Charles Loft: Beeching’s axe left scars that still remain

FIFTY years ago, towns and villages across Yorkshire had waited in trepidation for the Beeching Axe to descend on their local railway. From Whitby to Shepley and from Withernsea to Settle, services that had seemed part of the landscape for generations were under sentence of death.
Dr Beeching holding his reportDr Beeching holding his report
Dr Beeching holding his report

In 1961 the Government had brought in Dr Richard Beeching (at a salary higher than that of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan) to eradicate the railways’ deficit, which had topped £100 million. In March 1963 Beeching published his report, The Reshaping of British Railways, recommending the closure of almost a third of the network and over 2,000 stations.

Initially Beeching appeared to have caught the modernising mood of the times and his image of scientific detachment helped sell the idea that radical change was required; but once people faced the reality of losing services they depended on, letters were written, protests organised and, with an election on the way, the Government started to worry.

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It was Beeching’s job to propose closures, but it was Ministers who took the final decisions – and they soon found that there were few easy ones. Settle station was to close as part of the complete abandonment of the former Midland Railway main line on to Carlisle. Closure promised huge savings, but after a 20-year controversy the line was reprieved.

Other contentious cases were the relatively well-used diesel service from York to Hull via Beverley, and the line from Huddersfield to Penistone. The Penistone line, which had to be reprieved because it was too difficult to provide replacement bus services on the inadequate local roads, later became one of the first community rail partnerships, pioneering an approach to rural branch lines that has proved successful nationwide. Even the closure of the quiet Selby to Driffield line, which had seen most of its intermediate stations close in the 1950s, provoked complaint.

Today, it seems incredible that Beeching wanted to close the now-electrified services into Leeds and Bradford from Ilkley and Skipton. In 1963 the Ministry of Transport was only just beginning to appreciate the value of rail services in reducing road congestion in cities. Such concerns ultimately earned Ilkley and Skipton a ministerial reprieve, along with local services from Leeds to Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley. Wetherby was not so fortunate.

As 1963 drew to a close, the committee of Ministers considering closures became concerned about their effect on holiday resorts, including Withernsea, Hornsea, and Whitby (which was due to lose all its railways including the beautiful route along the coast to Scarborough), but officials believed the future success of holiday towns depended on their ability to attract motorists and few were spared.

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The lines from Hull to Hornsea and Withernsea set a precedent when Ministers – who had promised to reprieve services whose closure would cause significant hardship – decided that hardship generally only applied to those travelling to work; delays to day trippers were mere “inconvenience”. Both lines closed in October 1964.

A week earlier Harold Wilson’s Labour Party had won a tiny majority of five at the General Election. One of the seats which delivered victory was marginal Hull North where voters were told on polling day that a Labour victory would halt the two closures. Protesters in Whitby had received a similar assurance from Wilson himself, but these hopes were dashed when the new Government claimed it had no power to reverse Conservative decisions and, despite Beeching’s departure, the closures continued, including two of the routes to Whitby.

The Beeching Report was intended to be the first stage in a much greater contraction that would have seen Scarborough lose its railways and the Huddersfield to Manchester line close, leaving a passenger network about half the size it is today. By 1966, however, it was becoming clear that the social consequences of this would be unacceptable and gradually closures ground to a halt. By the mid-1970s politicians recognised that closing railways was a good way to lose votes.

Several of the lines Beeching closed have become scenic cycleways and footpaths; others offer new generations a taste of steam, while the services that survived are busier than ever before. Many of the lines that closed had probably outlived their usefulness. Yorkshire, like the rest of the country, survived the loss; but in the memories of those directly affected, Beeching remains an infamous name. When a railway closed it was not just the service which was lost, but part of an area’s soul.

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The final word should go to the Bridlington resident who lobbied Barbara Castle (successfully) to save the town’s service in 1967 – “our beloved railway station means much more to us than a means of conveyance. In the 1914-18 war countless servicemen said ‘farewell’ forever on these platforms, as in the 1939-45 war. It represents to us locals a precious landmark. Its lights at night mean a good deal to us who live nearby. We are never lonely when we look out at the back of our cottages and see those lights. Please, please do not have them taken from us”.

*Charles Loft is author of Last Trains: Dr Beeching and the Death of Rural England, published by Biteback, price £20.