This is the story of how around 150 Pre-Grouping railways of Britain evolved from their 'Golden Age' in the heady Edwardian era to become the less popular nationalised British Railways. It fell to Dr Richard Beeching, Chairman of the British Railways Board (1961-1965) to wield his axe in order to achieve the Government's ambition of turning the railways back into profit. Before BeechingTo start our journey, we follow the path of Britain's railways from the pre-Grouping of the Edwardian era when steam was king, through to Beeching's appointment as Chairman of the British... Railways Board in 1961. Beeching's AxePicking up the story in 1961, the second part of this series follows the chain of events after Beeching was appointed as the first Chairman of the British Railways Board. His task was to draw up a plan to eliminate the network's losses and to reorganise the railways for the future. The Beeching RailwayIn March 1963 Beeching's proposals - popularly known as the 'Beeching Axe' - were, unsurprisingly, accepted in full by the Minister of Transport Ernest Marples, despite some opposition from within the Conservative party. Beeching's LegacyThe final part of our story concludes with the often-painful experience of travelling on today's railways. With a myriad of operators taking rail travel into a future with a seemingly never-ending growth in traffic, it proves that Britain's railway network has a vital part to play in the transport industry of the future. [show more]
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Collection of documentaries that examine the impact of the famous 'Beeching Report' on British railways. The report, led by Dr Richard Beeching, was completed in the early 1960s and proposed a vast number of station and line closures. Though controversial, the government enforced the proposals, which many argue have caused irreparable damage to the British transport network. The individual programmes featured are: 'Before Beeching', 'Beeching's Axe', 'The Beeching Railway' and 'Beeching's Legacy'.
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