Enquiry about the Beeching report

[CastlebarKeith]

An area worth research is the sale of railway land ridiculously cheaply for housing development, and vast sums of money subsequently made by developers.
I would particularly like a thorough forensic of the sale and after effects of the Shoreham-By-Sea to Horsham line. The railway land at SOUTHWATER has been built on and the population has increased tenfold. lt now desperately needs rail connectivity

 

[Bevan Price]

It had more to do with how the Treasury operated. BR was scratching around for cash and also needed to reduce the liabilities associated with redundant land and structures.

At the time Marples seemed to be more interested in his cross dressing antics involving whips and professional ladies than his (by arrangement, wife's) firm. He liked the money the firm made though! But they didn’t really get any contracts as a result of specific closures.

You really need to look at the Civil Servants as the ones who drove the reduction in the network, not Marples.

It was also Civil Servants who favoured closure of some railways in Northern Ireland, including the loss of Belfast - Derry via Omagh, etc. .

 

[Magdalia]

How much impact did the 1955 rail stike have? Was it the trigger for further lost business, or was it just another nail in the coffin?

The 1955 strike had a major impact, particularly for merchandise freight. Much of this switched to road during the 1955 strike and didn't go back to rail.

But it probably just accelerated a trend that would have happened anyway.

this all played out through Stedeford, the appointment of Beeching and the setting up the BRB

There is a chain of events linking the 1955 strike to Stedeford then Beeching. The key missing link, that has not been mention here so far, was the Guillebaud Committee of Inquiry into Railway Pay. This was set up in 1958 and, when it reported in 1960, it recommended significant increases. Rejecting the report recommendations would have led to another damaging strike. Accepting the recommendations without taking action on loss making services would have resulted in escalating financial losses: Stedeford then Beeching were an attempt to address this dilemma.

 

[Titfield]

One of the key economic fundamentals which seems to have by passed British Railways management was elasticity of demand.

They seemed to believe that putting up fares by x% would result in x% more revenue failing to note that very often increasing fares causes some users to make alternative arrangements.

Equally when they were charging too cheap a fare (as was often the case for freight which got commodity specific special rates) they failed to appreciate that the rates charged could be increased without hitting volumes carried.

 

[Chrius56000]

. . .Did that Secret 61 Page Blue Report (the Serial Numbered one!) ever reach the public domain after it was leaked out?

 

[anothertyke]

. . .Did that Secret 61 Page Blue Report (the Serial Numbered one!) ever reach the public domain after it was leaked out?

There are files in the National archive, MT188, but I think you have to go to Kew, not digitised.

 

[whoosh]

Reg Dawson, a very brave and determined man

In March 1963, a report The Reshaping of British Railways written by Dr Richard Beeching, Chairman of British Rail, was published by the then British Railways Board. The report identified 2,363 sta…

pocketbookuk.wordpress.com

Of course the civil servants varied quite a bit--see above.

And the civil servants were instrumental in the design of the 68 Act which did create the basis for supporting the social railway.

Wow. What a story!

 

[Bevan Price]

One of the key economic fundamentals which seems to have by passed British Railways management was elasticity of demand.

They seemed to believe that putting up fares by x% would result in x% more revenue failing to note that very often increasing fares causes some users to make alternative arrangements.

Yes, in the early 1960s, basic passenger fares were increased from 2d to 3d per mile over a period of about 2 years - but the deficit continued to increase.

 

[Metrolink]

Just a quick enquiry - Is there a (cheap) e-book version of Gourvish's BR 1948-73 A Railway History? All the editions are 50+ pound to buy online and I whilst I see it as a very useful and credible source, I struggle to see it's worth it for that price, given that it won't contribute to a full written academic report.

 

[jadmor]

Just a quick enquiry - Is there a (cheap) e-book version of Gourvish's BR 1948-73 A Railway History? All the editions are 50+ pound to buy online and I whilst I see it as a very useful and credible source, I struggle to see it's worth it for that price, given that it won't contribute to a full written academic report.

Try this link

British Rail, 1974-97 : from integration to privatisation : Gourvish, T. R. (Terence Richard) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

xxix, 705 p. : 25 cm

archive.org

 

[Metrolink]

Try this link

British Rail, 1974-97 : from integration to privatisation : Gourvish, T. R. (Terence Richard) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

xxix, 705 p. : 25 cm

archive.org

Perfect, thanks!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Just a quick enquiry - Is there a (cheap) e-book version of Gourvish's BR 1948-73 A Railway History? All the editions are 50+ pound to buy online and I whilst I see it as a very useful and credible source, I struggle to see it's worth it for that price, given that it won't contribute to a full written academic report.

Should be able to buy a used copy for quite a bit less than that. Actual title is "British Railways 1948-73. A Business History".

 

[anothertyke]

Just a quick enquiry - Is there a (cheap) e-book version of Gourvish's BR 1948-73 A Railway History? All the editions are 50+ pound to buy online and I whilst I see it as a very useful and credible source, I struggle to see it's worth it for that price, given that it won't contribute to a full written academic report.

The 48-73 book can be bought second hand on the most obvious website for £25 incl p and p as of right now. And £28 on the second most obvious.

 

[WesternLancer]

Just a quick enquiry - Is there a (cheap) e-book version of Gourvish's BR 1948-73 A Railway History? All the editions are 50+ pound to buy online and I whilst I see it as a very useful and credible source, I struggle to see it's worth it for that price, given that it won't contribute to a full written academic report.

Looks like a good link is up now, but another option could be an 'Inter library loan' from your local library (sometimes there is a small charge for these, and not sure how quickly the book arrives for you to borrow, but the library staff would tell you)

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Looks like a good link is up now, but another option could be an 'Inter library loan' from your local library (sometimes there is a small charge for these, and not sure how quickly the book arrives for you to borrow, but the library staff would tell you)

Indeed an inter library load would be best - modest charge in my experience , and it is a "high calory" read so you need a fair bit of time to make notes and digest it.

A magesterial work.

 

[Oxfordblues]

One of the key economic fundamentals which seems to have by passed British Railways management was elasticity of demand.

They seemed to believe that putting up fares by x% would result in x% more revenue failing to note that very often increasing fares causes some users to make alternative arrangements.

Equally when they were charging too cheap a fare (as was often the case for freight which got commodity specific special rates) they failed to appreciate that the rates charged could be increased without hitting volumes carried.

Just one example of freight rate-setting ineptitude: a BR manager signed a deal with British Insulated Callender's Cables at Prescot which charged an increased rate for the loaded cable-drums but included the return of the empty drums free-of-charge. The result was that BICC transferred their forwardings to road transport, but still got the empty drums back at the railways' expense. (At least that's what an area freight manager at the time told me in the pub!)

 

[etr221]

The late Mike Horne wrote an essay on Beeching, which is probably worth a read: see https://www.metadyne.co.uk/Beeching.html .

 

[eldomtom2]

The late Mike Horne wrote an essay on Beeching, which is probably worth a read: see https://www.metadyne.co.uk/Beeching.html .

Some odd claims there, like the seeming attempt to pin the DMU-ization of local routes on Beeching - it was happening before him, and often on routes he wanted closed.

 

[MadMac]

Just one example of freight rate-setting ineptitude: a BR manager signed a deal with British Insulated Callender's Cables at Prescot which charged an increased rate for the loaded cable-drums but included the return of the empty drums free-of-charge. The result was that BICC transferred their forwardings to road transport, but still got the empty drums back at the railways' expense. (At least that's what an area freight manager at the time told me in the pub!)

There used to be quite a bit of money in the empty drums. In the early 90s, an ‘Urgent’ memo came out from BR’s Materials organisation regarding a Leeds based company who had attempted to collect empty drums from depots, quoting names of high-ranking people within Materials who had allegedly authorised their collection: of course, said people had done no such thing.