The Bristol Railway Archive

I watched the program today, and the conclusion i came to was that the dear old misinster of transport Ernest Marples of "Marples Ridgeway the road builders could see that he was into a fortune if the railways closed. So Beechings ú24,000 was just a drop in the ocean. Then when they ended up out of a job, it was as you the TGWU that could see jobs for the boys and all of the new roads. The surveys were inadequate, the theory was flawed and the result a disaster. Yes something needed to be done, but so many other things should of been taken into consideration besides whether a line made money or not. Nobody thought that if you remove line A that is making a loss and line B that is making a loss which connect to Line C which makes a profit the outcome would be that line C would then operate at a loss, as nobody looked at passenger travel patterns. The whole thing was an excuse for a massive road building program. Now i wonder why a man called Marples would be promoting such a thing, who says politics changes.

The thing that made me do several double takes was listening to the complaints from the passengers questioned about rail travel. The replys sounded spookily identical to todays passengers moans. Fairs shooting up, cramped conditions delays etc, had to look hard to check it wasn't current news clip. How things change ..... NOT

I have a copy of the report with all the various maps and the one word you will not see anywhere in the publication is "Beeching".

Many lines should have survived, but if Beeching knew then what we now now the outcome may have been very different. Just take the line from Bath Green Park to Bristol serving little more than villages or the growth around Portishead, who could have foreseen that?

Hislop did point out that even if beeching hadnt come along something needed to be done to save the loss making railways at the time.The fact that the raod haulage inndustry could see the prices the railway charge and thus undercut them and yet the railway wasnt allowed to see their prices.
Yet what do we see happening now 44ton lorrys on the road massive pots of money being spent to strengthen bridges,Just imagine the fuss if the railway asked for all the bridges that cross over lines to be raised so as to allow bigger containers or a much improved piggybacj system to be used.
Every one is equal some more then others !

nickt wrote:The thing that made me do several double takes was listening to the complaints from the passengers questioned about rail travel...

Those passengers' contentedness (lack of) with the condition of the railways appeared to be used as an excuse for the "reshaping". That somehow the conditions could be improved. None of those passengers (or today's passengers) would agree that closing lines was in any way a solution to the problems faced, then as now.

Maybe a bit off topic but did anyone see the programe just before, Railway walks with Juila Bradbury? I've just watched it on replay, the first of the series, this episode was in Derbyshire, I wonder if they have an episode around Bristol way?

You can see it here.

Also done quite well in the ratings - 1.29m or 6.7% share. That's pretty good for a digital channel and not at all bad for a "minority" interest programme! Lets hope that the planners take note that there is a seizable audience for railway programmes!

As for Railway Walks, according to Julia Bradbury's website, the programmes are:

2/10 Derbyshire
9/10 Wales
16/10 Cornwall
23/10 Speyside
30/10 Weymouth
6/11 Callander

TLM

TheLastMinute wrote:As for Railway Walks, according to Julia Bradbury's website, the programmes are:

2/10 Derbyshire
9/10 Wales
16/10 Cornwall
23/10 Speyside
30/10 Weymouth
6/11 Callander

TLM

I hope the Weymouth one isn't just the Rodwell trail...that's a bit dull. There are some very interesting old quarry tramways on Portland, with long lines of stone sleepers (inc. pointwork!) still in situ. The locos at Tradecroft industrial estate are worth a look too.

Splodge wrote:

tugboatcharly2 wrote: As for beching i could have the job for nothing !!!

ú24,000 a year they paid him & the Prime Minister at the time was on ú10,000!

First time i've seen film footage of Beechin... bloody ugly wasn't he!

To be fair that was at a time when the combined income tax and surtax rates could end up with a person paying over 80% tax on their 'top slice'. Beeching's 'take home' pay would certainly be a lot less than 2.4 times the PM's 'take home'.

(Was it Paul McCartney who complained that UK tax was "nine for you, one for me" ?)


Did anyone see the earlier prgramme a repeat of an interview that Beeching gave in 1981 ? The interviewer asked him about lines he would personaly have closed; he initially declined but then said that he thought two lines to Scotland was unnecessary, and he would have closed the East Coast line above Newcastle. He made some comment about people in Berwick-on-Tweed being upset, but just stopped short of saying ' but ... tough !'


I remember Ernie Marples (Minister of Transport) opening various motorways, but I didn't know until now that he'd come from a top directorial position in the road construction industry. Very illuminating that snippet was !

(Was it Paul McCartney who complained that UK tax was "nine for you, one for me" ?)

You might be thinking of the Beatles song "Taxman"

"It's one for you, nineteen for me, coz I'm the taxman ...
If you drive car I'll tax the street
and if you walk, I tax your feet ....
And if your backs against the wall,
be careful I don't take it all ..."

Or words to that effect

Arch wrote: I remember Ernie Marples (Minister of Transport) opening various motorways, but I didn't know until now that he'd come from a top directorial position in the road construction industry. Very illuminating that snippet was !

Ah but he sale his shares in his company when he was minister of transport, to his wife!!!

He also fled the country in 1975 accused of fraud.

A person of very high principals!!!!

jules wrote:
You might be thinking of the Beatles song "Taxman"

"It's one for you, nineteen for me, coz I'm the taxman ...
If you drive car I'll tax the street
and if you walk, I tax your feet ....
And if your backs against the wall,
be careful I don't take it all ..."

Or words to that effect

Ah yes, I vaguely remember that

horace wrote:
Ah but he sale his shares in his company when he was minister of transport, to his wife!!!

He also fled the country in 1975 accused of fraud.

A person of very high principals!!!!

Mmm - didn't know that; odd that Hislop didn't mention it - although perhaps that was just a little too far off beam for a single programme. I would like to have seen a longer (two-parter) programme, I think there is enough in the subject to have warranted it.

A couple more for the diary

Thrusday 16th October BBC 4

7:30 Steam Days - Going Great Western from Bristol in the West Country
8:00 Absolutely Chuffed: The Men Who Built a Steam Engine
How a group of enthusiasts tried to build a brand new mainline steam engine from scratch
8:30 Railway Walks - The Birth of Steam - Julia Bradbury crosses Cornwall, following a railway that hasn't operated for 140 years
9:00 to 10:00 Time Shift - Series 8 The Last Days of Steam
How Britain entered a new age of steam railways after World War II and why it soon ended.

Donkey,
you're a star! I'm off to me Spar for a bucket of munchies and a four pack.