0:00:07 > 0:00:11Once Britain was proud of its trains.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17The country had the first and greatest rail network in the world.
0:00:21 > 0:00:28You could travel between cities, towns and villages in comfort and style.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32But then, something changed.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37In 1961, a certain Dr Beeching was hired by the Government
0:00:37 > 0:00:40to write a report on the future of Britain's railways.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49He recommended closing a third of the network, shutting down
0:00:49 > 0:00:54thousands of stations and tearing up miles and miles of track.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Beeching became one of the most reviled men in the country.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07I just felt it was wrong to close our railway.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10You get men in grey suits sitting in far-off offices
0:01:10 > 0:01:13and they look at a map and they use a pin.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15And they haven't a clue about the area.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Resistance was futile.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23This was the gospel. This is what had to happen.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26This was what we had to accept.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29In the wake of Dr Beeching's cuts,
0:01:29 > 0:01:35Britain became a country of ghost lines and phantom platforms.
0:01:35 > 0:01:40Many saw it as a devastating assault on both our industrial and cultural heritage.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45Many more felt it was a body blow to ordinary rail passengers throughout the land.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Now, over 40 years later, I'm looking back to see
0:01:48 > 0:01:53why Dr Beeching became enshrined in British folklore as the mad axe man.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59And I'm asking whether Beeching's actions were a necessary evil...
0:01:59 > 0:02:04or one of the great acts of vandalism of the 20th century.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Every day in Britain over three million people take the train.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41I'm one of them. And I love the railway!
0:02:43 > 0:02:47I like the train because you can sit down, read, look out the window...
0:02:47 > 0:02:52Except when there aren't any seats and the only thing you can read is your overpriced ticket,
0:02:52 > 0:02:56and if you look out the window you'll realise the train hasn't moved for over two hours.
0:02:56 > 0:02:57Still, it's quicker by train.
0:02:57 > 0:02:58Except when it isn't.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11Train travel today undoubtedly lacks romance.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15And I've always wondered whether Dr Beeching is to blame.
0:03:19 > 0:03:25When he closed so many lines and stations, did he extract the network's soul?
0:03:25 > 0:03:29Was that the start of our railways' decline?
0:03:29 > 0:03:34I'm sure it was so much better in the old days.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44"Unmitigated England came swinging down the line,
0:03:44 > 0:03:50"that day the February sun did crisp and crystal shine.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54"A village street, a manor house, a church, then, tally ho!
0:03:54 > 0:03:57"We pounded through a housing scheme with telly masts a-row.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02"Where cars of parked executives did regimented wait
0:04:02 > 0:04:07"beside administrative blocks within the factory gate."
0:04:15 > 0:04:19The poet, John Betjeman, was a huge fan of British railways and the joy of trains.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25He also had a keen appreciation of their unique contribution to the fabric of our national life.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32From the view out of a first-class carriage to the unique charm of a village station,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Betjeman eulogised train travel.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42I can think of few pleasanter places to hang about in on a sunny afternoon like this
0:04:42 > 0:04:44than Snettisham Station.
0:04:47 > 0:04:53But Betjeman's idyllic vision was not shared by everyone.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57In fact, many passengers found plenty to complain about.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Trains seem to be late for no reason whatever.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02What about the stations?
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Well, they could be a lot better.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08This is a shocking place really, Fenchurch Street, really terrible.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Look at the carriages, they're absolutely disgusting.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17- We never know why we're late, they never tell us.- Do you feel angry?
0:05:17 > 0:05:23I do. We wouldn't mind so much if fares hadn't been put up so many times.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25- Anything to say about the railways?- Shocking!
0:05:27 > 0:05:31The reality of train travel in the 1950s and early 1960s
0:05:31 > 0:05:35was that it wasn't that different from train travel today.
0:05:35 > 0:05:41Even back then, complaints about high fares and low quality of service were par for the course.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47The down at heel railway with its shabby stations was not in keeping
0:05:47 > 0:05:51with the Government's vision for modern Britain.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Here then is the design for living of the future.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56A town planned down to the last nail.
0:05:56 > 0:06:01Planned to be lived in and enjoyed by 80,000 of the citizens of tomorrow.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09The country had finally emerged from years of post-war austerity.
0:06:11 > 0:06:17People wanted to get rid of the old and embrace all that was shiny, streamlined and convenient.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22The Government was keen to capitalise on this mood
0:06:22 > 0:06:26and forge a dynamic, modern nation
0:06:26 > 0:06:30with a dynamic modern railway service.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36But stations makeovers were trivial
0:06:36 > 0:06:41compared to the real changes that had to be made.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45The railways' finances were in meltdown.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48They'd been losing money for years,
0:06:48 > 0:06:53and by 1961 were in debt to the colossal sum of £136 million.
0:06:57 > 0:07:03As a nationalised industry, this overspend was a huge headache for the Government.
0:07:03 > 0:07:09Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was determined the situation must alter.
0:07:10 > 0:07:16He wanted the railways to run like a business and pay for themselves.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20It was thought only an outsider from the railways could deliver this,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23so the job was offered to a captain of industry,
0:07:23 > 0:07:28steeped in the values of the hard-nosed, commercial world.
0:07:28 > 0:07:35# Cos he gets up in the morning and he goes to work at 9
0:07:35 > 0:07:40# And he comes back home at 5.30 Gets the same train... #
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Dr Richard Beeching had a PhD in physics and was considered
0:07:44 > 0:07:48one of the most brilliant business brains in the country.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52# And he's oh so good And he's oh so fine... #
0:07:52 > 0:07:56By the age 43 he'd risen to the board
0:07:56 > 0:07:59of one of Britain's top companies, ICI.
0:08:02 > 0:08:08Now he was made Chairman of the British Railways Board.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Beeching was exactly the right man for taking on the job
0:08:11 > 0:08:13of turning around the railways' finances,
0:08:13 > 0:08:15largely because he had the right image.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20It was a time when politicians believed you needed technocrats,
0:08:20 > 0:08:24experts, people who were doctors to solve these sorts of problems.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29Nowadays we're not surprised to hear of a manager from a private industry
0:08:29 > 0:08:32parachuted into an ailing public company.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34But in the 1960s it was rare.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37People couldn't understand what someone from the chemical industry
0:08:37 > 0:08:39could possibly do for the railways.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41The Mirror was pretty sneery.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46"Last night Dr Breeching sat in his spacious office at ICI headquarters in London,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49"and admitted with a bland smile,
0:08:49 > 0:08:53"No, I have no experience of railways, except as a passenger.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57"So I am not a practical railwayman but I am a very practical man."
0:08:57 > 0:09:00To demonstrate this practicality,
0:09:00 > 0:09:06Beeching first insisted the Government match his ICI salary.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09# The best things in life are free
0:09:09 > 0:09:12# But you can give them to the birds and bees
0:09:12 > 0:09:13# I need money... #
0:09:13 > 0:09:17Do you think that perhaps public service should in itself
0:09:17 > 0:09:21be regarded as part of the reward for a job of your sort?
0:09:21 > 0:09:23I don't think so under circumstances such as these.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27This really is a straightforward industrial job.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35Beeching's salary made the Mirror's front page.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38"A New Rail Boss at £24,000"
0:09:38 > 0:09:44And £24,000 was an unprecedented amount of money to give a public servant,
0:09:44 > 0:09:49particularly when, as the Mirror points out, the Prime Minister was only making 10,000 a year.
0:09:51 > 0:09:58Impervious to criticism, Beeching set out to save the railways from insolvency.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00It will be possible to make them pay.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04I think it's most important that they should be made to pay.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08I think there can be no satisfactory future for the railways
0:10:08 > 0:10:10unless they are made to pay.
0:10:13 > 0:10:20Beeching inherited an industry that had barely developed since the 1900s.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24He now faced an enormous challenge to correct more than a century
0:10:24 > 0:10:28of inefficiency engrained in the network from its very start.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40The system had evolved without a plan, built by railway barons
0:10:40 > 0:10:43whose overriding concern was making a quick buck.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Even if that meant duplicating lines or constructing routes
0:10:50 > 0:10:53that were unsustainable in the long term.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59Public service was usually the last thing on their minds.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03Trains were designed for profit.
0:11:06 > 0:11:13Passenger travel had been a luxury, but then the general public fell in love with trains too.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15They wanted to travel on them as well.
0:11:15 > 0:11:22And an Act of Parliament in 1844 forced companies to offer cheap fares for all.
0:11:22 > 0:11:27Every company had to provide a service on every line that would
0:11:27 > 0:11:34cost no more than an old penny a mile and run at least at 12mph.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39Some of them were a bit naughty and they'd run their trains at 6am and they were pretty unpopular.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43But most took advantage of this and it opened up the railways to the masses.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48This is when the British love affair with the train really began.
0:11:48 > 0:11:55Rail travel was now seen as a democratic, even God-given right, and it was enshrined in law.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57All very noble.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01But the stark economic truth was that moving people around the country
0:12:01 > 0:12:04was secondary to the real business of rail.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07This was what the railways were originally about.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10From raw materials like coal or iron ore
0:12:10 > 0:12:12to manufactured goods and livestock,
0:12:12 > 0:12:17what the railways were designed to do first was carry freight.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20Trains literally drove the Industrial Revolution.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25And the prospect of thousands of freight wagons, full to bursting, travelling up and down the country,
0:12:25 > 0:12:29that's what excited the early railway entrepreneurs.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31That's where the money was.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40By the early 1850s, there was an astonishing 5,000 miles of railway
0:12:40 > 0:12:44criss-crossing the country, owned by dozens of companies.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47And this hectic growth showed no signs of stopping.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56A century before Dr Beeching, some people thought the unchecked
0:12:56 > 0:12:59expansion of the railways would end in disaster.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05"Railways have set all the towns of Britain a-dancing.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07"Reading is coming up to London,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11"Basingstoke is going down to Gosport or Southampton,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14"confusedly waltzing in a state of progressive dissolution,
0:13:14 > 0:13:18"and know not where the end of the death-dance will be for them."
0:13:22 > 0:13:28It wasn't just Carlyle who had an apocalyptic view of the railways.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32Although they later came to define the British landscape,
0:13:32 > 0:13:37for many 19th century NIMBYs, trains signalled the death of the countryside.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44This line through the Severn Valley is now a popular tourist attraction.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49But, in 1849, when plans were drawn up, there were local objections.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53One landowner, Mr Thomas Charlton Whitmore of Apley Park,
0:13:53 > 0:13:58insisted that the railway enter a tunnel when it went through his estate,
0:13:58 > 0:14:01so the view from his house would be preserved.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05A sizeable offer of compensation from the railways changed his mind.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09And in a stunning volte face, he then started cutting down trees
0:14:09 > 0:14:12so he would get a better view of passing trains.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18Railways, though rooted in the world of money and commerce,
0:14:18 > 0:14:22were fast becoming works of art in their own right.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Railways were considered not just
0:14:24 > 0:14:26one of the highest forms of modern technology,
0:14:26 > 0:14:28but they were part of a new shaping of the British landscape.
0:14:28 > 0:14:35You can see the sheer thrill and enjoyment that architects had in designing stations.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38They could let rip, they designed buildings that were a combination of
0:14:38 > 0:14:42Greek temples mixed with railways, they could be Gothic cathedrals,
0:14:42 > 0:14:44they could be fortresses,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47and they were the most magnificent, thrilling, exciting things.
0:14:48 > 0:14:53This chaotic, commercial venture had become part and parcel
0:14:53 > 0:14:55of the way Victorians imagined themselves,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59and still influences how we see ourselves as Britons today.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03And as the extent and popularity of trains grew,
0:15:03 > 0:15:07rail travel even became the subject of an etiquette guide.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10One that's still pretty useful now.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18"The placing of a coat, a book, a newspaper, or any other article,
0:15:18 > 0:15:20"on the seat of a carriage,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24"is intended as a token that such a place is engaged."
0:15:34 > 0:15:38"To prevent the vibration of the carriages to the arms and book,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40"do not rest the elbows,
0:15:40 > 0:15:46"but hold the book or paper in both hands, and support it by muscular power.
0:15:49 > 0:15:54"Keep a sharp look out to prevent being carried beyond your station.
0:15:55 > 0:16:01"The guards sometimes call out the name, but in such curious and varied dialect
0:16:01 > 0:16:05"that it is next to impossible to gather their meaning."
0:16:05 > 0:16:07MUFFLED VOICE
0:16:19 > 0:16:26By the start of the 20th century, a country only 600 miles long
0:16:26 > 0:16:29had 18,500 miles of railway.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33With such a huge profusion of different companies and lines,
0:16:33 > 0:16:37the system was complicated almost beyond comprehension.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40But miraculously, it all worked!
0:16:42 > 0:16:46If Dr Beeching had been compiling his report in the early 1900s,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49he'd have found the railways in fine form.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54Most lines were delivering a greater profit than ever before or since,
0:16:54 > 0:16:56especially on the long distance routes.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Companies were actually investing in freight services
0:16:59 > 0:17:03and in passenger trains, putting in better seating,
0:17:03 > 0:17:10lighting, toilets - all designed to deliver the enjoyable travelling experience.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14The golden age of Britain's railways
0:17:14 > 0:17:19was somewhere between 1890 and the outbreak of the First World War.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22That's when the railways are at their greatest extent physically,
0:17:22 > 0:17:27that's where they've got the greatest amount of fresh interesting, intelligent talent.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30They've been going long enough to have a routine and rhythm
0:17:30 > 0:17:35and they look absolutely sensationally wonderful in every way.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39# Oh, Mr porter, what shall I do?
0:17:39 > 0:17:42# I want to go to Birmingham
0:17:42 > 0:17:44# And they're taking me on to Crewe.. #
0:17:44 > 0:17:48The democratic idea of a national railway
0:17:48 > 0:17:51expanded immensely during the Edwardian era.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57From upper class days-trips to the city,
0:17:57 > 0:18:03to working class excursions to the seaside, the way to go was by rail.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14People's passion for train travel continued well into the 20th century,
0:18:14 > 0:18:20stoked by advertisements for the alluring places you could escape to by train.
0:18:24 > 0:18:30Meanwhile, newsreels extolled the excellence of British locomotive engineering.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34The Silver Jubilee Express, a new streamlined train, makes a trial run
0:18:34 > 0:18:37before starting on a regular service between London and Newcastle,
0:18:37 > 0:18:41and attains the amazing speed of 112 mph.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43It remains so steady that one can read without any difficulty.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50The Silver Jubilee is playing its part in keeping up the prestige of British Railways.
0:18:52 > 0:18:53Throughout the 1930s,
0:18:53 > 0:18:59British steam trains were smashing international records. It looked wonderful.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03It looked like progress. But sadly, it was exactly the opposite.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07While we were still in love with steam, other countries were already
0:19:07 > 0:19:13heavily investing in really modern technologies like high-speed diesel and electric traction.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24The great days of Britain's railways were already over.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30A less glamorous rival was now challenging
0:19:30 > 0:19:33the train companies' monopoly on delivering goods -
0:19:33 > 0:19:35the lorry.
0:19:36 > 0:19:42And the railways couldn't even fight back, because of Government legislation.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46It was very difficult for them to charge flexible prices.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50They couldn't turn down traffic so long as they could physically carry it.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54And it was very easy for the road haulage operator to see
0:19:54 > 0:19:56what the railways would charge and undercut them.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06120 years after their invention, the railways were in a sorry state,
0:20:06 > 0:20:13made much worse by the overuse and under investment of two world wars.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18In 1948, this became our problem.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21The Labour Government nationalised the railways.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25They were now owned by all of us.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33This was bad news for the taxpayer, because, by 1955,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36British Railways was firmly in the red.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42The British Transport Commission, which resided here in London,
0:20:42 > 0:20:46was responsible for fixing this economic disaster.
0:20:47 > 0:20:53This palatial building, erected by one of the great Victorian railway companies,
0:20:53 > 0:20:58now hosted discussions to salvage a network in decline.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04The British Transport Commission came up with a scheme.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08It would transform the railways from an old-fashioned, rundown network
0:21:08 > 0:21:12into a sleek, contemporary, efficient industry.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15The estimated price tag for this was over a billion pounds -
0:21:15 > 0:21:19the equivalent of 22 billion in today's money.
0:21:19 > 0:21:24But the commission was convinced that this investment would revive the fortunes of the railway.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27And this modernisation plan was called...
0:21:27 > 0:21:29the Modernisation Plan!
0:21:29 > 0:21:31A new word is coming to railways,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34and with it a lot of exciting changes.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38The word is modernisation.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42The modernisation plan was really the great,
0:21:42 > 0:21:44lost opportunity before Beeching,
0:21:44 > 0:21:50because the railways did at last get all the money they'd been clamouring for
0:21:50 > 0:21:52for years and years and years.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57And if they had spent it more wisely, then maybe we might not have had Beeching.
0:22:00 > 0:22:06British Railways began to phase out steam engines.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10But they exchanged them for hastily commissioned diesels.
0:22:10 > 0:22:15These fast developed a reputation for breaking down.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25And, in an attempt to take on the lorry, 30 huge marshalling yards
0:22:25 > 0:22:29were built, so freight wagons could be moved more easily.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33The only thing missing was the freight.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41The railway industry was unable to compete either with the prices
0:22:41 > 0:22:44or with the logistical convenience that the road hauliers could offer.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47The British Transport Commission's idea that
0:22:47 > 0:22:52freight would return to pre-war levels, was simply unrealistic.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57In fact, it was almost inevitable that the Modernisation Plan would
0:22:57 > 0:23:00fail to pull British Railways out of the red, because the money
0:23:00 > 0:23:04the Government had put up was not a grant or a subsidy -
0:23:04 > 0:23:06it was loan to be paid back with interest.
0:23:09 > 0:23:16By the start of 1960s, British Railways' deficit was £112 million.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20And it was out of control.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23Something would have to be done.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31Harold Macmillan isn't generally seen as a radical Prime Minister,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34but he took a hard line on the railways.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38They were to run like a business and aim to pay their own way.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46Put in charge of making this happen was Transport Minister Ernest Marples.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51Marples, however, was pro-road.
0:23:51 > 0:23:57In fact, he'd amassed a fortune building roads before entering politics.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02There he became one of the most controversial ministers of the post-war era.
0:24:04 > 0:24:05I don't think Ernest Marples
0:24:05 > 0:24:08would have survived five minutes in politics today
0:24:08 > 0:24:12because he seemed to take almost perverse delight
0:24:12 > 0:24:15in upsetting people and in flirting with scandal.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19Macmillan had a very high opinion of Marples,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22almost as high as Marples' opinion of himself.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26Macmillan could see that Marples would be the right sort of person
0:24:26 > 0:24:31to pursue a difficult and potentially very unpopular policy towards the railways.
0:24:36 > 0:24:41Marples relished the task of taking the railways in hand.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45There was to be no place for the nooks and crannies of the network
0:24:45 > 0:24:47so beloved by the Betjemans of this world.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Marples brought in the like-minded Dr Beeching
0:24:52 > 0:24:57to facilitate his unsentimental plan for the railway's future.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00The bottom line would be...
0:25:00 > 0:25:02the bottom line.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04Isn't there something to be said for the railways
0:25:04 > 0:25:06being run as a service to the nation
0:25:06 > 0:25:09rather than on the strict profit and loss basis
0:25:09 > 0:25:10of a private company?
0:25:10 > 0:25:13There is something to be said but I think it's a doubtful argument.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15Somebody's got to pay
0:25:15 > 0:25:21and if a service of this kind is not supported by those who use it,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24then it means a tax on the populous in general.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32The 17th of April 1961 might have seemed like
0:25:32 > 0:25:36a normal Monday to passengers and railway staff around the country.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44In fact, it was day one of a seven-day survey into line traffic
0:25:44 > 0:25:48on which Beeching would base his report.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03The results starkly exposed the inefficiency of the railways.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08The key thing Beeching did establish
0:26:08 > 0:26:13was that about 95% of rail traffic travelled on half the network,
0:26:13 > 0:26:17and the other half of the network just wasn't carrying enough to be viable.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20That was the important statistic.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Beeching now felt he had the evidence to justify the policy
0:26:26 > 0:26:30he and Marples had intended to implement from the start -
0:26:30 > 0:26:32mass closure.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39There's nothing modern about hiring a spin doctor.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Beeching needed to manage the bad news,
0:26:42 > 0:26:49and he hired John Nunnely, who'd been director of publicity for the Express newspaper group.
0:26:49 > 0:26:55Now at British Transport HQ, he had to stop the papers getting wind of the closures.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02- The press itself had been pretty hostile, hadn't it?- Yes.
0:27:02 > 0:27:08- Newspapers really wanted to get advance information.- I bet.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12Because they wanted to run stories which would
0:27:12 > 0:27:16warn the general public their station could be axed and all the rest of it.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18And were there no leaks?
0:27:18 > 0:27:23No. I decided that I would hire something like 25
0:27:23 > 0:27:28absolutely first rate typists from the private sector.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30- Not from within the railways.- Right.
0:27:30 > 0:27:37Every night I personally destroyed every typewriter ribbon that had been used.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40- In case it had a name left on it? - Exactly.
0:27:47 > 0:27:53The long-awaited report was finally made public in March 1963.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04This is it - this is The Beeching Report,
0:28:04 > 0:28:08official title, "The Reshaping of British Railways",
0:28:08 > 0:28:11an early example of euphemistic management speak.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15"The Reduction of British Railways" would have been accurate,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18or "The Rescuing of British Railways" if you wanted to be optimistic.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20But "The Reshaping" it was.
0:28:20 > 0:28:26It came in two parts. Part one, the report, which was tables, charts, arguments, and part two,
0:28:26 > 0:28:31a series of detailed maps, all to show that Beeching had done his homework.
0:28:31 > 0:28:37But the section that most people turned to, was appendix two in the end of part one,
0:28:37 > 0:28:42which was a list of passenger services, line and station closures.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47And it has been said that this list reads like the list of names on a war memorial.
0:28:47 > 0:28:55Abbey Town, Acrow Halt, Acton Central, Addingham, Addlestrop, Ainsdale...
0:28:55 > 0:28:58Henfield, Hensall, Henstridge...
0:28:58 > 0:29:02Stratton Park Hall...
0:29:02 > 0:29:07Yelvertoft and Stanford Park...
0:29:07 > 0:29:14Yeovil Halt, Yeovil Pen Mill, Yeovil Town, Yetminster, Yorton.
0:29:14 > 0:29:19There was a sense that a great portion of Britain had been given a sort of death sentence.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21And it was a PR disaster.
0:29:21 > 0:29:28Beeching just wasn't the sort of political animal who would see how that list
0:29:28 > 0:29:33would in a way become a testament to what a terrible person he was.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36The Guardian published a poem called Lament which ended,
0:29:36 > 0:29:40"We shall stop at you no more because Dr Beeching stops at nothing."
0:29:40 > 0:29:43# Ellersdale for Tideswell... #
0:29:43 > 0:29:48It gave a romantic quality to all those lost destinations which was
0:29:48 > 0:29:51immediately exploited by people like Flanders and Swann.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53# No more will I go
0:29:53 > 0:29:56# To Blandford Forum
0:29:56 > 0:30:00# And Mortehoe
0:30:00 > 0:30:05# On the slow train from Midsomer Norton
0:30:05 > 0:30:08# And Mumby Road
0:30:08 > 0:30:11# No churns, no porter
0:30:11 > 0:30:13# No cat on a seat... #
0:30:13 > 0:30:17Beeching's report would change the map of Britain for good.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21# We won't be meeting again
0:30:21 > 0:30:24# On the slow train... #
0:30:26 > 0:30:30Over 200 branch lines were to be closed.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33More than 2,000 stations shut down.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37And 5,000 miles of track would be pulled up.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51There's never been a Domesday Book of Britain's railways like this.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55Remote areas of the highlands will lose their services.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58Wales takes a body blow as well.
0:30:58 > 0:31:03In the North East, little more than the main North-South links will remain.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07Holiday resorts in the West Country share the fate of many market towns,
0:31:07 > 0:31:10no station, no passenger trains.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13North Devon and North Cornwell resorts are especially hit.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25"Attend the long express from Waterloo, that takes us down to Cornwall.
0:31:29 > 0:31:34"On Wadebridge station, what a breath of sea scented the Camel Valley.
0:31:34 > 0:31:39"Cornish air, soft Cornish rains, and silence after steam."
0:31:43 > 0:31:48Thanks to the train, the South-West coastline had become
0:31:48 > 0:31:51the prime location of the English bucket and spade holiday.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58This is a charming poster from the early 1960s
0:31:58 > 0:32:02showing the seaside resorts that you could get to from Waterloo,
0:32:02 > 0:32:06on the glamorous sounding Atlantic Coast Express.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09But after Beeching had done his work, all these stations were closed
0:32:09 > 0:32:12and you couldn't get to any of these towns by rail.
0:32:19 > 0:32:24The North Cornish village of Padstow depended on its trains.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32The railway had arrived here in 1899 and immediately revolutionised
0:32:32 > 0:32:37the local economy, carrying fish out and tourists in.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46Over 60 years on, the track which had brought
0:32:46 > 0:32:50such prosperity to Padstow was carried off for scrap.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59At the old station there is now a car park.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04And along the old coastal route,
0:33:04 > 0:33:09the views are only enjoyed by walkers and the occasional cyclist.
0:33:17 > 0:33:23When the railway went, it was the workers on the local lines who were hit first.
0:33:26 > 0:33:31I met up with Trevor Knight and Rod Thompson, who'd found their jobs under threat.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37I don't think there was a case to do what they did
0:33:37 > 0:33:39to this part of the world, just cut it right out
0:33:39 > 0:33:42and isolate everybody, cos that's what it did, like.
0:33:42 > 0:33:47Do you think their research into numbers was scientific and rigorously done?
0:33:47 > 0:33:51If you see a stranger in the camp, you think, what's he doing?
0:33:51 > 0:33:53Why has he got a clipboard?
0:33:53 > 0:33:57You used to see them get off a train and they'd be watching to see who got on and off.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00When we were observing all this,
0:34:00 > 0:34:04it was a time when there was less people travelling,
0:34:04 > 0:34:06like midday or something like that,
0:34:06 > 0:34:10rather than in the mornings when there was people going to work,
0:34:10 > 0:34:12children going to school, various places.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15So are you suggesting it was a fix?
0:34:15 > 0:34:17Yes!
0:34:19 > 0:34:22There are people who suggest that the figures were collated
0:34:22 > 0:34:25by going to railway stations when they weren't very busy,
0:34:25 > 0:34:29and going at off-peak times rather than at the commuter rush
0:34:29 > 0:34:31or when schools were coming out.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33Absolute rubbish!
0:34:33 > 0:34:35You say that very confidently.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38I do say it confidently. Absolute rubbish.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42It's extremely unlikely that surveys were rigged.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45But in fact there was a generally hurried approach
0:34:45 > 0:34:49to analysing the results, and there wasn't a great deal of thought
0:34:49 > 0:34:53given to, should we do another survey at another time?
0:34:53 > 0:34:58Should we look at how we can cut costs or have initiatives to increase traffic?
0:34:58 > 0:35:02I remember the divisional manager at Plymouth
0:35:02 > 0:35:07wrote a letter with a very, very good plan for the Exmouth line.
0:35:07 > 0:35:12And the reply he got, which came from headquarters,
0:35:12 > 0:35:15was, "It is not the job of the divisional manager
0:35:15 > 0:35:20"to tell us how to run the railways efficiently, it's to close it down."
0:35:22 > 0:35:27Closing hundreds of lines meant cutting thousands of jobs.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30Railway workers were devastated.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38John Betjeman added his voice to the protests.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43You know, I'm not just being nostalgic and sentimental
0:35:43 > 0:35:46and unpractical about railways.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48They are not a thing of the past.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52And it's heartbreaking to see them left to rot,
0:35:52 > 0:35:56and to see the fine men who've served them all their lives,
0:35:56 > 0:36:00made uncertain about their own futures and about their jobs.
0:36:02 > 0:36:07I think it's more than likely we'll deeply regret the branch lines
0:36:07 > 0:36:12we've torn up and the lines that we've let to go to rot.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17The travelling public joined the mounting opposition.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22It's a very sad thought, you know, to us
0:36:22 > 0:36:27that some boffin boy at grimy old Liverpool Street, some economist,
0:36:27 > 0:36:32may be the means of closing down this eight miles of very nice line,
0:36:32 > 0:36:35merely for the sake of balancing his books.
0:36:35 > 0:36:40It's a nationalised industry, and if it is losing money,
0:36:40 > 0:36:44it's only a drop in the ocean compared with other industries.
0:36:44 > 0:36:49And it's an essential service that I think we're entitled to.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53Dissatisfaction was escalating.
0:36:53 > 0:36:59Beeching acted swiftly by stepping up the PR campaign.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03He requested help from an unlikely source.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08BBC Television presents Tony Hancock in...
0:37:10 > 0:37:12Hancock's Half Hour.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18I hate train journeys, always have.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20They drive me up the wall. Hour after hour,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23clickety clack, bigelly bong,
0:37:23 > 0:37:25clickety clack, bigelly bong...
0:37:27 > 0:37:30This lot are going on a different train for a start.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33Another thing I hate about train journeys: passengers.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36Every time I travel by train I get mixed up with the most
0:37:36 > 0:37:39ugly looking lot of geezers you've ever seen in your life.
0:37:40 > 0:37:45The lugubrious Tony Hancock was one of Britain's best loved comedians.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49Although Dr Beeching's sense of humour was hardly legendary,
0:37:49 > 0:37:53he now despatched his Publicity Officer to get Hancock on board.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55Who's little one's this, then?
0:37:55 > 0:37:57- That's mine. - Right, catch, there you are.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01I said, "How much would you want for it?"
0:38:01 > 0:38:04"Well," he said,
0:38:04 > 0:38:09"Dr Beeching is paid 24,000 a year.
0:38:09 > 0:38:10"I want the same."
0:38:12 > 0:38:14I said, "I'll give you half."
0:38:14 > 0:38:16"Done!"
0:38:18 > 0:38:20I'm not looking forward to this at all.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28Hancock fronted a spoof investigation.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34Sparing no expense, celebrity photographer Terence Donovan
0:38:34 > 0:38:39took the pictures, which ran as a campaign in national newspapers.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44This advert was called The Train That Wasn't,
0:38:44 > 0:38:47and it's about cuts in services.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50Hancock complains, "Oh, that Beeching! Look what he's done now.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54"Removed my favourite train from the service, 29 minutes after midnight.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56"Very cosy too, only one passenger per carriage.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00"'You can cut what trains you like, but not mine,' I said to Beeching."
0:39:00 > 0:39:04The official railway's response runs underneath.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07"At present, some trains run almost empty.
0:39:07 > 0:39:12"These services lose the railways large sum of money, waste manpower and equipment.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14"Economies must be made.
0:39:14 > 0:39:19"The few people affected may have to use other forms of transport or travel earlier."
0:39:20 > 0:39:24There's no evidence the costly Hancock Report
0:39:24 > 0:39:26convinced anybody of anything.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30The death of their railways was no laughing matter
0:39:30 > 0:39:32to those at the sharp end of the cuts.
0:39:32 > 0:39:37Especially when Beeching's faith in alternative transport
0:39:37 > 0:39:40seemed excessively optimistic.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42"I've had an idea," he said.
0:39:42 > 0:39:47"Do you think you can provide me with a map of every bus service
0:39:47 > 0:39:52"in this country, showing the coverage nationally?"
0:39:52 > 0:39:55- We put it as an appendix. - Yes, it's here.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59And if you look at that map,
0:39:59 > 0:40:04you would find there was not, at that time, a hamlet,
0:40:04 > 0:40:06village or town
0:40:06 > 0:40:11which was not covered by bus services.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15"Nearly all the rail services which we intend to cut out
0:40:15 > 0:40:17"run parallel with bus services.
0:40:17 > 0:40:18"And even when they don't,
0:40:18 > 0:40:22"it's very much cheaper to run a bus instead of the railway."
0:40:22 > 0:40:26But as far as the politicians were concerned,
0:40:26 > 0:40:29a comprehensive bus service was never on the cards.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34Richard Marsh was later a minister
0:40:34 > 0:40:38when the provision of buses was on the Government's agenda.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41Beeching was desperately, the whole time,
0:40:41 > 0:40:44looking for something specific on it.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46- To offer?- Yeah.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48And, and it wasn't there.
0:40:48 > 0:40:53Were the Cabinet aware that it wasn't there, that the buses wouldn't materialise?
0:40:53 > 0:40:56Oh, yes, I think everybody did.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58- It was just a sop?- Yeah.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04The Government's vision of future transport lay elsewhere.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14In the same way that the train defined the Victorian era,
0:41:14 > 0:41:18the car was the ultimate expression of the 20th century.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23A symbol of modernity for an individualistic age.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31The car, from the mid 1950s, was, apart from anything else -
0:41:31 > 0:41:34and beyond a means of transport - a consumer dream.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36It was something you could own.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38You can't own a railway.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41A railway takes you where the railway goes,
0:41:41 > 0:41:43a car takes you where, theoretically, you want to go.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46The idea of having some exciting little Ford Anglia,
0:41:46 > 0:41:50or Ford Prefect, with its plastic seats, was a terrific dream.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56But even before today's environmental fears,
0:41:56 > 0:41:58the downside of car culture was apparent.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12Traffic congestion was a serious problem even when Beeching published his report.
0:42:12 > 0:42:17Aware of this, the lines he chose to keep were often commuter links
0:42:17 > 0:42:21or inter city routes, taking people in and out of the big urban centres.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27Yet Beeching's efforts to ease congestion would make little impact
0:42:27 > 0:42:29in the big scheme of things.
0:42:30 > 0:42:36The national transport strategy was in the hands of Ernest Marples,
0:42:36 > 0:42:40minister and sometime road construction magnate.
0:42:40 > 0:42:45And he believed not in trains, but in tarmac.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49Whilst we can squeeze the last ounce out of our existing roads
0:42:49 > 0:42:53by traffic management and traffic engineers,
0:42:53 > 0:42:58the solution ultimately to the problem must be new roads.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05The section of the M6 was opened by Mr Marples,
0:43:05 > 0:43:09adding 27 miles to the northern section of the Birmingham-Preston motorway.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12The minister entered into the spirit of the occasion.
0:43:12 > 0:43:19Some thought Marples' zeal for road building was, well, a bit dodgy.
0:43:19 > 0:43:24Amongst his critics was a recently launched satirical magazine.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27"Aim of the Marples Master Plan:
0:43:27 > 0:43:30"to run down all forms of transport in Britain
0:43:30 > 0:43:33"with the exception of the private motor car,
0:43:33 > 0:43:36"so that Britain's roads become clogged to saturation.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40"Thus far, Marples is acting in league with the motor cartels.
0:43:40 > 0:43:41"Then will be his hour.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45"His army of traffic wardens will take over all points of strategic importance.
0:43:45 > 0:43:50"And Marples will assume supreme control of the national destiny."
0:43:50 > 0:43:53Well, got a bit overexcited at the end there.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55But actually that is pretty prophetic.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59And that, of course, was Private Eye in 1962.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02And as the current editor, I'm very impressed
0:44:02 > 0:44:06that my illustrious predecessors had got Marples' number quite so early.
0:44:06 > 0:44:11The man who'd built, financed and championed roads
0:44:11 > 0:44:14was never going to be sympathetic to the railways' case.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16Though he made a reasonable show of it in public.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22It looks to outsiders rather as though if Dr Beeching says, "Close it", that's it.
0:44:22 > 0:44:24Oh, not a bit of it, not a bit of it!
0:44:24 > 0:44:28Dr Beeching, with whom I'm in a very friendly relationship,
0:44:28 > 0:44:32cannot close a line that's objected to, a passenger line.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35Only the minister on behalf of the Government can do that.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39And I go into the evidence very carefully.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45Beeching's job was strictly to identify the financial case for closure,
0:44:45 > 0:44:47and leave it to politicians to decide
0:44:47 > 0:44:52whether there was a social case for keeping a line or station open.
0:44:56 > 0:45:01In 1964, with an election looming, Labour leader Harold Wilson
0:45:01 > 0:45:06saw votes in stating his commitment to that social case.
0:45:06 > 0:45:13He pledged to halt major rail closures whilst he worked out his own transport policy.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17In Siloth and in Hull immediately before the General Election,
0:45:17 > 0:45:22the Labour Party was saying, "We will re-open these lines next week if you vote Labour."
0:45:22 > 0:45:25Of course, immediately after the election there was a hurried attempt
0:45:25 > 0:45:29to redefine the words "major" and "halt", so that they could say
0:45:29 > 0:45:34they had halted major rail closures without actually having to do that.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42Once in power, Wilson, unsurprisingly,
0:45:42 > 0:45:46saw the merits of Beeching's plan, after all.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50He was on his own mission to modernise Britain.
0:45:50 > 0:45:55But there were times when he found the political price of closures too high.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01We had an argument about the Welsh lines
0:46:01 > 0:46:06which were doing very, very little at that stage.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10And Beeching's attitude to that was, well you just shut the thing down.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14And then it eventually went to the Cabinet, as to what we would do.
0:46:14 > 0:46:18After I had finished, there was a complete silence,
0:46:18 > 0:46:23and George Thomas in those days, who was a friendly Welshman, said,
0:46:23 > 0:46:26"Prime Minister, we can't do that."
0:46:26 > 0:46:29And Harold Wilson said, "What do you mean we can't do it?"
0:46:29 > 0:46:34"It goes through seven marginal constituencies," he said.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38If he'd been there, I think he would have just exploded.
0:46:40 > 0:46:45Beeching had no sympathy with such trifling conflicts of interest.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49He was resolute that, if followed rigorously, his plan would deliver.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52Beeching was mesmerised by the idea
0:46:52 > 0:46:57that there could be a core railway that was profitable.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00And therefore, if you cut enough branches,
0:47:00 > 0:47:05you'd get a railway that could then pay for itself forever.
0:47:05 > 0:47:07But really that's a myth.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13It was a simplistic way of doing economics.
0:47:13 > 0:47:15There's a railway with two lines,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18we'll take one out and we'll save 50% of the cost.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20Well, I'm sorry, it isn't like that.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24You still have to maintain all the bridges, all the drains, everything.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30Railways are really an onion, and if you strip bits off you never,
0:47:30 > 0:47:34well, until you've destroyed it, get to the profitable core.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39Private Eye at the time made it clear
0:47:39 > 0:47:43that they thought Dr Beeching's policy of removing the branch lines
0:47:43 > 0:47:45from the body of the railway was pretty silly.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48And they illustrated this with a cartoon of Dr Beeching himself,
0:47:48 > 0:47:51in which he does his job of cutting down the railways,
0:47:51 > 0:47:55and then they remove his extremities, cutting off his arms and his legs,
0:47:55 > 0:47:58and then they say, "With his arms and legs cut off,
0:47:58 > 0:48:00"he's not much use, so let's sack him."
0:48:00 > 0:48:02So they do.
0:48:05 > 0:48:09A bit of satirical exaggeration there. Beeching wasn't fired.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13However, in 1965 he left British Railways,
0:48:13 > 0:48:16by "mutual agreement" with the Government.
0:48:20 > 0:48:25As he laid down his axe, he picked up a peerage and returned to ICI
0:48:25 > 0:48:30as Lord Beeching of East Grinstead, a town which had kept its station.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38Can I have a single to Marylebone, please?
0:48:38 > 0:48:41'He'd been hired to rationalise the railways.
0:48:41 > 0:48:47'But, as it turned out, his methods weren't quite as rigorous as he'd thought.'
0:48:49 > 0:48:55Beeching was mocked in a letter to the Times as a very efficient, very expensive computer.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59But it was because he lacked the number-crunching skills
0:48:59 > 0:49:02of a good computer, that he got some of his calculations wrong.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04Nowadays, with electronic ticketing,
0:49:04 > 0:49:07you know where and when a ticket was purchased.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11And computer modelling allows you to predict passenger behaviour.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15In his day, everything was entered in ledgers by hand,
0:49:15 > 0:49:19and collecting exhaustive ticketing information simply wasn't feasible.
0:49:24 > 0:49:26But even with more accurate figures,
0:49:26 > 0:49:30many of Britain's railways would still have been doomed.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42There is no doubt that Britain had too many railways
0:49:42 > 0:49:44after the Second World War.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47There were some branch lines that had really been built
0:49:47 > 0:49:51on very shaky economic grounds,
0:49:51 > 0:49:53and had been losing money for years and years.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57But I think it's possible to say that maybe something like
0:49:57 > 0:49:59a third of the mileage that he closed
0:49:59 > 0:50:05should have remained open and would provide a very useful service today.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13The fact is, this isn't ancient history.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17The damage inflicted by Beeching is still felt today.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20Which explains why I'm taking the car now,
0:50:20 > 0:50:23when, 40 years ago, I'd be getting the train.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34Once a railway line ran though this windswept countryside
0:50:34 > 0:50:36in the remote Scottish Borders.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43Edinburgh is 50 miles that way, and Carlisle about 50 that way.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46And this railway was completed in 1862.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49It quickly became known as the Waverley line,
0:50:49 > 0:50:53because this is the wild and romantic countryside
0:50:53 > 0:50:56in which Sir Walter Scott set his Waverley novels.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01Neither the line's history
0:51:01 > 0:51:05nor its value to the communities it served, could save it.
0:51:08 > 0:51:14In 1968, the notice of final closure went up.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18The town of Hawick would be hardest hit.
0:51:18 > 0:51:24It would now be left further from a train than anywhere else in mainland Britain.
0:51:26 > 0:51:31Madge Elliot, a local housewife, was appalled.
0:51:31 > 0:51:35What did you think would happen if they closed the railway, what would be lost?
0:51:35 > 0:51:41At that time it took just about three hours to go to Edinburgh,
0:51:41 > 0:51:4252 miles in the bus.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46Now that's quite a slice out of your day, isn't it?
0:51:46 > 0:51:48And how long in the train?
0:51:48 > 0:51:51An hour and 25 minutes.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56I remember my mother saying to me, I said, "Someone should be doing something."
0:51:56 > 0:51:59And she turned round and she said, "Well, what about you?"
0:51:59 > 0:52:00That was it.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06Madge organised a petition to save the railway,
0:52:06 > 0:52:09and took it all the way to the Prime Minister.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12This picture outside Downing St, that's you, isn't it?
0:52:12 > 0:52:16That's me, a young me, a long time ago.
0:52:16 > 0:52:18A very fetching suit!
0:52:18 > 0:52:21I wouldn't be seen in it now!
0:52:21 > 0:52:24You seem to have wrapped it up like a present.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27That's right, in red paper because it was a Labour Government,
0:52:27 > 0:52:32and the black ribbon because it was the death of our railway.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36- But they did close the line anyway?- Yes, they did.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40And your local paper here has got a special train
0:52:40 > 0:52:43being sent down to London with a hearse on it.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46- Yes. - And then there's this joke here,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49because the advert at the time was, "It's quicker by train",
0:52:49 > 0:52:51and you lot have put up, "It's quicker by hearse."
0:52:51 > 0:52:54Yes. And that's a fact today, you know, Ian.
0:52:54 > 0:52:58People that use the crematorium in Edinburgh,
0:52:58 > 0:53:03the hearse gets through a lot quicker than the bus, public transport,
0:53:03 > 0:53:06so it is quicker by hearse!
0:53:08 > 0:53:13Very few lines were ever rescued by the militancy of crusading locals.
0:53:26 > 0:53:31By 1973, almost 4,000 miles of track and over 3,500 stations
0:53:31 > 0:53:35had either been dismantled or left to rot.
0:53:40 > 0:53:45Despite Beeching's axe, the railways never did pay their way.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55Britain had once shown the world the possibilities of rail travel.
0:53:55 > 0:54:00Now the country had discarded a large part of that heritage.
0:54:02 > 0:54:07What did we lose culturally when we lost those branch lines?
0:54:07 > 0:54:11Everything that matters. We lost the poetry of the English landscape, I think really.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14Everything became a bit prosaic after that.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16When you put a branch line train in the landscape,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19I don't know why, it always looks beautiful.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25A lovely little Great Western Tank Engine puffing white clouds of steam,
0:54:25 > 0:54:27that's an image that still charms us.
0:54:39 > 0:54:43It's clear how much affection there is for this image of train travel,
0:54:43 > 0:54:48because today, heritage lines are hugely popular with the public.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56The Severn Valley Railway, a Beeching casualty,
0:54:56 > 0:54:58is just one of more than 100 lines
0:54:58 > 0:55:01which have been rescued by volunteers.
0:55:13 > 0:55:19These engines, however, do more than just puff out nostalgia.
0:55:19 > 0:55:24They are a reminder of a time before railways lost the nation's respect.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29I love them. But I do know that this isn't
0:55:29 > 0:55:33a totally accurate picture of what Britain before Beeching was like.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43There was an idea that before Beeching,
0:55:43 > 0:55:46the railways were a fantastic network, and you could travel
0:55:46 > 0:55:48to every tiny village in the country by rail.
0:55:48 > 0:55:53And you'd be met by a porter who'd take your ticket
0:55:53 > 0:55:58and then maybe transport you to the local manor house or whatever.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00And this is something of a myth.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07The reality is if we want a better transport system,
0:56:07 > 0:56:09we've got to be prepared to pay for it.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13It's a lot easier to say, "Beeching got it wrong,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16"Marples was a bad man, there was a conspiracy",
0:56:16 > 0:56:19than to face the very difficult choices people faced at the time.
0:56:21 > 0:56:27Beeching and Marples ultimately made their choice in purely economic terms.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29But I still think their dismissal of the social
0:56:29 > 0:56:33and cultural cost of cutting the railways was a real failure.
0:56:36 > 0:56:41The railways do mean more to the nation than just one way to get from A to B.
0:56:43 > 0:56:47And actually today, some of Beeching's axed lines could provide
0:56:47 > 0:56:53an alternative to car travel, and ease the strain on the environment.
0:56:53 > 0:56:58Millions are even now being spent on reinstating part of the cut Waverley Line.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07Fortunately, other parts of our railway's heritage fared better.
0:57:10 > 0:57:16In 1966, London's St Pancras Station, a Victorian masterpiece,
0:57:16 > 0:57:18was destined for demolition.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24It was only thanks to the protests of John Betjeman and others
0:57:24 > 0:57:26that it escaped the wrecking ball.
0:57:30 > 0:57:35Recently, it has been restored and adapted for the 21st century.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42Here in this new state of the art station, there is a statue.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45And is it of the visionary Dr Beeching?
0:57:45 > 0:57:47No. It's of John Betjeman,
0:57:47 > 0:57:51the nostalgic poet and champion of our railway heritage.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56Not Beeching, who wanted a modern railway industry, but Betjeman,
0:57:56 > 0:57:59who delighted in an old-fashioned train service.
0:58:01 > 0:58:05What we all want, of course, is the best of both of their worlds,
0:58:05 > 0:58:08and this struggle between them continues today.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11How far do you go with cutting a public service
0:58:11 > 0:58:14in the name of efficiency before you lose the whole point of it?
0:58:14 > 0:58:18Not just with trains, but with buses, post offices and the NHS.
0:58:18 > 0:58:20It's the same argument.
0:58:20 > 0:58:24Personally, I want an up-to-date, reliable railway,
0:58:24 > 0:58:28but I also want one that preserves what was so valuable in its past.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31I realise I may have to wait some time for this.
0:58:31 > 0:58:33But it would be worth it.
0:58:33 > 0:58:35# No more will I go
0:58:35 > 0:58:38# To Blandford Forum
0:58:38 > 0:58:41# And Mortehoe
0:58:42 > 0:58:46# On the slow train from Midsomer Norton
0:58:46 > 0:58:49# And Mumby Road
0:58:50 > 0:58:54# No-one departs, no-one arrives
0:58:54 > 0:58:57# From Selby to Goole
0:58:57 > 0:59:00# From St Erth to St Ives
0:59:00 > 0:59:04# They've all passed out of our lives
0:59:04 > 0:59:06# On the slow train... #