The future of British Rail

grahame

Administrator
Hero Member

Posts: 40833

The future of British Rail - 1969 vintage

« on: October 25, 2023, 18:09:57 »

Posting this on "Shorter Journeys in Devon" because it starts with the contaction of the Withered Arm

Quote

What is the future for British Rail? The Beeching cuts are still biting, are more lines set for closure, and what are the reasons for this. 'This Week' investigates. First shown: 23/10/1969

Via Cornish Times

Take a look also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUHUwSGN7rA


« Last Edit: October 25, 2023, 18:23:06 by grahame »	Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep

REVUpminster

Hero Member

Posts: 536

Re: The future of British Rail - 1969 vintage

« Reply #1 on: October 26, 2023, 11:42:18 »

Very interesting from a programme of 1969, five years into a Labour government who's priorities at the time was the balance of payments and exports, even creeping into popular spy series Danger Man.
Canals had a heyday of fifty years until the railways killed them off. Rail, 100years? before motorways killed off freight. Freight is only suitable for really long distances.
Passenger service suffered from the car when you could park in the cities but now with flight from the big cities to the countryside and shire towns greater than ever a demand for reintroduced trains from place like Okehampton was probably inevitable.

The area I know Torbay suffered overnight 5000 well paid jobs lost when Nortel closed. One solution was the Kingskerswell by-pass to bring jobs to the area but it had the reverse effect allowing people to commute to Exeter where the jobs are. A by-product for railways is the increased commuter traffic between Paignton and Exeter. There was always commuter traffic between Exmouth and Exeter.


	Logged

Mark A

Global Moderator
Hero Member

Posts: 1345

Re: The future of British Rail - 1969 vintage

« Reply #2 on: October 26, 2023, 14:25:37 »

Quote from: REVUpminster on October 26, 2023, 11:42:18

A by-product for railways is the increased commuter traffic between Paignton and Exeter.

That's said of the A55 along the North Wales Coast - intended to boost the economy of the coast, dualling the A55 had the reverse effect and allowed said economy to relocate to Chester.

Mark


	Logged

Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

Pages: [1]

« previous next »