tubechallenge.com

Today marks 50 years since the publication of the report that called for the closure of 55% of train stations in UK. What peoples thoughts on the infamous Dr Beeching's and his phobia of trains?

Well, one's initial thoughts are that he closed a lot of lines that didn't need closing. However, you have to remember that he was under instructions to save the Government money, so closing stuff was the easy option.

One thing that annoys me is the survey itself. It was conducted over one WEEK, at a quiet time of the year. This means that a lot of branch lines which saw large amounts of holiday traffic (the Cornish branch lines for example) did not have a representative number of people travelling over them. The whole thing stinks of a hatchet job.

Also, one has to remember that Transport Minister at the time was one Ernest Marples, who just happened to own a road construction company. Make of that what you will.

I like the way that the BBC news item running today plays in the names of two of the stations that I drive through. Chacewater is nothing more that a rotting platform east of Redruth, but Starcross is still going strong!

This is interesting, as one might imagine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeching_cuts