Railfuture celebrates life after Beeching

Hundreds of rail stations and thousands of miles of rail line were closed across Britain in the wake of an infamous report 60 years ago today (Monday 27th March 2023).  Ever since then, however, they have been matched by scores of stations and hundreds of miles of track being re-opened, mostly thanks to the efforts of dogged campaigners including Railfuture’s members past and present.

The first Beeching station closure was Washington, County Durham, in early-September 1963, less than six months after the report was published!

The first, and without a doubt the fastest, re-opening of a Beeching station closure was Dunlop, East Ayrshire.  Closed on 7 November 1966, it was reopened just seven months later on 8 June 1967, thanks to a storm of local protest and national press coverage!

The first brand new post-Beeching station was Garston, Hertfordshire, in February 1966.

Ever since the Railway Development Society became Railfuture in 2000, and before then its predecessor organisations since the 1950s, individual members and affiliated organisations have been campaigning courageously first against line and station closures in those early days, and more recently and persistently for line and station openings and re-openings.

Railfuture is long-established as Britain’s leading independent national, and exclusively pro-rail, membership campaign.  Those strengths have now seen six decades of dividends paid with over 400 stations and over 100 lines and links restored or added new to the national rail network, putting many marginalised communities back on the map.  They’ve all benefited from new connectivity, improved travel choice, increased transport capacity, avoiding road congestion, and contributions to carbon reduction.

Our work goes on, supported by Government’s New Stations Fund and more recently the Restoring Your Railway Fund.  Railfuture doesn’t just generate lists and media sound-bites (although some of that happens too).  Through our 14 regional branches and hundreds of individual and affiliated members we generate personal activity and hands-on engagement in the often arduous yet ultimately rewarding processes of building a bigger better railway.

For aspiring campaigners the acknowledged definitive source of guidance, published by Railfuture with another organisation and endorsed by the Department for Transport, is “Expanding the Railways – how to develop and deliver a proposal.”  You need look nowhere else to get you going!

Register your support for Restoring Your Railway – line or station: https://www.railfuture.org.uk/Register-your-support-for-Restoring-Your-Railway

See https://www.railfuture.org.uk/Restoring-Your-Railway