1
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,980
Once Britain was
proud of its trains.

2
00:00:14,300 --> 00:00:18,540
The country had the first and
greatest rail network in the world.

3
00:00:22,300 --> 00:00:29,100
You could travel between cities,
towns and villages in
comfort and style.

4
00:00:29,100 --> 00:00:33,100
But then, something changed.

5
00:00:33,100 --> 00:00:38,620
In 1961, a certain Dr Beeching
was hired by the Government

6
00:00:38,620 --> 00:00:41,660
to write a report on the future
of Britain's railways.

7
00:00:45,260 --> 00:00:50,140
He recommended closing a third
of the network, shutting down

8
00:00:50,140 --> 00:00:55,020
thousands of stations and tearing
up miles and miles of track.

9
00:00:58,100 --> 00:01:01,700
Beeching became one of the most
reviled men in the country.

10
00:01:04,300 --> 00:01:08,220
I just felt it was wrong to close
our railway.

11
00:01:08,220 --> 00:01:11,700
You get men in grey suits sitting
in far-off offices

12
00:01:11,700 --> 00:01:14,500
and they look
at a map and they use a pin.

13
00:01:14,500 --> 00:01:16,580
And they haven't a
clue about the area.

14
00:01:18,180 --> 00:01:21,660
Resistance was futile.

15
00:01:21,660 --> 00:01:24,540
This was the gospel.
This is what had to happen.

16
00:01:24,540 --> 00:01:26,900
This was what we had to accept.

17
00:01:28,460 --> 00:01:30,700
In the wake of Dr Beeching's cuts,

18
00:01:30,700 --> 00:01:36,060
Britain became a country of
ghost lines and phantom platforms.

19
00:01:36,060 --> 00:01:41,220
Many saw it as a devastating
assault on both our industrial
and cultural heritage.

20
00:01:41,220 --> 00:01:46,060
Many more felt it was a
body blow to ordinary rail
passengers throughout the land.

21
00:01:46,060 --> 00:01:49,580
Now, over 40 years later,
I'm looking back to see

22
00:01:49,580 --> 00:01:54,300
why Dr Beeching became enshrined in
British folklore as the mad axe man.

23
00:01:56,020 --> 00:02:00,660
And I'm asking whether Beeching's
actions were a necessary evil...

24
00:02:00,660 --> 00:02:04,860
or one of the great acts of
vandalism of the 20th century.

25
00:02:27,260 --> 00:02:31,740
Every day in Britain over three
million people take the train.

26
00:02:39,660 --> 00:02:42,540
I'm one of them.
And I love the railway!

27
00:02:44,500 --> 00:02:48,900
I like the train because
you can sit down,
read, look out the window...

28
00:02:48,900 --> 00:02:53,060
Except when there aren't any
seats and the only thing you can
read is your overpriced ticket,

29
00:02:53,060 --> 00:02:57,180
and if you look out the window
you'll realise the train
hasn't moved for over two hours.

30
00:02:57,180 --> 00:02:58,740
Still, it's quicker by train.

31
00:02:58,740 --> 00:02:59,740
Except when it isn't.

32
00:03:07,700 --> 00:03:12,180
Train travel today undoubtedly
lacks romance.

33
00:03:12,180 --> 00:03:16,500
And I've always wondered
whether Dr Beeching is to blame.

34
00:03:20,700 --> 00:03:26,660
When he closed so many
lines and stations,
did he extract the network's soul?

35
00:03:26,660 --> 00:03:30,460
Was that the start
of our railways' decline?

36
00:03:30,460 --> 00:03:35,020
I'm sure it was so much better
in the old days.

37
00:03:41,300 --> 00:03:45,700
"Unmitigated England came swinging
down the line,

38
00:03:45,700 --> 00:03:51,220
"that day the February
sun did crisp and crystal shine.

39
00:03:51,220 --> 00:03:55,220
"A village street, a manor house,
a church, then, tally ho!

40
00:03:55,220 --> 00:03:58,700
"We pounded through a housing
scheme with telly masts a-row.

41
00:03:58,700 --> 00:04:03,620
"Where cars of parked executives did
regimented wait

42
00:04:03,620 --> 00:04:08,100
"beside administrative
blocks within the factory gate."

43
00:04:16,140 --> 00:04:21,020
The poet, John Betjeman, was a
huge fan of British railways
and the joy of trains.

44
00:04:21,020 --> 00:04:26,140
He also had a keen appreciation
of their unique contribution
to the fabric of our national life.

45
00:04:28,540 --> 00:04:33,580
From the view out of a
first-class carriage to the unique
charm of a village station,

46
00:04:33,580 --> 00:04:35,460
Betjeman eulogised train travel.

47
00:04:38,100 --> 00:04:43,380
I can think of few
pleasanter places to hang about
in on a sunny afternoon like this

48
00:04:43,380 --> 00:04:45,460
than Snettisham Station.

49
00:04:48,500 --> 00:04:54,100
But Betjeman's idyllic vision
was not shared by everyone.

50
00:04:54,100 --> 00:04:58,260
In fact, many passengers
found plenty to complain about.

51
00:04:58,260 --> 00:05:01,100
Trains seem to be late
for no reason whatever.

52
00:05:01,100 --> 00:05:03,020
What about the stations?

53
00:05:03,020 --> 00:05:05,300
Well, they could be a lot better.

54
00:05:05,300 --> 00:05:09,060
This is a shocking place really,
Fenchurch Street, really terrible.

55
00:05:09,060 --> 00:05:13,860
Look at the carriages,
they're absolutely disgusting.

56
00:05:13,860 --> 00:05:18,220
We never know why we're late, they
never tell us. Do you feel angry?

57
00:05:18,220 --> 00:05:24,820
I do. We wouldn't mind so much
if fares hadn't been put up
so many times.

58
00:05:24,820 --> 00:05:26,700
Anything to say
about the railways? Shocking!

59
00:05:28,340 --> 00:05:32,740
The reality of train travel
in the 1950s and early 1960s

60
00:05:32,740 --> 00:05:36,140
was that it wasn't that
different from train travel today.

61
00:05:36,140 --> 00:05:41,900
Even back then, complaints about
high fares and low quality of
service were par for the course.

62
00:05:44,180 --> 00:05:48,620
The down at heel railway with its
shabby stations was not in keeping

63
00:05:48,620 --> 00:05:52,140
with the Government's vision
for modern Britain.

64
00:05:52,140 --> 00:05:55,420
Here then is the design
for living of the future.

65
00:05:55,420 --> 00:05:57,620
A town planned down
to the last nail.

66
00:05:57,620 --> 00:06:02,780
Planned to be lived in
and enjoyed by 80,000
of the citizens of tomorrow.

67
00:06:06,620 --> 00:06:10,860
The country had finally emerged
from years of post-war austerity.

68
00:06:12,460 --> 00:06:18,340
People wanted to get rid of the old
and embrace all that was shiny,
streamlined and convenient.

69
00:06:20,900 --> 00:06:23,420
The Government was keen to
capitalise on this mood

70
00:06:23,420 --> 00:06:27,700
and forge a dynamic,
modern nation

71
00:06:27,700 --> 00:06:31,780
with a dynamic
modern railway service.

72
00:06:35,340 --> 00:06:37,540
But stations makeovers were trivial

73
00:06:37,540 --> 00:06:42,140
compared to the real changes
that had to be made.

74
00:06:42,140 --> 00:06:46,260
The railways' finances
were in meltdown.

75
00:06:46,260 --> 00:06:49,820
They'd been losing money for years,

76
00:06:49,820 --> 00:06:54,420
and by 1961 were in debt to the
colossal sum of £136 million.

77
00:06:58,220 --> 00:07:04,340
As a nationalised industry,
this overspend was a huge
headache for the Government.

78
00:07:04,340 --> 00:07:10,340
Conservative Prime Minister
Harold Macmillan was determined
the situation must alter.

79
00:07:11,900 --> 00:07:17,940
He wanted the railways to run like
a business and pay for themselves.

80
00:07:17,940 --> 00:07:21,380
It was thought only an outsider
from the railways could deliver this

81
00:07:21,380 --> 00:07:24,020
so the job was offered
to a captain of industry,

82
00:07:24,020 --> 00:07:29,300
steeped in the values of
the hard-nosed, commercial world.

83
00:07:29,300 --> 00:07:36,860
# Cos he gets up in the morning
and he goes to work at 9

84
00:07:36,860 --> 00:07:41,140
# And he comes back home at 5.30
Gets the same train... #

85
00:07:41,140 --> 00:07:45,140
Dr Richard Beeching had a
PhD in physics and was considered

86
00:07:45,140 --> 00:07:49,020
one of the most brilliant
business brains in the country.

87
00:07:49,020 --> 00:07:53,620
# And he's oh so good
And he's oh so fine... #

88
00:07:53,620 --> 00:07:57,580
By the age 43
he'd risen to the board

89
00:07:57,580 --> 00:08:00,580
of one of
Britain's top companies, ICI.

90
00:08:03,740 --> 00:08:08,980
Now he was made Chairman of
the British Railways Board.

91
00:08:08,980 --> 00:08:12,460
Beeching was exactly the right
man for taking on the job

92
00:08:12,460 --> 00:08:14,180
of turning around
the railways' finances,

93
00:08:14,180 --> 00:08:16,740
largely because
he had the right image.

94
00:08:16,740 --> 00:08:21,380
It was a time when politicians
believed you needed technocrats,

95
00:08:21,380 --> 00:08:24,980
experts, people who were doctors
to solve these sorts of problems.

96
00:08:26,740 --> 00:08:30,860
Nowadays we're not surprised
to hear of a manager from
a private industry

97
00:08:30,860 --> 00:08:33,260
parachuted into an
ailing public company.

98
00:08:33,260 --> 00:08:35,660
But in the 1960s it was rare.

99
00:08:35,660 --> 00:08:38,540
People couldn't understand what
someone from the chemical industry

100
00:08:38,540 --> 00:08:40,900
could possibly do for the railways.

101
00:08:40,900 --> 00:08:42,700
The Mirror was pretty sneery.

102
00:08:42,700 --> 00:08:47,820
"Last night Dr Breeching sat in
his spacious office at ICI
headquarters in London,

103
00:08:47,820 --> 00:08:49,980
"and admitted with a bland smile,

104
00:08:49,980 --> 00:08:54,260
"No, I have no experience
of railways, except as a passenger.

105
00:08:54,260 --> 00:08:58,700
"So I am not a practical railwayman
but I am a very practical man."

106
00:08:58,700 --> 00:09:01,340
To demonstrate this practicality,

107
00:09:01,340 --> 00:09:06,980
Beeching first insisted the
Government match his ICI salary.

108
00:09:06,980 --> 00:09:10,500
# The best things in life are free

109
00:09:10,500 --> 00:09:13,460
# But you can give them
to the birds and bees

110
00:09:13,460 --> 00:09:14,900
# I need money... #

111
00:09:14,900 --> 00:09:18,540
Do you think that perhaps
public service should in itself

112
00:09:18,540 --> 00:09:22,140
be regarded as part of the reward
for a job of your sort?

113
00:09:22,140 --> 00:09:24,900
I don't think so under
circumstances such as these.

114
00:09:24,900 --> 00:09:28,740
This really is a straightforward
industrial job.

115
00:09:32,140 --> 00:09:36,340
Beeching's salary made
the Mirror's front page.

116
00:09:36,340 --> 00:09:39,460
"A New Rail Boss at £24,000"

117
00:09:39,460 --> 00:09:45,380
And £24,000 was an
unprecedented amount of money
to give a public servant,

118
00:09:45,380 --> 00:09:50,820
particularly when, as the Mirror
points out, the Prime Minister
was only making 10,000 a year.

119
00:09:52,940 --> 00:09:59,660
Impervious to criticism,
Beeching set out to save the
railways from insolvency.

120
00:09:59,660 --> 00:10:01,860
It will be possible
to make them pay.

121
00:10:01,860 --> 00:10:04,940
I think it's most important
that they should be made to pay.

122
00:10:04,940 --> 00:10:09,340
I think there can be no satisfactory
future for the railways

123
00:10:09,340 --> 00:10:11,580
unless they are made to pay.

124
00:10:14,540 --> 00:10:21,020
Beeching inherited an industry
that had barely developed
since the 1900s.

125
00:10:21,020 --> 00:10:25,260
He now faced an enormous challenge
to correct more than a century

126
00:10:25,260 --> 00:10:29,700
of inefficiency engrained in the
network from its very start.

127
00:10:36,740 --> 00:10:41,620
The system had evolved without
a plan, built by railway barons

128
00:10:41,620 --> 00:10:44,460
whose overriding concern
was making a quick buck.

129
00:10:47,900 --> 00:10:51,420
Even if that meant duplicating
lines or constructing routes

130
00:10:51,420 --> 00:10:54,060
that were
unsustainable in the long term.

131
00:10:55,900 --> 00:10:59,820
Public service was usually
the last thing on their minds.

132
00:11:01,540 --> 00:11:04,380
Trains were designed for profit.

133
00:11:07,140 --> 00:11:14,020
Passenger travel had been a luxury,
but then the general public
fell in love with trains too.

134
00:11:14,020 --> 00:11:16,780
They wanted to
travel on them as well.

135
00:11:16,780 --> 00:11:23,700
And an Act of Parliament in 1844
forced companies to offer
cheap fares for all.

136
00:11:23,700 --> 00:11:28,500
Every company had to provide a
service on every line that would

137
00:11:28,500 --> 00:11:35,260
cost no more than an old penny
a mile and run at least at 12mph.

138
00:11:35,260 --> 00:11:40,180
Some of them were a bit naughty
and they'd run their trains at 6am
and they were pretty unpopular.

139
00:11:40,180 --> 00:11:44,100
But most took advantage of this
and it opened up the railways
to the masses.

140
00:11:45,780 --> 00:11:49,820
This is when the British love
affair with the train really began.

141
00:11:49,820 --> 00:11:56,180
Rail travel was now seen as a
democratic, even God-given right,
and it was enshrined in law.

142
00:11:56,180 --> 00:11:58,060
All very noble.

143
00:11:58,060 --> 00:12:02,060
But the stark economic truth
was that moving people
around the country

144
00:12:02,060 --> 00:12:05,500
was secondary
to the real business of rail.

145
00:12:05,500 --> 00:12:08,620
This was what the railways
were originally about.

146
00:12:08,620 --> 00:12:11,660
From raw materials
like coal or iron ore

147
00:12:11,660 --> 00:12:13,700
to manufactured goods
and livestock,

148
00:12:13,700 --> 00:12:18,420
what the railways were designed
to do first was carry freight.

149
00:12:18,420 --> 00:12:21,860
Trains literally drove
the Industrial Revolution.

150
00:12:21,860 --> 00:12:26,940
And the prospect of thousands of
freight wagons, full to bursting,
travelling up and down the country,

151
00:12:26,940 --> 00:12:29,900
that's what excited the
early railway entrepreneurs.

152
00:12:29,900 --> 00:12:32,100
That's where the money was.

153
00:12:36,220 --> 00:12:41,540
By the early 1850s, there was an
astonishing 5,000 miles of railway

154
00:12:41,540 --> 00:12:45,140
criss-crossing the country,
owned by dozens of companies.

155
00:12:45,140 --> 00:12:48,740
And this hectic growth
showed no signs of stopping.

156
00:12:53,180 --> 00:12:57,380
A century before Dr Beeching,
some people thought the unchecked

157
00:12:57,380 --> 00:13:00,700
expansion of the railways
would end in disaster.

158
00:13:02,260 --> 00:13:06,380
"Railways have set all the
towns of Britain a-dancing.

159
00:13:06,380 --> 00:13:08,500
"Reading is coming up to London,

160
00:13:08,500 --> 00:13:12,340
"Basingstoke is going down
to Gosport or Southampton,

161
00:13:12,340 --> 00:13:15,020
"confusedly waltzing in a state
of progressive dissolution,

162
00:13:15,020 --> 00:13:19,260
"and know not where the end of
the death-dance will be for them."

163
00:13:23,580 --> 00:13:29,300
It wasn't just Carlyle who had an
apocalyptic view of the railways.

164
00:13:29,300 --> 00:13:33,300
Although they later came to define
the British landscape,

165
00:13:33,300 --> 00:13:38,420
for many 19th century NIMBYs,
trains signalled the
death of the countryside.

166
00:13:40,700 --> 00:13:45,300
This line through the Severn Valley
is now a popular tourist attraction.

167
00:13:45,300 --> 00:13:50,340
But, in 1849, when plans were drawn
up, there were local objections.

168
00:13:50,340 --> 00:13:54,460
One landowner, Mr Thomas Charlton
Whitmore of Apley Park,

169
00:13:54,460 --> 00:13:59,220
insisted that the railway enter
a tunnel when it went
through his estate,

170
00:13:59,220 --> 00:14:02,100
so the view
from his house would be preserved.

171
00:14:02,100 --> 00:14:06,220
A sizeable offer of compensation
from the railways changed his mind.

172
00:14:06,220 --> 00:14:10,100
And in a stunning volte face,
he then started cutting down trees

173
00:14:10,100 --> 00:14:13,340
so he would get
a better view of passing trains.

174
00:14:15,060 --> 00:14:19,020
Railways, though rooted in
the world of money and commerce,

175
00:14:19,020 --> 00:14:23,340
were fast becoming works of art
in their own right.

176
00:14:23,340 --> 00:14:24,900
Railways were considered not just

177
00:14:24,900 --> 00:14:27,100
one of the highest forms
of modern technology,

178
00:14:27,100 --> 00:14:29,860
but they were part of a new
shaping of the British landscape.

179
00:14:29,860 --> 00:14:36,340
You can see the sheer
thrill and enjoyment that architects
had in designing stations.

180
00:14:36,340 --> 00:14:39,460
They could let rip, they designed
buildings that were a combination of

181
00:14:39,460 --> 00:14:43,460
Greek temples mixed with railways,
they could be Gothic cathedrals,

182
00:14:43,460 --> 00:14:45,500
they could be fortresses,

183
00:14:45,500 --> 00:14:48,220
and they were the most magnificent,
thrilling, exciting things.

184
00:14:49,820 --> 00:14:53,940
This chaotic, commercial venture
had become part and parcel

185
00:14:53,940 --> 00:14:56,820
of the way Victorians
imagined themselves,

186
00:14:56,820 --> 00:15:00,540
and still influences how we
see ourselves as Britons today.

187
00:15:00,540 --> 00:15:04,180
And as the extent and popularity
of trains grew,

188
00:15:04,180 --> 00:15:08,260
rail travel even became
the subject of an etiquette guide.

189
00:15:08,260 --> 00:15:11,020
One that's still pretty useful now.

190
00:15:14,100 --> 00:15:19,380
"The placing of a coat, a book,
a newspaper, or any other article,

191
00:15:19,380 --> 00:15:21,780
"on the seat of a carriage,

192
00:15:21,780 --> 00:15:25,340
"is intended as a token
that such a place is engaged."

193
00:15:35,420 --> 00:15:39,140
"To prevent the vibration of the
carriages to the arms and book,

194
00:15:39,140 --> 00:15:41,100
"do not rest the elbows,

195
00:15:41,100 --> 00:15:47,020
"but hold the book or paper
in both hands,
and support it by muscular power.

196
00:15:50,260 --> 00:15:54,860
"Keep a sharp look out to prevent
being carried beyond your station.

197
00:15:56,780 --> 00:16:02,900
"The guards sometimes call out
the name, but in such
curious and varied dialect

198
00:16:02,900 --> 00:16:06,020
"that it is next to impossible
to gather their meaning."

199
00:16:06,020 --> 00:16:08,340
MUFFLED VOICE

200
00:16:20,540 --> 00:16:26,980
By the start of the 20th century,
a country only 600 miles long

201
00:16:26,980 --> 00:16:30,580
had 18,500 miles of railway.

202
00:16:30,580 --> 00:16:34,380
With such a huge profusion of
different companies and lines,

203
00:16:34,380 --> 00:16:37,980
the system was complicated
almost beyond comprehension.

204
00:16:37,980 --> 00:16:41,780
But miraculously, it all worked!

205
00:16:43,420 --> 00:16:47,740
If Dr Beeching had been compiling
his report in the early 1900s,

206
00:16:47,740 --> 00:16:50,340
he'd have found the
railways in fine form.

207
00:16:50,340 --> 00:16:55,220
Most lines were delivering
a greater profit than ever
before or since,

208
00:16:55,220 --> 00:16:57,660
especially on the
long distance routes.

209
00:16:57,660 --> 00:17:00,700
Companies were actually investing
in freight services

210
00:17:00,700 --> 00:17:04,300
and in passenger trains,
putting in better seating,

211
00:17:04,300 --> 00:17:10,980
lighting, toilets -
all designed to deliver
the enjoyable travelling experience.

212
00:17:12,660 --> 00:17:15,140
The golden age of Britain's railways

213
00:17:15,140 --> 00:17:20,300
was somewhere between 1890 and
the outbreak of the First World War.

214
00:17:20,300 --> 00:17:23,460
That's when the railways are at
their greatest extent physically,

215
00:17:23,460 --> 00:17:28,060
that's where they've got
the greatest amount of fresh
interesting, intelligent talent.

216
00:17:28,060 --> 00:17:31,580
They've been going long enough
to have a routine and rhythm

217
00:17:31,580 --> 00:17:36,140
and they look absolutely
sensationally wonderful in every way.

218
00:17:36,140 --> 00:17:40,500
# Oh, Mr porter, what shall I do?

219
00:17:40,500 --> 00:17:43,100
# I want to go to Birmingham

220
00:17:43,100 --> 00:17:45,380
# And they're taking me
on to Crewe.. #

221
00:17:45,380 --> 00:17:49,340
The democratic idea
of a national railway

222
00:17:49,340 --> 00:17:52,660
expanded immensely
during the Edwardian era.

223
00:17:56,220 --> 00:17:58,620
From upper class
days-trips to the city,

224
00:17:58,620 --> 00:18:04,220
to working class excursions to the
seaside, the way to go was by rail.

225
00:18:10,300 --> 00:18:15,860
People's passion for train
travel continued
well into the 20th century,

226
00:18:15,860 --> 00:18:21,500
stoked by advertisements
for the alluring places
you could escape to by train.

227
00:18:25,420 --> 00:18:31,340
Meanwhile, newsreels
extolled the excellence of
British locomotive engineering.

228
00:18:31,340 --> 00:18:35,020
The Silver Jubilee Express,
a new streamlined train,
makes a trial run

229
00:18:35,020 --> 00:18:38,900
before starting on a regular service
between London and Newcastle,

230
00:18:38,900 --> 00:18:42,020
and attains the amazing speed
of 112 mph.

231
00:18:42,020 --> 00:18:44,820
It remains so steady that one
can read without any difficulty.

232
00:18:47,020 --> 00:18:51,380
The Silver Jubilee is
playing its part in keeping up
the prestige of British Railways.

233
00:18:53,220 --> 00:18:54,940
Throughout the 1930s,

234
00:18:54,940 --> 00:19:00,260
British steam trains
were smashing international
records. It looked wonderful.

235
00:19:00,260 --> 00:19:04,620
It looked like progress. But sadly,
it was exactly the opposite.

236
00:19:04,620 --> 00:19:08,620
While we were still in love with
steam, other countries were already

237
00:19:08,620 --> 00:19:14,460
heavily investing in really
modern technologies like high-speed
diesel and electric traction.

238
00:19:22,460 --> 00:19:25,500
The great days of Britain's
railways were already over.

239
00:19:28,180 --> 00:19:31,300
A less glamorous rival
was now challenging

240
00:19:31,300 --> 00:19:34,300
the train companies' monopoly
on delivering goods -

241
00:19:34,300 --> 00:19:36,020
the lorry.

242
00:19:37,140 --> 00:19:43,580
And the railways
couldn't even fight back,
because of Government legislation.

243
00:19:43,580 --> 00:19:47,260
It was very difficult for
them to charge flexible prices.

244
00:19:47,260 --> 00:19:51,220
They couldn't turn down
traffic so long as they
could physically carry it.

245
00:19:51,220 --> 00:19:55,220
And it was very easy for
the road haulage operator to see

246
00:19:55,220 --> 00:19:57,580
what the railways would charge
and undercut them.

247
00:20:02,980 --> 00:20:07,820
120 years after their invention,
the railways were in a sorry state,

248
00:20:07,820 --> 00:20:14,700
made much worse by the overuse and
under investment of two world wars.

249
00:20:14,700 --> 00:20:19,220
In 1948, this became our problem.

250
00:20:19,220 --> 00:20:22,740
The Labour Government
nationalised the railways.

251
00:20:22,740 --> 00:20:26,180
They were now owned by all of us.

252
00:20:29,460 --> 00:20:34,100
This was bad news for the taxpayer,
because, by 1955,

253
00:20:34,100 --> 00:20:37,100
British Railways
was firmly in the red.

254
00:20:39,540 --> 00:20:42,980
The British Transport Commission,
which resided here in London,

255
00:20:42,980 --> 00:20:46,980
was responsible for fixing
this economic disaster.

256
00:20:48,980 --> 00:20:54,180
This palatial building,
erected by one of the great
Victorian railway companies,

257
00:20:54,180 --> 00:20:59,780
now hosted discussions
to salvage a network in decline.

258
00:21:01,940 --> 00:21:05,300
The British Transport
Commission came up with a scheme.

259
00:21:05,300 --> 00:21:09,540
It would transform the railways
from an old-fashioned,
rundown network

260
00:21:09,540 --> 00:21:13,140
into a sleek,
contemporary, efficient industry.

261
00:21:13,140 --> 00:21:16,860
The estimated price tag for this
was over a billion pounds -

262
00:21:16,860 --> 00:21:20,300
the equivalent of 22 billion
in today's money.

263
00:21:20,300 --> 00:21:25,380
But the commission was convinced
that this investment would
revive the fortunes of the railway.

264
00:21:25,380 --> 00:21:28,380
And this modernisation
plan was called...

265
00:21:28,380 --> 00:21:30,540
the Modernisation Plan!

266
00:21:30,540 --> 00:21:32,820
A new word is coming to railways,

267
00:21:32,820 --> 00:21:35,580
and with it a lot of
exciting changes.

268
00:21:35,580 --> 00:21:39,220
The word is modernisation.

269
00:21:39,220 --> 00:21:43,820
The modernisation plan was
really the great,

270
00:21:43,820 --> 00:21:45,660
lost opportunity before Beeching,

271
00:21:45,660 --> 00:21:51,500
because the railways did
at last get all the
money they'd been clamouring for

272
00:21:51,500 --> 00:21:53,620
for years and years and years.

273
00:21:53,620 --> 00:21:58,620
And if they had spent it
more wisely, then maybe we might
not have had Beeching.

274
00:22:01,700 --> 00:22:07,020
British Railways began
to phase out steam engines.

275
00:22:07,020 --> 00:22:11,380
But they exchanged them
for hastily commissioned diesels.

276
00:22:11,380 --> 00:22:16,540
These fast developed a reputation
for breaking down.

277
00:22:21,860 --> 00:22:26,140
And, in an attempt to take on the
lorry, 30 huge marshalling yards

278
00:22:26,140 --> 00:22:30,740
were built, so freight wagons
could be moved more easily.

279
00:22:30,740 --> 00:22:33,860
The only thing
missing was the freight.

280
00:22:38,100 --> 00:22:42,140
The railway industry was unable
to compete either with the prices

281
00:22:42,140 --> 00:22:45,740
or with the logistical convenience
that the road hauliers could offer.

282
00:22:45,740 --> 00:22:48,500
The British Transport
Commission's idea that

283
00:22:48,500 --> 00:22:52,900
freight would return to pre-war
levels, was simply unrealistic.

284
00:22:54,580 --> 00:22:58,020
In fact, it was almost inevitable
that the Modernisation Plan would

285
00:22:58,020 --> 00:23:01,380
fail to pull British Railways out
of the red, because the money

286
00:23:01,380 --> 00:23:05,100
the Government had put up was not
a grant or a subsidy -

287
00:23:05,100 --> 00:23:07,620
it was loan
to be paid back with interest.

288
00:23:10,860 --> 00:23:17,060
By the start of 1960s, British
Railways' deficit was £112 million.

289
00:23:19,500 --> 00:23:21,660
And it was out of control.

290
00:23:21,660 --> 00:23:23,980
Something would have to be done.

291
00:23:28,260 --> 00:23:32,580
Harold Macmillan isn't generally
seen as a radical Prime Minister,

292
00:23:32,580 --> 00:23:35,540
but he took a hard line
on the railways.

293
00:23:35,540 --> 00:23:39,740
They were to run like a business
and aim to pay their own way.

294
00:23:43,500 --> 00:23:47,780
Put in charge of making this happen
was Transport Minister
Ernest Marples.

295
00:23:49,980 --> 00:23:52,460
Marples, however, was pro-road.

296
00:23:52,460 --> 00:23:58,060
In fact, he'd amassed
a fortune building roads
before entering politics.

297
00:23:58,060 --> 00:24:02,780
There he became one of the most
controversial ministers
of the post-war era.

298
00:24:04,980 --> 00:24:06,620
I don't think Ernest Marples

299
00:24:06,620 --> 00:24:09,380
would have survived five minutes
in politics today

300
00:24:09,380 --> 00:24:12,980
because he seemed
to take almost perverse delight

301
00:24:12,980 --> 00:24:16,820
in upsetting people
and in flirting with scandal.

302
00:24:16,820 --> 00:24:20,340
Macmillan had a very high opinion
of Marples,

303
00:24:20,340 --> 00:24:23,900
almost as high as
Marples' opinion of himself.

304
00:24:23,900 --> 00:24:27,740
Macmillan could see that Marples
would be the right sort of person

305
00:24:27,740 --> 00:24:32,340
to pursue a difficult and
potentially very unpopular policy
towards the railways.

306
00:24:37,780 --> 00:24:42,060
Marples relished the task of
taking the railways in hand.

307
00:24:42,060 --> 00:24:46,060
There was to be no place for the
nooks and crannies of the network

308
00:24:46,060 --> 00:24:48,420
so beloved
by the Betjemans of this world.

309
00:24:50,580 --> 00:24:53,820
Marples brought in the
like-minded Dr Beeching

310
00:24:53,820 --> 00:24:58,500
to facilitate his unsentimental
plan for the railway's future.

311
00:24:58,500 --> 00:25:01,220
The bottom line would be...

312
00:25:01,220 --> 00:25:02,980
the bottom line.

313
00:25:02,980 --> 00:25:05,340
Isn't there something to
be said for the railways

314
00:25:05,340 --> 00:25:07,180
being run as a service
to the nation

315
00:25:07,180 --> 00:25:09,900
rather than on the strict
profit and loss basis

316
00:25:09,900 --> 00:25:11,180
of a private company?

317
00:25:11,180 --> 00:25:14,620
There is something to be said
but I think it's a doubtful argument.

318
00:25:14,620 --> 00:25:16,340
Somebody's got to pay

319
00:25:16,340 --> 00:25:22,580
and if a service of this kind is
not supported by those who use it,

320
00:25:22,580 --> 00:25:25,620
then it means
a tax on the populous in general.

321
00:25:29,740 --> 00:25:33,460
The 17th of April 1961
might have seemed like

322
00:25:33,460 --> 00:25:37,660
a normal Monday to passengers and
railway staff around the country.

323
00:25:40,500 --> 00:25:45,540
In fact, it was day one of a
seven-day survey into line traffic

324
00:25:45,540 --> 00:25:49,300
on which Beeching
would base his report.

325
00:25:59,820 --> 00:26:04,420
The results starkly exposed
the inefficiency of the railways.

326
00:26:07,740 --> 00:26:09,820
The key thing Beeching
did establish

327
00:26:09,820 --> 00:26:14,940
was that about 95% of rail traffic
travelled on half the network,

328
00:26:14,940 --> 00:26:17,980
and the other half
of the network just wasn't
carrying enough to be viable.

329
00:26:19,500 --> 00:26:21,620
That was the important statistic.

330
00:26:23,260 --> 00:26:27,020
Beeching now felt he had the
evidence to justify the policy

331
00:26:27,020 --> 00:26:31,620
he and Marples had intended
to implement from the start -

332
00:26:31,620 --> 00:26:33,260
mass closure.

333
00:26:36,860 --> 00:26:40,580
There's nothing modern
about hiring a spin doctor.

334
00:26:40,580 --> 00:26:43,940
Beeching needed to
manage the bad news,

335
00:26:43,940 --> 00:26:50,580
and he hired John Nunnely,
who'd been director of publicity
for the Express newspaper group.

336
00:26:50,580 --> 00:26:56,780
Now at British Transport HQ,
he had to stop the papers
getting wind of the closures.

337
00:26:59,660 --> 00:27:03,780
The press itself had been
pretty hostile, hadn't it? Yes.

338
00:27:03,780 --> 00:27:09,460
Newspapers really wanted to get
advance information. I bet.

339
00:27:09,460 --> 00:27:13,260
Because they wanted to run stories
which would

340
00:27:13,260 --> 00:27:17,540
warn the general public
their station could be axed and all
the rest of it.

341
00:27:17,540 --> 00:27:19,420
And were there no leaks?

342
00:27:19,420 --> 00:27:24,700
No. I decided that I would hire
something like 25

343
00:27:24,700 --> 00:27:28,980
absolutely first rate typists
from the private sector.

344
00:27:28,980 --> 00:27:31,780
Not from within the railways. Right.

345
00:27:31,780 --> 00:27:38,340
Every night I personally
destroyed every typewriter ribbon
that had been used.

346
00:27:38,340 --> 00:27:41,020
In case it had a name left on it?
Exactly.

347
00:27:48,500 --> 00:27:53,860
The long-awaited report was
finally made public in March 1963.

348
00:28:02,060 --> 00:28:05,580
This is it -
this is The Beeching Report,

349
00:28:05,580 --> 00:28:09,220
official title, "The Reshaping
of British Railways",

350
00:28:09,220 --> 00:28:12,860
an early example
of euphemistic management speak.

351
00:28:12,860 --> 00:28:16,300
"The Reduction of British Railways"
would have been accurate,

352
00:28:16,300 --> 00:28:19,740
or "The Rescuing
of British Railways"
if you wanted to be optimistic.

353
00:28:19,740 --> 00:28:21,780
But "The Reshaping" it was.

354
00:28:21,780 --> 00:28:27,860
It came in two parts. Part one,
the report, which was tables,
charts, arguments, and part two,

355
00:28:27,860 --> 00:28:32,740
a series of detailed maps,
all to show that Beeching
had done his homework.

356
00:28:32,740 --> 00:28:38,060
But the section that most people
turned to, was appendix two
in the end of part one,

357
00:28:38,060 --> 00:28:43,380
which was a list of passenger
services, line and station closures.

358
00:28:43,380 --> 00:28:48,940
And it has been said that this list
reads like the list of names
on a war memorial.

359
00:28:48,940 --> 00:28:56,060
Abbey Town, Acrow Halt,
Acton Central, Addingham,
Addlestrop, Ainsdale...

360
00:28:56,060 --> 00:28:59,700
Henfield, Hensall, Henstridge...

361
00:28:59,700 --> 00:29:03,220
Stratton Park Hall...

362
00:29:03,220 --> 00:29:08,300
Yelvertoft and Stanford Park...

363
00:29:08,300 --> 00:29:15,020
Yeovil Halt, Yeovil Pen Mill,
Yeovil Town, Yetminster, Yorton.

364
00:29:15,020 --> 00:29:20,060
There was a sense that a great
portion of Britain had been
given a sort of death sentence.

365
00:29:20,060 --> 00:29:22,740
And it was a PR disaster.

366
00:29:22,740 --> 00:29:29,780
Beeching just wasn't the sort
of political animal
who would see how that list

367
00:29:29,780 --> 00:29:34,420
would in a way become a testament
to what a terrible person he was.

368
00:29:34,420 --> 00:29:37,340
The Guardian published a poem
called Lament which ended,

369
00:29:37,340 --> 00:29:41,060
"We shall stop at you no more
because Dr Beeching
stops at nothing."

370
00:29:41,060 --> 00:29:44,020
# Ellersdale for Tideswell... #

371
00:29:44,020 --> 00:29:49,740
It gave a romantic quality to all
those lost destinations which was

372
00:29:49,740 --> 00:29:52,340
immediately exploited by
people like Flanders and Swann.

373
00:29:52,340 --> 00:29:54,900
# No more will I go

374
00:29:54,900 --> 00:29:57,380
# To Blandford Forum

375
00:29:57,380 --> 00:30:01,180
# And Mortehoe

376
00:30:01,180 --> 00:30:06,300
# On the slow train
from Midsomer Norton

377
00:30:06,300 --> 00:30:09,300
# And Mumby Road

378
00:30:09,300 --> 00:30:11,900
# No churns, no porter

379
00:30:11,900 --> 00:30:14,340
# No cat on a seat... #

380
00:30:14,340 --> 00:30:18,540
Beeching's report would change
the map of Britain for good.

381
00:30:18,540 --> 00:30:22,220
# We won't be meeting again

382
00:30:22,220 --> 00:30:25,420
# On the slow train... #

383
00:30:27,380 --> 00:30:31,340
Over 200 branch lines
were to be closed.

384
00:30:31,340 --> 00:30:34,780
More than 2,000 stations shut down.

385
00:30:34,780 --> 00:30:38,460
And 5,000 miles of track
would be pulled up.

386
00:30:48,420 --> 00:30:52,060
There's never been a Domesday Book
of Britain's railways like this.

387
00:30:52,060 --> 00:30:55,940
Remote areas of the highlands
will lose their services.

388
00:30:55,940 --> 00:30:59,140
Wales takes a body blow as well.

389
00:30:59,140 --> 00:31:04,340
In the North East,
little more than the main
North-South links will remain.

390
00:31:04,340 --> 00:31:08,940
Holiday resorts in the West Country
share the fate of many market towns,

391
00:31:08,940 --> 00:31:11,100
no station, no passenger trains.

392
00:31:11,100 --> 00:31:14,620
North Devon and North Cornwell
resorts are especially hit.

393
00:31:22,060 --> 00:31:26,620
"Attend the long
express from Waterloo,
that takes us down to Cornwall.

394
00:31:30,860 --> 00:31:35,540
"On Wadebridge station,
what a breath of sea
scented the Camel Valley.

395
00:31:35,540 --> 00:31:40,420
"Cornish air, soft Cornish rains,
and silence after steam."

396
00:31:44,900 --> 00:31:49,220
Thanks to the train,
the South-West coastline had become

397
00:31:49,220 --> 00:31:52,180
the prime location of the English
bucket and spade holiday.

398
00:31:56,220 --> 00:31:59,060
This is a charming poster
from the early 1960s

399
00:31:59,060 --> 00:32:03,500
showing the seaside resorts that
you could get to from Waterloo,

400
00:32:03,500 --> 00:32:07,020
on the glamorous sounding
Atlantic Coast Express.

401
00:32:07,020 --> 00:32:10,700
But after Beeching had done his
work, all these stations were closed

402
00:32:10,700 --> 00:32:13,140
and you couldn't get to
any of these towns by rail.

403
00:32:20,860 --> 00:32:24,860
The North Cornish village
of Padstow depended on its trains.

404
00:32:29,020 --> 00:32:33,740
The railway had arrived here in
1899 and immediately revolutionised

405
00:32:33,740 --> 00:32:38,420
the local economy,
carrying fish out and tourists in.

406
00:32:43,940 --> 00:32:47,260
Over 60 years on,
the track which had brought

407
00:32:47,260 --> 00:32:51,140
such prosperity to Padstow
was carried off for scrap.

408
00:32:56,180 --> 00:33:00,140
At the old station
there is now a car park.

409
00:33:01,940 --> 00:33:05,140
And along the old coastal route,

410
00:33:05,140 --> 00:33:09,940
the views are only enjoyed by
walkers and the occasional cyclist.

411
00:33:18,900 --> 00:33:24,380
When the railway went,
it was the workers on the local
lines who were hit first.

412
00:33:27,100 --> 00:33:32,740
I met up with
Trevor Knight and Rod Thompson,
who'd found their jobs under threat.

413
00:33:35,420 --> 00:33:37,940
I don't think there was a case to
do what they did

414
00:33:37,940 --> 00:33:40,500
to this part of the world,
just cut it right out

415
00:33:40,500 --> 00:33:43,340
and isolate everybody,
cos that's what it did, like.

416
00:33:43,340 --> 00:33:48,420
Do you think their research
into numbers was scientific
and rigorously done?

417
00:33:48,420 --> 00:33:52,220
If you see a stranger in the camp,
you think, what's he doing?

418
00:33:52,220 --> 00:33:54,340
Why has he got a clipboard?

419
00:33:54,340 --> 00:33:58,980
You used to see them
get off a train and they'd be
watching to see who got on and off.

420
00:33:58,980 --> 00:34:01,860
When we were observing
all this,

421
00:34:01,860 --> 00:34:05,420
it was a time when there was
less people travelling,

422
00:34:05,420 --> 00:34:07,500
like midday or something like that,

423
00:34:07,500 --> 00:34:11,140
rather than in the mornings when
there was people going to work,

424
00:34:11,140 --> 00:34:13,620
children going to school,
various places.

425
00:34:13,620 --> 00:34:16,460
So are you suggesting it was a fix?

426
00:34:16,460 --> 00:34:17,860
Yes!

427
00:34:20,540 --> 00:34:23,860
There are people who suggest
that the figures were collated

428
00:34:23,860 --> 00:34:26,900
by going to railway stations
when they weren't very busy,

429
00:34:26,900 --> 00:34:30,420
and going at off-peak times
rather than at the commuter rush

430
00:34:30,420 --> 00:34:32,300
or when schools were coming out.

431
00:34:32,300 --> 00:34:34,780
Absolute rubbish!

432
00:34:34,780 --> 00:34:36,780
You say that very confidently.

433
00:34:36,780 --> 00:34:38,980
I do say it confidently.
Absolute rubbish.

434
00:34:40,500 --> 00:34:43,180
It's extremely unlikely
that surveys were rigged.

435
00:34:43,180 --> 00:34:46,380
But in fact there was
a generally hurried approach

436
00:34:46,380 --> 00:34:50,700
to analysing the results, and there
wasn't a great deal of thought

437
00:34:50,700 --> 00:34:54,460
given to, should we do
another survey at another time?

438
00:34:54,460 --> 00:34:59,420
Should we look at how
we can cut costs or have
initiatives to increase traffic?

439
00:34:59,420 --> 00:35:03,380
I remember the divisional manager
at Plymouth

440
00:35:03,380 --> 00:35:08,500
wrote a letter with a very,
very good plan for the Exmouth line.

441
00:35:08,500 --> 00:35:13,100
And the reply he got,
which came from headquarters,

442
00:35:13,100 --> 00:35:15,980
was, "It is not the job
of the divisional manager

443
00:35:15,980 --> 00:35:21,500
"to tell us how to run the railways
efficiently, it's to close it down."

444
00:35:23,140 --> 00:35:28,340
Closing hundreds of lines
meant cutting thousands of jobs.

445
00:35:28,340 --> 00:35:31,140
Railway workers were devastated.

446
00:35:35,540 --> 00:35:39,580
John Betjeman
added his voice to the protests.

447
00:35:39,580 --> 00:35:44,540
You know, I'm not just being
nostalgic and sentimental

448
00:35:44,540 --> 00:35:47,460
and unpractical about railways.

449
00:35:47,460 --> 00:35:49,620
They are not a thing of the past.

450
00:35:49,620 --> 00:35:53,500
And it's heartbreaking
to see them left to rot,

451
00:35:53,500 --> 00:35:57,420
and to see the fine men
who've served them all their lives,

452
00:35:57,420 --> 00:36:01,460
made uncertain about their own
futures and about their jobs.

453
00:36:03,540 --> 00:36:08,460
I think it's more than likely we'll
deeply regret the branch lines

454
00:36:08,460 --> 00:36:13,180
we've torn up and the lines
that we've let to go to rot.

455
00:36:14,580 --> 00:36:18,100
The travelling public
joined the mounting opposition.

456
00:36:19,900 --> 00:36:23,220
It's a very sad thought,
you know, to us

457
00:36:23,220 --> 00:36:28,460
that some boffin boy at grimy old
Liverpool Street, some economist,

458
00:36:28,460 --> 00:36:33,500
may be the means of closing down
this eight miles of very nice line,

459
00:36:33,500 --> 00:36:36,500
merely for the sake of
balancing his books.

460
00:36:36,500 --> 00:36:41,700
It's a nationalised industry,
and if it is losing money,

461
00:36:41,700 --> 00:36:45,500
it's only a drop in the ocean
compared with other industries.

462
00:36:45,500 --> 00:36:49,820
And it's an essential service
that I think we're entitled to.

463
00:36:51,740 --> 00:36:54,580
Dissatisfaction was escalating.

464
00:36:54,580 --> 00:37:00,860
Beeching acted swiftly
by stepping up the PR campaign.

465
00:37:00,860 --> 00:37:04,340
He requested help
from an unlikely source.

466
00:37:06,060 --> 00:37:09,500
BBC Television presents
Tony Hancock in...

467
00:37:11,700 --> 00:37:13,300
Hancock's Half Hour.

468
00:37:17,300 --> 00:37:19,220
I hate train journeys, always have.

469
00:37:19,220 --> 00:37:21,420
They drive me up the wall.
Hour after hour,

470
00:37:21,420 --> 00:37:23,940
clickety clack, bigelly bong,

471
00:37:23,940 --> 00:37:26,580
clickety clack, bigelly bong...

472
00:37:28,220 --> 00:37:31,780
This lot are going on
a different train for a start.

473
00:37:31,780 --> 00:37:34,660
Another thing I hate about
train journeys: passengers.

474
00:37:34,660 --> 00:37:37,420
Every time I travel by train
I get mixed up with the most

475
00:37:37,420 --> 00:37:40,700
ugly looking lot of geezers
you've ever seen in your life.

476
00:37:41,820 --> 00:37:46,660
The lugubrious Tony Hancock was one
of Britain's best loved comedians.

477
00:37:46,660 --> 00:37:49,980
Although Dr Beeching's sense
of humour was hardly legendary,

478
00:37:49,980 --> 00:37:54,300
he now despatched his Publicity
Officer to get Hancock on board.

479
00:37:54,300 --> 00:37:56,020
Who's little one's this, then?

480
00:37:56,020 --> 00:37:58,100
That's mine.
Right, catch, there you are.

481
00:38:00,100 --> 00:38:02,860
I said,
"How much would you want for it?"

482
00:38:02,860 --> 00:38:05,340
"Well," he said,

483
00:38:05,340 --> 00:38:09,900
"Dr Beeching is paid 24,000 a year.

484
00:38:09,900 --> 00:38:11,540
"I want the same."

485
00:38:13,100 --> 00:38:15,900
I said, "I'll give you half."

486
00:38:15,900 --> 00:38:17,260
"Done!"

487
00:38:18,980 --> 00:38:21,100
I'm not looking
forward to this at all.

488
00:38:26,860 --> 00:38:28,940
Hancock fronted
a spoof investigation.

489
00:38:31,260 --> 00:38:35,460
Sparing no expense, celebrity
photographer Terence Donovan

490
00:38:35,460 --> 00:38:40,500
took the pictures, which ran as
a campaign in national newspapers.

491
00:38:43,060 --> 00:38:45,540
This advert was called
The Train That Wasn't,

492
00:38:45,540 --> 00:38:47,940
and it's about cuts in services.

493
00:38:47,940 --> 00:38:51,300
Hancock complains, "Oh, that
Beeching! Look what he's done now.

494
00:38:51,300 --> 00:38:54,940
"Removed my favourite train from the
service, 29 minutes after midnight.

495
00:38:54,940 --> 00:38:57,860
"Very cosy too, only one
passenger per carriage.

496
00:38:57,860 --> 00:39:01,660
"'You can cut what trains you like,
but not mine,' I said to Beeching."

497
00:39:01,660 --> 00:39:05,580
The official railway's
response runs underneath.

498
00:39:05,580 --> 00:39:08,940
"At present,
some trains run almost empty.

499
00:39:08,940 --> 00:39:13,260
"These services lose
the railways large sum of money,
waste manpower and equipment.

500
00:39:13,260 --> 00:39:15,260
"Economies must be made.

501
00:39:15,260 --> 00:39:20,140
"The few people affected may have
to use other forms of transport
or travel earlier."

502
00:39:21,940 --> 00:39:25,180
There's no evidence
the costly Hancock Report

503
00:39:25,180 --> 00:39:27,460
convinced anybody of anything.

504
00:39:27,460 --> 00:39:30,940
The death of their railways
was no laughing matter

505
00:39:30,940 --> 00:39:33,780
to those
at the sharp end of the cuts.

506
00:39:33,780 --> 00:39:38,380
Especially when Beeching's
faith in alternative transport

507
00:39:38,380 --> 00:39:41,340
seemed excessively optimistic.

508
00:39:41,340 --> 00:39:43,580
"I've had an idea," he said.

509
00:39:43,580 --> 00:39:48,100
"Do you think you can provide me
with a map of every bus service

510
00:39:48,100 --> 00:39:53,180
"in this country,
showing the coverage nationally?"

511
00:39:53,180 --> 00:39:56,060
We put it as an appendix.
Yes, it's here.

512
00:39:58,180 --> 00:40:00,620
And if you look at that map,

513
00:40:00,620 --> 00:40:05,020
you would find there was not,
at that time, a hamlet,

514
00:40:05,020 --> 00:40:07,100
village or town

515
00:40:07,100 --> 00:40:12,140
which was not covered
by bus services.

516
00:40:12,140 --> 00:40:15,900
"Nearly all the rail services
which we intend to cut out

517
00:40:15,900 --> 00:40:18,180
"run parallel with bus services.

518
00:40:18,180 --> 00:40:19,940
"And even when they don't,

519
00:40:19,940 --> 00:40:23,900
"it's very much cheaper to
run a bus instead of the railway."

520
00:40:23,900 --> 00:40:26,980
But as far as the politicians
were concerned,

521
00:40:26,980 --> 00:40:30,420
a comprehensive bus service
was never on the cards.

522
00:40:32,980 --> 00:40:35,460
Richard Marsh was later a minister

523
00:40:35,460 --> 00:40:39,580
when the provision of buses
was on the Government's agenda.

524
00:40:39,580 --> 00:40:42,380
Beeching was
desperately, the whole time,

525
00:40:42,380 --> 00:40:45,460
looking for something specific on it.

526
00:40:45,460 --> 00:40:47,060
To offer? Yeah.

527
00:40:47,060 --> 00:40:49,700
And, and it wasn't there.

528
00:40:49,700 --> 00:40:54,180
Were the Cabinet aware
that it wasn't there, that the
buses wouldn't materialise?

529
00:40:54,180 --> 00:40:57,020
Oh, yes, I think everybody did.

530
00:40:57,020 --> 00:40:59,460
It was just a sop? Yeah.

531
00:41:01,140 --> 00:41:05,100
The Government's vision of
future transport lay elsewhere.

532
00:41:12,260 --> 00:41:15,740
In the same way that the train
defined the Victorian era,

533
00:41:15,740 --> 00:41:19,340
the car was the ultimate expression
of the 20th century.

534
00:41:20,980 --> 00:41:24,420
A symbol of modernity
for an individualistic age.

535
00:41:28,580 --> 00:41:32,380
The car, from the mid 1950s, was,
apart from anything else -

536
00:41:32,380 --> 00:41:35,580
and beyond a means of transport -
a consumer dream.

537
00:41:35,580 --> 00:41:37,460
It was something you could own.

538
00:41:37,460 --> 00:41:39,660
You can't own a railway.

539
00:41:39,660 --> 00:41:41,940
A railway takes you
where the railway goes,

540
00:41:41,940 --> 00:41:44,740
a car takes you where,
theoretically, you want to go.

541
00:41:44,740 --> 00:41:47,580
The idea of having
some exciting little Ford Anglia,

542
00:41:47,580 --> 00:41:51,420
or Ford Prefect, with its plastic
seats, was a terrific dream.

543
00:41:52,820 --> 00:41:57,380
But even before
today's environmental fears,

544
00:41:57,380 --> 00:41:59,780
the downside of car culture
was apparent.

545
00:42:08,900 --> 00:42:13,820
Traffic congestion was a serious
problem even when Beeching
published his report.

546
00:42:13,820 --> 00:42:18,060
Aware of this, the lines he chose
to keep were often commuter links

547
00:42:18,060 --> 00:42:22,300
or inter city routes, taking people
in and out of the big urban centres.

548
00:42:24,500 --> 00:42:28,300
Yet Beeching's efforts to ease
congestion would make little impact

549
00:42:28,300 --> 00:42:29,860
in the big scheme of things.

550
00:42:31,660 --> 00:42:37,100
The national transport strategy
was in the hands of Ernest Marples,

551
00:42:37,100 --> 00:42:41,420
minister and sometime
road construction magnate.

552
00:42:41,420 --> 00:42:46,340
And he believed not in trains,
but in tarmac.

553
00:42:46,340 --> 00:42:50,820
Whilst we can squeeze the last ounce
out of our existing roads

554
00:42:50,820 --> 00:42:54,460
by traffic management
and traffic engineers,

555
00:42:54,460 --> 00:42:59,460
the solution ultimately
to the problem must be new roads.

556
00:43:03,660 --> 00:43:06,780
The section of the M6
was opened by Mr Marples,

557
00:43:06,780 --> 00:43:10,780
adding 27 miles
to the northern section of
the Birmingham-Preston motorway.

558
00:43:10,780 --> 00:43:13,700
The minister entered
into the spirit of the occasion.

559
00:43:13,700 --> 00:43:20,140
Some thought Marples' zeal for road
building was, well, a bit dodgy.

560
00:43:20,900 --> 00:43:25,060
Amongst his critics was a recently
launched satirical magazine.

561
00:43:26,700 --> 00:43:28,700
"Aim of the Marples Master Plan:

562
00:43:28,700 --> 00:43:31,180
"to run down all forms of transport
in Britain

563
00:43:31,180 --> 00:43:34,140
"with the exception
of the private motor car,

564
00:43:34,140 --> 00:43:37,100
"so that Britain's roads
become clogged to saturation.

565
00:43:37,100 --> 00:43:41,140
"Thus far, Marples is acting in
league with the motor cartels.

566
00:43:41,140 --> 00:43:42,780
"Then will be his hour.

567
00:43:42,780 --> 00:43:46,900
"His army of traffic wardens
will take over all points
of strategic importance.

568
00:43:46,900 --> 00:43:51,380
"And Marples will assume supreme
control of the national destiny."

569
00:43:51,380 --> 00:43:53,980
Well, got a bit overexcited
at the end there.

570
00:43:53,980 --> 00:43:56,580
But actually
that is pretty prophetic.

571
00:43:56,580 --> 00:44:00,780
And that, of course,
was Private Eye in 1962.

572
00:44:00,780 --> 00:44:03,260
And as the current editor,
I'm very impressed

573
00:44:03,260 --> 00:44:07,500
that my illustrious predecessors
had got Marples' number
quite so early.

574
00:44:07,500 --> 00:44:12,220
The man who'd built,
financed and championed roads

575
00:44:12,220 --> 00:44:15,060
was never going to be
sympathetic to the railways' case.

576
00:44:15,060 --> 00:44:17,580
Though he made a reasonable
show of it in public.

577
00:44:19,140 --> 00:44:23,500
It looks to outsiders rather
as though if Dr Beeching
says, "Close it", that's it.

578
00:44:23,500 --> 00:44:25,620
Oh, not a bit of it,
not a bit of it!

579
00:44:25,620 --> 00:44:29,580
Dr Beeching, with whom I'm
in a very friendly relationship,

580
00:44:29,580 --> 00:44:33,140
cannot close a line that's
objected to, a passenger line.

581
00:44:33,140 --> 00:44:36,620
Only the minister on behalf
of the Government can do that.

582
00:44:36,620 --> 00:44:40,220
And I go into the evidence
very carefully.

583
00:44:41,260 --> 00:44:46,340
Beeching's job
was strictly to identify
the financial case for closure,

584
00:44:46,340 --> 00:44:48,620
and leave it to politicians
to decide

585
00:44:48,620 --> 00:44:52,980
whether there was a social case
for keeping a line or station open.

586
00:44:57,940 --> 00:45:01,980
In 1964, with an election looming,
Labour leader Harold Wilson

587
00:45:01,980 --> 00:45:07,420
saw votes in stating his commitment
to that social case.

588
00:45:07,420 --> 00:45:14,380
He pledged to halt major rail
closures whilst he worked
out his own transport policy.

589
00:45:14,380 --> 00:45:18,060
In Siloth and in Hull immediately
before the General Election,

590
00:45:18,060 --> 00:45:22,980
the Labour Party was saying,
"We will re-open these lines next
week if you vote Labour."

591
00:45:22,980 --> 00:45:26,900
Of course, immediately after the
election there was a hurried attempt

592
00:45:26,900 --> 00:45:30,700
to redefine the words "major" and
"halt", so that they could say

593
00:45:30,700 --> 00:45:35,060
they had halted major rail closures
without actually having to do that.

594
00:45:40,180 --> 00:45:43,620
Once in power, Wilson,
unsurprisingly,

595
00:45:43,620 --> 00:45:47,780
saw the merits
of Beeching's plan, after all.

596
00:45:47,780 --> 00:45:51,540
He was on his own mission
to modernise Britain.

597
00:45:51,540 --> 00:45:56,380
But there were times
when he found the political price
of closures too high.

598
00:45:59,060 --> 00:46:02,580
We had an argument about
the Welsh lines

599
00:46:02,580 --> 00:46:07,220
which were doing very, very little
at that stage.

600
00:46:07,220 --> 00:46:11,300
And Beeching's attitude to that was,
well you just shut the thing down.

601
00:46:11,300 --> 00:46:15,540
And then it eventually went to the
Cabinet, as to what we would do.

602
00:46:15,540 --> 00:46:19,180
After I had finished,
there was a complete silence,

603
00:46:19,180 --> 00:46:24,420
and George Thomas in those days,
who was a friendly Welshman, said,

604
00:46:24,420 --> 00:46:27,340
"Prime Minister, we can't do that."

605
00:46:27,340 --> 00:46:30,940
And Harold Wilson said,
"What do you mean we can't do it?"

606
00:46:30,940 --> 00:46:35,740
"It goes through seven marginal
constituencies," he said.

607
00:46:35,740 --> 00:46:39,540
If he'd been there,
I think he would have just exploded.

608
00:46:41,900 --> 00:46:46,220
Beeching had no sympathy with such
trifling conflicts of interest.

609
00:46:46,220 --> 00:46:50,260
He was resolute that, if followed
rigorously, his plan would deliver.

610
00:46:50,260 --> 00:46:53,500
Beeching was mesmerised by the idea

611
00:46:53,500 --> 00:46:58,740
that there could be a core railway
that was profitable.

612
00:46:58,740 --> 00:47:00,980
And therefore,
if you cut enough branches,

613
00:47:00,980 --> 00:47:06,780
you'd get a railway that
could then pay for itself forever.

614
00:47:06,780 --> 00:47:08,580
But really that's a myth.

615
00:47:10,820 --> 00:47:14,460
It was a simplistic way
of doing economics.

616
00:47:14,460 --> 00:47:16,260
There's a railway with two lines,

617
00:47:16,260 --> 00:47:19,300
we'll take one out
and we'll save 50% of the cost.

618
00:47:19,300 --> 00:47:21,380
Well, I'm sorry, it isn't like that.

619
00:47:21,380 --> 00:47:24,860
You still have to maintain all the
bridges, all the drains, everything.

620
00:47:27,220 --> 00:47:31,740
Railways are really an onion,
and if you strip bits off you never,

621
00:47:31,740 --> 00:47:34,900
well, until you've destroyed it,
get to the profitable core.

622
00:47:38,180 --> 00:47:40,620
Private Eye at the time
made it clear

623
00:47:40,620 --> 00:47:44,060
that they thought Dr Beeching's
policy of removing the branch lines

624
00:47:44,060 --> 00:47:46,500
from the body of the railway
was pretty silly.

625
00:47:46,500 --> 00:47:49,820
And they illustrated this with
a cartoon of Dr Beeching himself,

626
00:47:49,820 --> 00:47:52,700
in which he does his job of cutting
down the railways,

627
00:47:52,700 --> 00:47:56,700
and then
they remove his extremities,
cutting off his arms and his legs,

628
00:47:56,700 --> 00:47:59,180
and then they say,
"With his arms and legs cut off,

629
00:47:59,180 --> 00:48:01,780
"he's not much use,
so let's sack him."

630
00:48:01,780 --> 00:48:03,220
So they do.

631
00:48:06,020 --> 00:48:10,700
A bit of satirical exaggeration
there. Beeching wasn't fired.

632
00:48:10,700 --> 00:48:14,220
However, in 1965
he left British Railways,

633
00:48:14,220 --> 00:48:17,540
by "mutual agreement"
with the Government.

634
00:48:21,220 --> 00:48:26,140
As he laid down his axe, he picked
up a peerage and returned to ICI

635
00:48:26,140 --> 00:48:30,980
as Lord Beeching of East Grinstead,
a town which had kept its station.

636
00:48:37,100 --> 00:48:39,660
Can I have a single to Marylebone,
please?

637
00:48:39,660 --> 00:48:42,420
'He'd been hired to
rationalise the railways.

638
00:48:42,420 --> 00:48:47,860
'But, as it turned out,
his methods weren't quite
as rigorous as he'd thought.'

639
00:48:50,100 --> 00:48:56,900
Beeching was mocked in a letter
to the Times as a very efficient,
very expensive computer.

640
00:48:56,900 --> 00:48:59,940
But it was because he lacked
the number-crunching skills

641
00:48:59,940 --> 00:49:03,500
of a good computer, that he got
some of his calculations wrong.

642
00:49:03,500 --> 00:49:05,500
Nowadays, with electronic ticketing,

643
00:49:05,500 --> 00:49:08,740
you know where and when
a ticket was purchased.

644
00:49:08,740 --> 00:49:12,300
And computer modelling allows you
to predict passenger behaviour.

645
00:49:12,300 --> 00:49:16,260
In his day, everything was
entered in ledgers by hand,

646
00:49:16,260 --> 00:49:20,300
and collecting exhaustive ticketing
information simply wasn't feasible.

647
00:49:25,020 --> 00:49:27,500
But even with more accurate figures,

648
00:49:27,500 --> 00:49:31,220
many of Britain's railways
would still have been doomed.

649
00:49:40,460 --> 00:49:43,740
There is no doubt that
Britain had too many railways

650
00:49:43,740 --> 00:49:45,660
after the Second World War.

651
00:49:45,660 --> 00:49:48,740
There were some branch lines
that had really been built

652
00:49:48,740 --> 00:49:52,060
on very shaky economic grounds,

653
00:49:52,060 --> 00:49:54,380
and had been losing money
for years and years.

654
00:49:54,380 --> 00:49:57,900
But I think it's possible
to say that maybe something like

655
00:49:57,900 --> 00:50:00,940
a third of the mileage that he closed

656
00:50:00,940 --> 00:50:06,700
should have remained open and would
provide a very useful service today.

657
00:50:11,780 --> 00:50:14,740
The fact is,
this isn't ancient history.

658
00:50:14,740 --> 00:50:18,620
The damage inflicted by Beeching
is still felt today.

659
00:50:18,620 --> 00:50:21,420
Which explains why
I'm taking the car now,

660
00:50:21,420 --> 00:50:24,180
when, 40 years ago,
I'd be getting the train.

661
00:50:31,260 --> 00:50:34,980
Once a railway line ran though
this windswept countryside

662
00:50:34,980 --> 00:50:37,140
in the remote Scottish Borders.

663
00:50:40,140 --> 00:50:43,940
Edinburgh is 50 miles that way,
and Carlisle about 50 that way.

664
00:50:43,940 --> 00:50:47,460
And this railway
was completed in 1862.

665
00:50:47,460 --> 00:50:50,660
It quickly became known
as the Waverley line,

666
00:50:50,660 --> 00:50:54,060
because this is
the wild and romantic countryside

667
00:50:54,060 --> 00:50:57,620
in which Sir Walter Scott
set his Waverley novels.

668
00:51:00,660 --> 00:51:02,540
Neither the line's history

669
00:51:02,540 --> 00:51:06,540
nor its value to the communities
it served, could save it.

670
00:51:09,820 --> 00:51:14,900
In 1968, the notice
of final closure went up.

671
00:51:17,060 --> 00:51:19,660
The town of Hawick
would be hardest hit.

672
00:51:19,660 --> 00:51:24,860
It would now be left further
from a train than anywhere else
in mainland Britain.

673
00:51:27,340 --> 00:51:32,660
Madge Elliot,
a local housewife, was appalled.

674
00:51:32,660 --> 00:51:36,700
What did you think would happen
if they closed the railway,
what would be lost?

675
00:51:36,700 --> 00:51:41,900
At that time it took just about
three hours to go to Edinburgh,

676
00:51:41,900 --> 00:51:43,620
52 miles in the bus.

677
00:51:43,620 --> 00:51:47,180
Now that's quite a slice
out of your day, isn't it?

678
00:51:47,180 --> 00:51:49,780
And how long in the train?

679
00:51:49,780 --> 00:51:52,460
An hour and 25 minutes.

680
00:51:52,460 --> 00:51:57,060
I remember
my mother saying to me, I said,
"Someone should be doing something."

681
00:51:57,060 --> 00:52:00,060
And she turned round and she
said, "Well, what about you?"

682
00:52:00,060 --> 00:52:01,380
That was it.

683
00:52:03,260 --> 00:52:07,060
Madge organised a petition
to save the railway,

684
00:52:07,060 --> 00:52:10,500
and took it all the way
to the Prime Minister.

685
00:52:10,500 --> 00:52:13,460
This picture outside Downing St,
that's you, isn't it?

686
00:52:13,460 --> 00:52:17,300
That's me, a young me,
a long time ago.

687
00:52:17,300 --> 00:52:19,380
A very fetching suit!

688
00:52:19,380 --> 00:52:22,420
I wouldn't be seen in it now!

689
00:52:22,420 --> 00:52:25,260
You seem to have wrapped it up
like a present.

690
00:52:25,260 --> 00:52:28,460
That's right, in red paper because
it was a Labour Government,

691
00:52:28,460 --> 00:52:33,140
and the black ribbon because
it was the death of our railway.

692
00:52:34,860 --> 00:52:37,580
But they did close the line
anyway? Yes, they did.

693
00:52:37,580 --> 00:52:41,500
And your local paper here
has got a special train

694
00:52:41,500 --> 00:52:44,060
being sent down to London
with a hearse on it.

695
00:52:44,060 --> 00:52:47,060
Yes.
And then there's this joke here,

696
00:52:47,060 --> 00:52:50,100
because the advert at the time was,
"It's quicker by train",

697
00:52:50,100 --> 00:52:52,620
and you lot have put up,
"It's quicker by hearse."

698
00:52:52,620 --> 00:52:55,580
Yes. And that's a fact today,
you know, Ian.

699
00:52:55,580 --> 00:52:59,180
People that use
the crematorium in Edinburgh,

700
00:52:59,180 --> 00:53:04,820
the hearse gets through a lot quicker
than the bus, public transport,

701
00:53:04,820 --> 00:53:06,860
so it is quicker by hearse!

702
00:53:09,220 --> 00:53:14,100
Very few lines were ever rescued by
the militancy of crusading locals.

703
00:53:27,020 --> 00:53:32,660
By 1973, almost 4,000 miles
of track and over 3,500 stations

704
00:53:32,660 --> 00:53:36,500
had either been dismantled
or left to rot.

705
00:53:41,740 --> 00:53:46,620
Despite Beeching's axe, the
railways never did pay their way.

706
00:53:52,580 --> 00:53:56,300
Britain had once shown the world
the possibilities of rail travel.

707
00:53:56,300 --> 00:54:00,860
Now the country had discarded
a large part of that heritage.

708
00:54:03,420 --> 00:54:08,140
What did we lose culturally
when we lost those branch lines?

709
00:54:08,140 --> 00:54:12,660
Everything that matters.
We lost the poetry of the English
landscape, I think really.

710
00:54:12,660 --> 00:54:15,020
Everything became
a bit prosaic after that.

711
00:54:15,020 --> 00:54:17,700
When you put a branch line train
in the landscape,

712
00:54:17,700 --> 00:54:19,860
I don't know why,
it always looks beautiful.

713
00:54:22,340 --> 00:54:26,260
A lovely little Great Western Tank
Engine puffing white clouds of steam,

714
00:54:26,260 --> 00:54:28,220
that's an image that still charms us.

715
00:54:40,020 --> 00:54:44,220
It's clear how much affection there
is for this image of train travel,

716
00:54:44,220 --> 00:54:48,820
because today, heritage lines are
hugely popular with the public.

717
00:54:53,620 --> 00:54:57,540
The Severn Valley Railway,
a Beeching casualty,

718
00:54:57,540 --> 00:54:59,780
is just one of more than 100 lines

719
00:54:59,780 --> 00:55:02,340
which have been rescued
by volunteers.

720
00:55:14,820 --> 00:55:20,020
These engines, however, do more
than just puff out nostalgia.

721
00:55:20,020 --> 00:55:25,220
They are a reminder of a time before
railways lost the nation's respect.

722
00:55:26,860 --> 00:55:30,660
I love them.
But I do know that this isn't

723
00:55:30,660 --> 00:55:34,740
a totally accurate picture of what
Britain before Beeching was like.

724
00:55:41,980 --> 00:55:44,100
There was an idea
that before Beeching,

725
00:55:44,100 --> 00:55:47,300
the railways were a fantastic
network, and you could travel

726
00:55:47,300 --> 00:55:49,820
to every tiny village
in the country by rail.

727
00:55:49,820 --> 00:55:54,820
And you'd be met by a porter
who'd take your ticket

728
00:55:54,820 --> 00:55:58,940
and then maybe transport you to
the local manor house or whatever.

729
00:55:58,940 --> 00:56:01,500
And this is something of a myth.

730
00:56:05,540 --> 00:56:08,620
The reality is if we want
a better transport system,

731
00:56:08,620 --> 00:56:10,900
we've got to be prepared
to pay for it.

732
00:56:10,900 --> 00:56:14,340
It's a lot easier to say,
"Beeching got it wrong,

733
00:56:14,340 --> 00:56:17,060
"Marples was a bad man,
there was a conspiracy",

734
00:56:17,060 --> 00:56:20,500
than to face the very difficult
choices people faced at the time.

735
00:56:22,860 --> 00:56:28,340
Beeching and Marples
ultimately made their choice
in purely economic terms.

736
00:56:28,340 --> 00:56:30,820
But I still think
their dismissal of the social

737
00:56:30,820 --> 00:56:34,740
and cultural cost of cutting
the railways was a real failure.

738
00:56:37,420 --> 00:56:42,540
The railways do mean more
to the nation than just one way
to get from A to B.

739
00:56:44,180 --> 00:56:48,420
And actually today, some of
Beeching's axed lines could provide

740
00:56:48,420 --> 00:56:54,380
an alternative to car travel, and
ease the strain on the environment.

741
00:56:54,380 --> 00:56:59,740
Millions are even now
being spent on reinstating
part of the cut Waverley Line.

742
00:57:04,700 --> 00:57:08,620
Fortunately, other parts of our
railway's heritage fared better.

743
00:57:11,820 --> 00:57:17,100
In 1966, London's St Pancras
Station, a Victorian masterpiece,

744
00:57:17,100 --> 00:57:19,340
was destined for demolition.

745
00:57:21,380 --> 00:57:25,100
It was only thanks to the protests
of John Betjeman and others

746
00:57:25,100 --> 00:57:27,220
that it escaped the wrecking ball.

747
00:57:31,260 --> 00:57:36,460
Recently, it has been restored
and adapted for the 21st century.

748
00:57:39,660 --> 00:57:43,620
Here in this new state of the
art station, there is a statue.

749
00:57:43,620 --> 00:57:46,540
And is it of the visionary
Dr Beeching?

750
00:57:46,540 --> 00:57:48,420
No. It's of John Betjeman,

751
00:57:48,420 --> 00:57:52,780
the nostalgic poet and champion
of our railway heritage.

752
00:57:52,780 --> 00:57:57,580
Not Beeching, who wanted a modern
railway industry, but Betjeman,

753
00:57:57,580 --> 00:58:00,300
who delighted in an
old-fashioned train service.

754
00:58:02,300 --> 00:58:06,500
What we all want, of course,
is the best of both of their worlds,

755
00:58:06,500 --> 00:58:09,500
and this struggle between
them continues today.

756
00:58:09,500 --> 00:58:11,940
How far do you go with
cutting a public service

757
00:58:11,940 --> 00:58:15,580
in the name of efficiency before
you lose the whole point of it?

758
00:58:15,580 --> 00:58:19,300
Not just with trains, but with
buses, post offices and the NHS.

759
00:58:19,300 --> 00:58:20,940
It's the same argument.

760
00:58:20,940 --> 00:58:25,060
Personally, I want an up-to-date,
reliable railway,

761
00:58:25,060 --> 00:58:29,420
but I also want one that preserves
what was so valuable in its past.

762
00:58:29,420 --> 00:58:32,740
I realise I may have to wait
some time for this.

763
00:58:32,740 --> 00:58:34,500
But it would be worth it.

764
00:58:34,500 --> 00:58:36,900
# No more will I go

765
00:58:36,900 --> 00:58:39,140
# To Blandford Forum

766
00:58:39,140 --> 00:58:41,780
# And Mortehoe

767
00:58:43,140 --> 00:58:47,540
# On the slow train
from Midsomer Norton

768
00:58:47,540 --> 00:58:50,420
# And Mumby Road

769
00:58:51,740 --> 00:58:55,220
# No-one departs, no-one arrives

770
00:58:55,220 --> 00:58:58,260
# From Selby to Goole

771
00:58:58,260 --> 00:59:01,260
# From St Erth to St Ives

772
00:59:01,260 --> 00:59:05,140
# They've all passed out of our lives

773
00:59:05,140 --> 00:59:07,460
# On the slow train... #