locomotive designs, some only five years old, were being scrapped. By 1961, British Railways carried an \u00a387 million annual working deficit. The Conservative Minister of Transport, Ernest Marples appointed Beeching after being impressed with his ideas for drastically reducing the rail system. In 1948, Marples and engineer Reginald Ridgway founded Marples Ridgway and Partners, a civil engineering company. During Marples time as Minister of Transport, construction contracts were awarded to Marples Ridgway, for example the Chiswick and Hammersmith flyovers in London, various national motorway projects as well as dams and power stations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is now commonly known as \u201cThe Beeching Report\u201d, the reshaping of British railways recommended the closure of 5,000 railway route miles and the closure of approximately a third of all stations. These numbers were arrived at and supported by 148 pages of statistics and analysis. It\u2019s sobering to see that tucked away on page ten is an admission that the statistics were the result of \u201ctraffic surveys, which were made in great detail, extended over only one week, the week ending 23<sup>rd<\/sup>&nbsp;April 1961, because it was impossible to continue the massive recording effort involved for a longer period\u201d. According to these figures a third of all railway mileage carried only one percent of passenger and freight traffic. There was little consideration shown to any seasonal variations which might occur across the network.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A change in government in October 1964 did not see a reprieve to the cuts, despite Labour\u2019s pledge to halt the closures if elected. Tom Fraser, the Labour Minister of Transport who has been described as \u201cdeterminedly road-biased\u201d, sent a memo to new Prime Minister Harold Wilson saying he had been advised he had no statutory power to stop any closures. &nbsp;Even with pro-public transport Barbara Castle succeeding Fraser as Minister of Transport the cuts continued and although approving less individual proposals for closure the overall route mileage axed in 1966 exceeded that of the previous year. It was not until the mid-1970\u2019s &#8211; under a Conservative government, but with Castle\u2019s successor as Transport Secretary, Richard Marsh, in place as the Chair of British Rail &#8211; when the rail network settled to more or less how it looks today. Some routes and stations have been reopened in more recent times, but the speed of destruction resulting from the Beeching report means that for many viable routes, the trackbed infrastructure has been lost and built over.&nbsp; In total, 4,500 route miles, 2,500 stations and 67,700 jobs were lost. However, things could have been so much worse, as in a second report, published in February 1965, Beeching recommended the closure of another 4,500 railway miles. These plans were firmly rejected by the Labour government of the day and three months later Beeching resigned as Chairman of the British Railways Board and returned to his job at ICI from whence he had been seconded into his role with the BRB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Beeching\u2019s name will be forever associated with railway closures of the 1960\u2019s and 1970\u2019s (even those which he had not suggested for closure, such as the Swanage Branch), however some of his more positive implementations such as merry-go-round trains and container traffic helped forge modern freight workings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a number of routes and stations in Dorset and surrounding counties which became casualties to the \u201cBeeching Axe\u201d (I am contractually obliged to use that term), but some, such as stations between Castle Cary and Dorchester West survived despite being listed in the 1963 report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yeovil Town to Taunton \u2013 Closed 15<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;June 1964<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The single track railway from Taunton to Yeovil was originally built as a broad gauge line by the Bristol &amp; Exeter Railway and opened on 1<sup>st<\/sup>&nbsp;October 1853, leaving the B&amp;ER&#8217;s main line north of Taunton at Durston Junction the line struck off in a south easterly direction across the Somerset Levels through Athelney, Langport, Martock and Montacute before ending at the Hendford terminus to the west of Yeovil. The following year it was extended to the Wilts, Somerset &amp; Weymouth Railway&#8217;s station at Pen Mill. After the standard gauge Salisbury &amp; Yeovil Railway reached Yeovil from Yeovil Junction a new joint station, Yeovil Town, was opened on 1<sup>st<\/sup>&nbsp;June 1861 and the B&amp;ER&#8217;s Hendford station became a goods depot. Dual gauge track was laid between Bridgwater and Yeovil in 1867 with the broad gauge being dispensed with in 1879. The northern end of the line between Athelney and Langport was incorporated in the Great Western Railway\u2019s (GWR) new cut-off between Castle Cary and Taunton which opened in 1905 &#8211; however this main line took a shorter route from Athelney to a new flyover junction at Cogload, north of Taunton. Trains to Yeovil continued to use the original route from Durston Junction until closure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following closure the double track section between Athelney and Langport remained open between Castle Cary and Taunton via Cogload Junction. The trackbed between the A303, southeast of Martock, and the outskirts of Yeovil was subsequently built over for the A3088 road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Axminster to Lyme Regis \u2013 Closed 29<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;November 1965<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The railway arrived in Lyme Regis on 24<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;August 1903 as a branch line from Axminster on the London &amp; South Western Railway&#8217;s Yeovil to Exeter main line. The steeply graded and winding line had one main engineering feature, the ten-arch viaduct at Cannington, and one intermediate station at Combpyne an East Devon hamlet. Lyme Regis station itself was situated on a steep hill, 250 ft above sea level, requiring an arduous \u00be-mile walk up from the town centre. Attempts to reopen part of the line in 1970 came to nothing. Cannington Viaduct is the only reminder of this railway, the station building at Lyme Regis being dismantled and rebuilt at Alresford on the Mid-Hants Railway in Hampshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bath Green Park to Bournemouth Central \u2013 Closed 7<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;March 1968<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Somerset &amp; Dorset Railway was formed in 1862 when the Somerset Central Railway and the Dorset Central Railway merged.\u00a0By the following year, it ran from Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset to Wimborne, from where S&amp;D trains could use a line owned by the London &amp; South Western Railway to Hamworthy. Building the railway was a costly endeavour, the\u00a0route north to Bath financially exhausted\u00a0\u00a0the\u00a0Somerset &amp; Dorset\u00a0and in 1875 the line came under the ownership of the Midland Railway (MR) and the LSWR and renamed the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&amp;DJR).\u00a0\u00a0The opening of the Corfe Mullen Junction to Broadstone line in 1885 reduced journey times for trains destined for Poole and Bournemouth. Increased traffic soon led to the doubling of the single line between Blandford and Corfe Mullen and between Midford and Templecombe. Following the Nationalisation of the UK railways in 1948, the S&amp;DJR\u2019s joint status meant it did not fit easily into any one of the three British railway\u2019s regions which it covered geographically. Initially becoming part of BR Southern region, in January 1950 the northern section of the route fell under the auspices of BR Western Region. Train services were reduced and through ticketing to other parts of the country were withdrawn. It was quite clear BR wanted rid of the line and it was inevitably listed for closure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today Bath Green Park station with its overall roof survives as a car park and covered space for market stalls. South of Bath a cycleway utilises Devonshire Tunnel, Combe Down Tunnel and across Tucking Mill Viaduct and Midford Viaduct. Midsomer Norton station has been restored by the Somerset &amp; Dorset Railway Heritage Trust who are also relaying track southwards towards Masbury. The 27-arch Charlton Viaduct now forms a backdrop to Kilver Court Gardens in Shepton Mallet. At Yentson, two miles south of Templecombe, the 2ft gauge Gartell Light Railway runs along part of the old trackbed. At Shillingstone the station has been restored and is open to the public as part of The North Dorset Railway whose ambition is to run trains between Sturminster Newton and Stourpaine and Durweston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yeovil Town to Yeovil Junction \u2013 Closed 3<sup>rd<\/sup>&nbsp;October 1966<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The LSWR supported Salisbury &amp; Yeovil Railway reached Yeovil Junction in 1860. The Exeter &amp; Yeovil Railway, also backed by the LSWR, was opened from Yeovil Junction to Exeter later that same year. However, the junction station was some distance from the town of Yeovil which was already served by trains at Pen Mill station. To link Yeovil Junction with the town a 1\u00be mile spur was opened via the Wilts, Somerset &amp; Weymouth&#8217;s line to a new joint station at Yeovil Town, on 1<sup>st<\/sup>&nbsp;June 1861. The Exeter &amp; Yeovil located its engine shed here remaining in use until June 1965. A turntable was installed at Yeovil Junction and this survives in working order today as part of the Yeovil Railway Centre. In the 1960\u2019s, under BR Western Region management, a regular steam auto train service connected Junction station with Town station until it was replaced by a four-wheel diesel railbus on 28<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;December 1965. The spur from Junction station to Town station was closed to passengers on 3rd October 1966. The spur from Junction down to Pen Mill on the Castle Cary to Weymouth line remains open and is used a diversionary route to and from the West Country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maiden Newton to Bridport \u2013 Closed 5<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;May 1975<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This broad gauge branch line was opened by the Bridport Railway running from Maiden Newton, on the Great Western Railway&#8217;s newly-opened line from Castle Cary to Dorchester, on 12th November 1857. Worked from the outset by the GWR, the 9\u00bc-mile branch was converted to standard gauge in 1871 and, in 1884, extended a further two miles from Bridport station to Bridport Harbour, the latter being renamed West Bay. The extension was never a success as West Bay never developed as a hoped for seaside resort and was closed to passengers on 22nd September 1930,&nbsp; remaining open for goods traffic until the end of 1962 with the track being lifted in 1965. Despite the line being listed in the 1963 \u201cBeeching Report\u201d, its actual end was a protracted affair, the line was one of the last of Beeching&#8217;s proposed closures to take place. Goods services ceased in 1965 when steam traction was replaced by a diesel multiple units. Following closure in 1975, the track was swiftly removed and was gone by the end of the same year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Parts of the trackbed form a footpath and cycleway. Maiden Newton station is still open and Dorset Council is currently in talks with the Railway Heritage Trust over plans for its renovation. Toller station was reconstructed at the South Devon Railway&#8217;s Totnes station. Powerstock station is a private residence. Part of Bridport station was removed to the Beer Heights Light Railway at Pecorama, while West Bay station has been restored and in use as The Station Kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brockenhurst to Broadstone \u2013 Closed 4<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;May 1964<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Southampton &amp; Dorchester Railway was part of a plan to build a main line along the south coast from Southampton to Exeter. Promoted by a Wimborne Solicitor, Mr Castleman, from whom the lines nickname; Castleman\u2019s Corkscrew derives, the roundabout route of the single track line had opened from Southampton to Dorchester across the New Forest via Brockenhurst, Ringwood, Wimborne and Broadstone in 1847. The railway was taken over by the LSWR in 1848. A more direct line from Brockenhurst to Hamworthy Junction via Christchurch, Bournemouth and Poole opened in 1888 and the 25 mile Castleman\u2019s Corkscrew was relegated to a secondary route and diversionary path on Summer Saturdays when it was used by Weymouth and Swanage bound trains bypassing ever congested Bournemouth. The western end of the line as far as West Moors was also used by Salisbury to Bournemouth trains. Freight trains continued to reach Ringwood from Broadstone until 1967 after which West Moors became the railhead until the 1970\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, much of Castleman&#8217;s Corkscrew can be enjoyed on foot, bicycle or horse. Holmsley station is now in use as a tea room, the trackbed for a mile east of here is now a road. To the west of Ringwood the 16\u00bd mile Castleman Trailway follows the trackbed to Upton Country Park near Hamworthy. One mile west of Ringwood the BR Southern Region concrete platform and nameboard still survive at Ashley Heath station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Salisbury (Alderbury Junction) to West Moors \u2013 Closed 4<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;May 1964<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Worked from the outset by the LSWR, the 19 mile Salisbury &amp; Dorset Junction Railway opened from Alderbury Junction, on the Salisbury to Romsey line, to West Moors, on Castleman&#8217;s Corkscrew on 20<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;December 1866. Running for most of its length along the valley of the River Avon, the single-track line led a fairly quiet existence although on summer Saturdays it was a useful route for holiday trains and as late as 1963 it was being used by such trains originating from Cardiff, Nottingham and Swansea. The end came on 4th May 1964, the same day as Castleman&#8217;s Corkscrew closed. The track had been lifted by 1965. The station building at Breamore survives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other Dorset railway lines closed which were not part of the Beeching Plan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wareham to Swanage \u2013 Closed 1<sup>st<\/sup>\u00a0January 1972<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Upwey Junction to Abbotsbury \u2013 Closed 29<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0November 1952<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ringwood to Christchurch \u2013 Closed 30<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;September 1935<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think some of the cuts made were short sighted, for example the line from Poole to Wimborne would be a valuable commuter link today as housing in the area has increased considerably since the 1960&#8217;s. At the very least there should have been some kind of moratorium period where the track was left in situ, or even just the trackbed protected from being built upon should future generations want to restore closed lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks for reading &#8211; we&#8217;ll be back with our usual round up of local happenings next week, including Class 68&#8217;s to Winfrith, BR Standard Class 7 No. 70000 &#8216;Britannia&#8217; heading to the seaside and the Swanage Steam Gala. Take care!  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Something different this week as we are otherwise engaged in stuff we&#8217;ll tell you about in a future blog entry. A few weeks ago we promised to have a look at a pivotal event which happened sixty years ago in March 1963: On Wednesday 27th&nbsp;March 1963 Dr. Richard Beeching, the Chairman of the British Railways [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[197,3],"tags":[196,6,14],"class_list":["post-5836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beeching","category-railways","tag-beeching","tag-railways","tag-uk-railways"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5836"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5839,"href":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5836\/revisions\/5839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}