Beeching’s Legacy - Railways After the Axe
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By the early 1960s, as a result of the declining economic state of the railway industry, the government of Harold Macmillan was seriously concerned as to whether the losses being incurred by the railways could ever be stopped. In order to examine the state of the nation’s railways, Dr Richard Beeching was appointed to the British Transport Commission and then to the British Railways Board. Commissioned to examine the state of the industry’s finances, his resulting report –The Reshaping of British Railways – was one of the seminal, and most controversial, documents in the country’s railway history.
This book looks at the Beeching report in detail, examining the background factors that led to the need for a report in the first place and emphasising the fact that closure of railways was nothing new. Following on from its analysis of the report itself and the political climate in which it was issued, the book then looks at how the railway industry has evolved since the report’s publication in 1963 and how far the aspirations that Beeching outlined more than 60 years ago have been realised.
First published as part of a book and DVD set more than a decade ago, Beeching’s Legacy is now available as a stand-alone book for the first time. Fully re-illustrated and updated, the book is a fascinating account of the role of Dr Beeching and his infamous cuts in the creation of the modern railway.
Softback, 64 pages, approx 35 black & white photographs
ISBN: 9781913555214
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Updated: 7 April 2025