Beeching

[jsimpson]

Hello all,

First off I'm not sure if this is in the correct section so if not I'd appreciate if it could be moved, thanks!

Next week I am giving a presentation on the Beeching report. I am after any input that anybody might have, I know there is quite a lot of information out there but I thought that any input into how to give a ten minute power point presentation on the subject would be great! Thanks in advance!

 

[LE Greys]

Start with a front cover slide showing somewhere (Nottingham Victoria for instance) 'then' and 'now'. Also, I recommend you look at contributory revenue, i.e. ticket receipts gathered by people travelling to somewhere, and try to explain why the analysis used at the time might have been flawed. Finish with a slide looking at the effects of isolating a community.

 

[ainsworth74]

Don't get sucked into to thinking that it was all bad. Some of the closures were justifiable (with the information he had, the longer term trends, future policy and political direction) others were just logical. Further he did give us the concepts of Liner trains and Merry-go-round coal trains which I think everyone would agree have been a huge success. A complete report on the report )) will need to cover the good and moderate the bad with some context.

 

[Ivo]

What is the target audience for this presentation? Obviously we can't go too in-depth in the really marginal (but nonetheless crucial) details if it's aimed at a group of college students on a tourism module, whereas a University matter on history or similar would be quite specialised.

 

[jsimpson]

What is the target audience for this presentation?

Sorry I should have put that in the original post! The target audience are a group of co-workers, nothing to do with the rail industry the presentation is just a bit of practice at talking to groups etc.

 

[ainsworth74]

You might find the contents of this thread to be of some use and also this Ian Hislop documentary in six parts on YouTube.

 

[Ivo]

This ought to be rather useful too. Try to include a map of the pre- and post- networks if you can, although the sheer size of said maps may require focus on specific areas (a contrast between two areas perhaps?).

Beeching was not evil as is often suggested. He is even quoted as saying the following: "I suppose I'll always be looked upon as the axe man, but it was surgery, not mad chopping" (Davies, 1982). Note also that severe closures had taken place before Beeching even joined the BRB.

His Report did a lot of good for our railways, even if some closures were too hasty and in a few cases disastrous (Padstow is a classic example of one that went horribly wrong but has never been corrected). By contrast, the Serpell Report of 1982 would have been far worse if implemented.