Great Western Coffee Shop

SRUBL (UK) was actually formed in the early 1950s (with 1952 referred to in our archive and mention of a public meeting on 16 November 1951 - possibly a catalyst for SRUBL (UK)'s formation) and that long name was soon simplified to the Railway Invigoration Society, of which I was general secretary from 1961 to 1968. At the time branch line closures were few and far between but with the advent of the Marples-Beeching era in the mid-1960s the trickle became a torrent.

Encouraged by the poet John Betjeman and Robert Aickman, founder of the Inland Waterways Association, we persevered. With the assistance of local action groups, such as the North London Line Committee and the East Suffolk Travellers Association, now chaired by Trevor Garrod, lines such as Ipswich-Lowestoft escaped the axe.