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Making Tracks looks at some of the history of the railways affecting the Warrington area.Note: some of this material is from Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia. Please see the foot of the Feedback page for important copyright information
West Coast Main Line (Built 1830s-1870s) Text from Wikipedia
History
The following images show the WCML in modern times (10-11 Sep 2006).
Following amalgamation, in 1922, the line became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). In 1947, following nationalisation, it came under control of British Railways London Midland and Scottish Regions. This is when the term "West Coast Main Line" officially came into use, although the term is something of a misnomer given that the line only runs along the coast on a brief section overlooking Morecambe Bay just north of Lancaster. Following amalgamation, in 1922, the line became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). In 1947, following nationalisation, it came under control of British Railways London Midland and Scottish Regions. This is when the term "West Coast Main Line" officially came into use, although the term is something of a misnomer given that the line only runs along the coast on a brief section overlooking Morecambe Bay just north of Lancaster.
Modernisation by British Rail
Electrification did not arrive on the short Carstairs Junction - Edinburgh Waverley branch until 1989, since this was at the time considered part of the ECML. Only the Preston - Manchester via Bolton, and Chester - Holyhead branches remain unelectified.
The running of express passenger services on the WCML came under the Intercity brand in the late 1970s, which prior to privatisation in 1996, was known as "InterCity West Coast". "InterCity CrossCountry", with its hub at Birmingham, was also greatly developed with the introduction of transferred HST units following the electrification of the East Coast Main Line. Following privatisation, the principal operator on the line has been Virgin Trains who operate all long-distance express services, but many regional operators along the route also run local commuter services.
Modernisation by Network RailThe WCML is currently nearing completion of a major upgrade along almost its entire length. The original plans drawn up by Railtrack estimated that this upgrade would cost £2bn, be ready by 2005, and cut journey times from London to Birmingham to 1hr (currently 1hr 40mins) and 1hr 45mins from London to Manchester. This would be achieved through increasing the line speed to 225 km/h (140 mph), in place of the previous maximum of 175 km/h (110 mph).
However the plan was doomed from the beginning, since Railtrack had not assessed the technical viability of "moving block signalling" prior to promising the speed increase to Virgin and the Government. With Moving Block, computers are used to calculate a 'safe zone', behind each moving train, which no other train may enter. The system depends on precise knowledge of where each train is and how fast it is moving.
With Moving Block, lineside signals are unnecessary, and instructions are passed direct to the trains. It has the advantage of increasing track capacity by allowing trains to run much closer together. No-one had attempted to implement Moving Block on a line as complex as the WCML anywhere in the world, and it soon became apparent to engineers that the technology was not mature enough to be used on the line. The bankruptcy of Railtrack in 2001 following the Hatfield rail crash brought a reappraisal of the plans, whilst the original cost of the upgrade soared. The revised estimates indicate that the total line upgrade costs will total £13bn, be ready by 2008 with a maximum speed for tilting trains of a more modest 200 km/h (125 mph).
Cheshire Lines Committee (1865) Main text from Wikipedia. Other sources as indicated.
The Midland Railway became an equal partner under the Cheshire Lines Transfer Act of 1865. Under the Cheshire Lines Act of 1867, it became a wholly independent company, although its management consisted of three directors of the three companies. Its purpose was to gain control of lines in Lancashire and Cheshire, an area which was dominated by the LNWR. It
was granted the powers to build a line to Liverpool, which opened in 1873, from a
temporary station in Manchester, and totalled 34 miles (54.7 km) in length. The
section from Liverpool was on the Garston and Liverpool Railway. The line ran
from the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway line at Garston Docks to Brunswick
railway station. It opened on 1 June, 1864, and was absorbed into the CLC on 5
July, 1865. From 1874, the CLC was headquartered at Liverpool Central Station,
having been at Alexandra Buildings, James Street, Liverpool previously.
It was necessary to bring the various operations into a single terminus. The Midland and the MS&LR were using London Road (now Piccadilly), which the latter shared with the LNWR. Accordingly, Manchester Central was built in 1880.
The Four Original Lines
The two-mile Stockport and Woodley Junction Railway (incorporated by an Act of 15 May, 1860) opened on 12 January, 1863, and was transferred to the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire, and Great Northern Railway companies under the Cheshire Lines Transfer Act on 5 July, 1865. The barrow and spade used in cutting the first sod are preserved in the Vernon Park Museum, Stockport. Source: Wikipedia. The West Cheshire Railway (incorporated by an Act of 11 July, 1861) ran from Northwich on the Cheshire Midland to Helsby (14 miles 50 chains), forming a junction there with the Birkenhead Railway branch from Hooton, already authorised and opened on 1 July, 1863. Source: The Cheshire Lines Railway by R. Prys Griffiths, Oakwood Press 1947 www.oakwoodpress.co.uk. The Stockport Timperley and Altrincham Junction Railway (incorporated by an Act of 22 July, 1861). The line linked the Stockport & Woodley Junction Railway with the LNWR at Broadheath (opened 1 Feb, 1866) and with the M.S.J. & A.R. at Timperley Junction (opened 1 Dec, 1879) and at Altrincham (Deansgate Junction - opened 1 Dec, 1865). Source: The Cheshire Lines Railway by R. Prys Griffiths, Oakwood Press 1947 www.oakwoodpress.co.uk. Other
sections Built by the CLC: Skelton Junction to Cressington Junction line as
part of Liverpool to Manchester line (CLC) railway. North
Liverpool Extension Line
Sankey
Warrington Central
The booking offices were originally positioned on the platforms. Have a look at a photo in Peter's Gallery of the Liverpool-bound platform. The original entrances used to be from two flights of steps underneath the bridge. At one time you could get a direct train from Warrington Central to Aintree for the Grand National, and also a direct train to London.
Padgate
Birchwood
GlazebrookGlazebrook
Station is located on the eastern border of Cheshire and Greater Manchester. Glazebrook
was formerly the junction for lines to Wigan Central and St Helens Central,
services to those stations ceasing in 1964 and 1952 respectively; and also for
the line to Stockport Tiviot Dale, the service to there ceasing in 1964.
Culcheth
Station
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Culcheth
Station opened on 1 April, 1884, along with 6 other stations on the Wigan Joint
Railway, which included Glazebrook and Lowton. It was located on the north side
of Wigshaw Lane. The line had been promoted by the Cheshire Lines Railway in
1874 as a branch from its main Liverpool to Manchester line at Glazebrook that
would link it to the lucrative Lancashire coalfields.
Only the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire constituent of the CLC remained interested in the concept, and it was they who built the line which opened to goods services in 1879. When opened, it connected to the main line at Glazebrook with an east to north curve, meaning services could only easily go towards Manchester. In 1900, a west to north curve was added to allow trains to head to and from Liverpool. The line became part of the Great Central Railway and, in 1923, part of the LNER, but it was operated as part of the CLC system. |
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Culcheth
Station location |
The station had two platforms with wooden booking facilities on the southbound platform. A basic shelter was provided for northbound passengers. Initially, passenger services ran from Manchester Central to a temporary terminus at Wigan, which was not replaced until the opening of Wigan Central in 1892. From 1900, when a west to north curve was added at Glazebrook, services started to run to Warrington Central. Monday to Friday services in 1903 saw the GCR run 8 trains to Manchester and 6 to Warrington each day. From 1900 until 1952, Culcheth also enjoyed some services to and from St. Helens Central but these ceased with the closure of that line to passengers. At the outbreak of World War Two, lines were connected to the naval camp at Culcheth and the Royal Ordnance Factory at Risley.
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Services increased under the LNER, especially during the war years. However, after 1945 the line went into decline and the last service was the Wigan Central to Irlam or Manchester Central service. Latterly some of these services where operated by DMU's until the end came on 1 November, 1964. It was closed for good by British Railways (London Midland Region) on 4 January, 1965. The line lingered on for goods services until 1968. Culcheth Station platform on 10 Jun, 2004. Photo © GI Gandy, mywarrington. |
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The station has been demolished but the path down from the road bridge survives. Today the station building site is now the location of the Ranger's cabin for Culcheth Linear Park, which extends along the old track bed. There was another station called Newchurch Halt, which also closed in 1964.
The main line through Warrington Central is now run by First Trans Pennine (the original "loop" section of Cheshire Lines). Parts of the "straight" section embankments are still here, whilst other sections have been sold off for new housing or business locations. The following photos show what is here now, with three old photos from Peter Spilsbury.
The line as it looked on 21 December 2006 alongside Midland Way. Photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington.
Meanwhile, the "loop" section travels over the other Lovely Lane bridge alongside Warrington hospital. It crosses the West Coast Main Line (WCML) via two bridges at Froghall Lane and onto Warrington Central Station. The bridge outside the station was reconstructed and widened in 1934 (see the stone plaque outside between the two original entrances under the bridge).
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| Lovely Lane bridge
by the hospital 11 Sep 2006. |
Froghall Bridge
over the WCML 10 Sep 2006. |
Froghall Lane
viewed west 11 Sep 2006. |
Warrington Central
as it was on 9 May 2003. |
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| Warrington Central Signal box 9 May 2003. |
In the
days of the goods warehouse, many tracks filled the area to the left and the original bridge on Lythgoes Lane was 4 or 5 times wider to hold all the tracks and points. These photos 9 and 24 May 2003. |
Battersby Lane with Rylands office building in situ on 22 Feb 2003 before demolition. |
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| Photos © GI Gandy. | |||
During the second World War, Burtonwood Air Base had a branch line with the Cheshire Lines route. The area is close to the modern Old Hall estate and the images below show what remains of the track today. See photos of the Base in RAF Burtonwood.
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| Remains
of the branch line to Burtonwood Air Base, with the trackbed route
on the left in the 5th photo. The only remaining section of the track is what you see in the first two photos. (11 Sep 2006) Photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington. |
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Manchester
Central, formerly G-MEX, started life as Central Station and was Manchester's
fourth railway terminal. |
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The building consists of a huge wrought-iron and glass segmental vault spanning 210 feet, 550 feet long, and 90 feet high, and was built by Handysides of Derby. The substructure and masonry partition was provided by Robert Neill and Sons of Manchester. The engineers were Richard Johnson, Andrew Johnston and Charles Sacré. Whilst the station was under construction, a temporary facility called Manchester Free Trade Hall Station, was used by the Midland Railway from 9 September, 1877. It was later converted to become Manchester Central Goods. The Midland, in particular, at last had a secure base for its services - the terminus for its expresses to London St Pancras. Initially it ran two prestige expresses, one a Pullman service, making the journey in four and a quarter hours. Later it added more services, a total of nine daily, with two on Sundays, including an overnight Pullman sleeper. In LMS days, there
were two named expresses the "Palatine" and The
"Peaks", the former making the trip in three hours and fifty
five minutes, with stops at Chinley, Millers Dale, Matlock, Derby and
Leicester. There was a brief return to glory in British Railways days with the Midland Pullman, between 1960 and 1966, during the electrification of the West Coast Main Line. This stopped only at Cheadle Heath (now closed) and made the journey in three and a quarter hours. |
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The
ornamental clock Photo
© GI Gandy,
mywarrington
2006. |
Services through Millers Dale finished in 1968 when the line was closed. The station continued to provide local services for a while, but finally closed in 1969, when remaining services were switched to Manchester Piccadilly Station.
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The 303
bedroom Midland was built by Charles Trubshaw in 1898-1903 for the
Midland Railway Company and is situated next to the Manchester Central
(formerly G-Mex Centre),
Bridgewater Hall and Manchester Central Library. Its distinctive style
is made of red brick and brown terracotta, with the exterior clad in
several varieties of polished granite and Burmantofts (a type of
terracotta). |
The
Midland is perhaps most famous for being the meeting place of Charles Stewart
Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce, leading to the formation of Rolls-Royce Limited
in 1906.
The original goods warehouse by Warrington Central Station is being put to good use. A new apartment block is been created out of the building, and like the former goods warehouse of the Great Northern in Manchester, is being retained with the original brickwork. Have a look at some photos of earlier days.
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| Open Day 5-6 Sep
1981. The top section of the image shows the CLC Centenary run in 1965. |
25085 at the CLC Open Day in 1981. |
The old railway offices 6 June 1982. |
| All photos © Peter Spilsbury. | ||
As a youngster, I lived less than a mile away from the goods yard and used to watch everything that happened - goods vans, shunters, cattle vans and parcel vans. And from my house I would hear the screeching and groaning of the metal wheels on the tracks. Sights and sounds you don't often see these days.
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| Used as a car park. | The building
stood empty for years. |
The date of construction. |
| All photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington, 9 May 2003. | ||
The offices of the Cheshire Lines Committee next to it are still offices, but are now occupied by Morgan Williams, a chartered surveyors and commercial estate agents.
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| The new accommodation will also fill this space. |
In a sorry state. | Morgan Williams offices. | And a photo of the
old goods warehouse in 2007 before conversion into Grand Central apartments. Photo by Nick D. |
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First 3 photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington 9 May 2003. |
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Reader Story: I
remember the blue brick abutments at the extreme angles on Folly Lane bridge as
a child and saw the girder bridge itself in pictures now long lost. I did see
the Horse and Jockey bridge though and also witnessed its removal, so it must
have outlived the Folly Lane bridge by a few years – I guess Tetley Walker
were paying BR for the advert on it.
I grew up in John St in the centre of town until the council demolished the houses in 1971 and we moved. I remember all the shunters at the Central Station warehouse and the 3-wheeler lorries carrying steel to and from Rylands. My dad was an engine driver at Dallam shed till it closed and then he turned down the offer of diesel training and became a postman, so he took me for a final look round the place before it was converted into the present factory unit. The turntable was filled in but the pits and shed tracks were still in place – from memory I suspect most of it survives under the modern cladding, as I remember the walls being left standing prior to the new roof and frontage being built. Rob Gandy.
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| Items from the collection at National Railway Museum, York. | ||
| All photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington 2006. | ||
The Lancashire Derbyshire & East
Coast Railway (LDECR) was conceived by William Arkwright, a Derbyshire
industrialist and landowner, as a means of connecting the west and east coasts
of England and providing an export route for coal. The intention was to run the
line from Warrington (where the Manchester Ship Canal gives access to the
River Mersey) via Macclesfield to Chesterfield, and then on through
Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to Sutton on Sea on the east coast. The
projected route covered around 170 miles and was approved in the summer of 1891.
However, the LDECR was soon struggling for funds, and the Great Eastern Railway was approached for support, which it agreed to supply in 1884, but with conditions attached. One such condition was the cancellation of the vastly expensive and difficult Warrington to Chesterfield section. The LDECR eventually collapsed into the arms of the Great Central Railway on 1 January 1907, which already had a route across the Pennines and a connection with Warrington as part of the Cheshire Lines Committee under its previous guise as the Manchester Sheffield & Lincoln Railway.
Material adapted from British Steam Railways magazine – © Planet Three Publishing Network Ltd / De Agostini UK Ltd.
Click the link for the British Steam Railways magazine's website: www.uksteamrailways.co.uk www.deagostini.co.uk www.planet3.co.uk
The Railways Act of 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George. The intention was to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which the country had derived from a government-controlled railway during and after the First World War of 1914-1918.
The British railway system had been built up by more than 100 railway companies, large and small, and often, particularly locally, in competition with each other. The parallel railways of the East Midlands, and the "war" between the South Eastern Railway and the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway at Hastings were examples of such local competition.
During World War I the railways were under state control, which continued until 1921. Complete nationalisation had been considered, and the 1921 Act is sometimes considered as a precursor to that, but the concept was rejected.
After consideration of the Railways Bill it was decided that the Scottish companies, originally destined to be a separate group, would be included with the Midland/North Western and Eastern groups respectively, in order that the three main Anglo-Scottish trunk routes should each be owned by one company for its full length: the West Coast Main Line and the Midland Main Line by the former group, and the East Coast Main Line by the latter.
The
opening paragraph of the Railways Act 1921 states:
"With a view to the reorganization and more efficient and economical working of the railway system of Great Britain railways shall be formed into groups in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and the principal railway companies in each group shall be amalgamated, and other companies absorbed in manner provided by this Act."
The Act took effect on 1 January, 1923. By that date most of the mergers had taken place, some from the previous year. The Railway Magazine in its issue of February, 1923 dubbed the new companies as "The Big Four of the New Railway Era".
These "Big Four" were:
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Great
Western Railway (GWR) |
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Southern Railway (SR) |
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A few lines remained outside the Big Four, many operated as joint railways. Examples include the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GN) between the LMS and the LNER in eastern England, the largest of the joint railways; and the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJ) between the LMS and the SR in south-western England, perhaps the most famous of the joint railways. |
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Image by Phil Scott (Our Phellap) Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License". |
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The Duchess of Sutherland, above, ran on the London Midland and Scottish (LMS) route. She passed through Warrington on 11 April, 2007.
Under the Transport Act 1947 the railways, long-distance road haulage and various other types of transport were acquired by the state and handed over to a British Transport Commission (BTC) for operation. The commission was responsible to the Ministry of Transport for general transport policy which included canals, sea and shipping ports, bus companies, and eventually amidst much opposition, road haulage.
The Act was part of the nationalisation agenda of Clement Attlee's Labour government, and took effect from 1 January, 1948. In Northern Ireland, the Ulster Transport Authority acted in a similar manner.
The BTC was a part of a highly ambitious scheme to create a publicly owned, centrally planned, integrated transport system.
However, the road haulage industry bitterly opposed nationalisation, and they found allies in the Conservative Party. Once the Conservatives were elected in 1951, road haulage was soon de-nationalised and de-regulated, but the still heavily regulated railways and buses were left under the control of the BTC - the Labour ideal of an integrated transport system had been shattered.
After the war the "Big Four" railway companies of the grouping era were effectively bankrupt, and the Act was intended to bring about some stability in transport policy. As part of that policy British Railways was set up to run the railways.
Given the fragile national economic situation of the late 1940s, however, an outright government purchase of the railway companies was too expensive to consider. The method chosen by the government was to compensate the shareholders of the former private railway companies, over a period of time, with guaranteed fixed interest payments paid from British Rail's income. The government had based the levels of compensation for former railway shareholders, on the valuation of the railway companies in 1946, a time when the valuations were artificially high due to the large amount of wartime traffic being carried. Given the run-down state of the rail network, the government had paid far more to buy the railways than they were actually worth. This saddled British Rail with unnecessarily high debt re-payments, which would in later years cripple the railways finances.
British Railways (BR), which later traded as British Rail, ran most of the British railway system from the nationalisation of the 'Big Four' British railway companies in 1948 until the privatisation of its railway services in stages between 1994 and 1997. This period saw massive changes in the railway network: steam traction was eliminated in favour of diesel and electric power, passengers replaced freight as the main source of business, and the network was severely rationalised.
The new system was split geographically into six regions along the lines of the Big Four:
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Eastern Region (ER) —
southern LNER lines. |
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North Eastern Region (NER)
— northern LNER lines in England and all ex-LMS lines east of Skipton. |
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London Midland Region (LMR)
— LMS lines in England and Wales and most ex-LNER lines west of Skipton. |
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Scottish Region (ScR) —
LMS and LNER lines in Scotland. |
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Southern Region (SR) — SR
lines. |
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Western Region (WR) — GWR lines. |
These regions formed the basis of the BR business structure until the 1980s. The regional boundaries were re-drawn in 1958 to make them more geographically-based, rather than being based on pre-nationalisation ownership. The North Eastern Region was merged with Eastern Region in the 1960s; a new Anglia Region was split off from the Eastern Region in the 1980s. They retained a level of independence, though there was also some centralisation.
The priority in the immediate aftermath of nationalisation was to repair wartime damage and clear the backlog of maintenance work. Some pre-war capital investment schemes that had been cancelled upon the outbreak of hostilities were restarted. The new BR regions to a large extent inherited the organisations, structures and ethos of their predecessor Big Four companies, and continued to work with a large degree of autonomy, building new steam locomotives and rolling stock to their respective companies' pre-war designs.
Rather than pursue other forms of motive power on a large scale, in 1951 a new range of BR standard steam locomotives was introduced, along with new standard passenger and freight rolling stock. Production of the various pre-nationalisation types ceased in favour of these. At the same time attempts were made to standardise other engineering standards and operating standards across the company wherever possible.
Britain's railways arguably went into the Second World War having technologically fallen behind those of its peers. As the years passed after the War, it became apparent that Britain was falling further behind. Countries like Japan, USA and France had already made significant investment in new diesels and electrics before the War, which continued after the war. Britain was not, and the run-down network deteriorated even more because of painfully slow rebuilding.
The
1955 Modernisation Plan, detailed in the British Transport Commission's (BTC) Modernisation
and Re-equipment of British Railways, argued for spending £1,240
million over a period of 15 years.
The Transport Act, 1962 was passed by Harold Macmillan's Conservative government to dissolve the British Transport Commission, which had been established by Clement Attlee's Labour government in the 1940s to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport. The act established the British Railways Board, which took over the British Transport Commission's railway responsibilities from 1 January, 1963, until the passing of the Railways Act 1993.
The
British Railways Board (BRB) was the governing body of British Railways
(later British Rail).
The British Railways Board also owned a large amount of railway archive material, including papers, maps, films and photographs, dating back before nationalisation. At privatisation in the 1990s these were distributed to various other bodies: the films went to the British Film Institute in London, the photographs went to the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York, and most of the papers went to the Public Records Office.
The Beeching Axe is an informal name for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to control the spiralling cost of running the British railway system by closing what it considered to be little-used and unprofitable railway lines.
It was a reaction to the failed railway modernisation plan of the 1950s, which spent huge amounts of money on buying new equipment, such as new diesel and electric locomotives. These purchases were made without first examining the role of the railway and its requirements, recognising the implications of changing old-fashioned working practices, or tackling the problem of chronic overmanning. The result of this was to plunge the railway system deeply into debt.
In tune with the mood of the early 1960s, the transport minister in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government was Ernest Marples, the former director of a major road-construction company. Marples believed that the future of transport lay with roads, and that railways were a dead-end relic of the Victorian past.
An advisory group known as the Stedeford Committee (after its chair, Sir Ivan Stedeford) was set up to report on the state of British transport and provide recommendations. Also on the Committee was Dr. Richard Beeching, the chairman of British Railways appointed by the Conservative government. Stedeford and Beeching clashed on a number of issues related to the latter's proposals to drastically prune the rail infrastructure. In spite of questions being asked in Parliament, Sir Ivan's report was not published until much later, and the proposals for the future of the railways that came to be known as the "Beeching Plan" were adopted by the Government.
Beeching believed the railway system should be run like a business and not a public service, and that if parts of the railway system did not pay their way - like some rural branch lines - they should be eliminated. He reasoned that once these were closed, the remaining core of the system would be restored to profitability.
Beeching made a study of traffic on all the railway lines in the country and concluded that 80% of the traffic was carried on just 20% of the network, with much of the rest of the system operating at a loss. In his report "The Reshaping of British Railways" issued on 27 March, 1963, he proposed a massive closure program. The report proposed that out of Britain's then 18,000 miles (28 800 km) of railway, 6,000 miles (9 600 km) of mostly rural branch and cross-country lines should be closed. Furthermore, many other rail lines should lose their passenger services and be kept open for freight only, and many lesser-used stations should close on lines that were to be kept open. The report was accepted by the Government.
At
the time, the highly controversial report was called the "Beeching
Bombshell" or the "Beeching Axe" by the press. It sparked an
outcry from many communities that would lose their rail services, many of which
(especially in the case of rural communities) had no other means of public
transport.
The
government argued that many rail services could be provided more cheaply by
buses, and in a policy known as "bustitution,"
promised that abandoned rail services would have their places taken by
replacement bus services. In practice, this policy proved unsuccessful.
A significant part of the Beeching Plan also proposed that British Rail electrify some major main lines and adopt containerised freight traffic instead of outdated and uneconomic wagon-load traffic. In general, politicians jumped at the money-saving parts of the plan but were less enthusiastic about those parts that required expenditures. Some of those plans were adopted, however, such as the electrification of the West Coast Mainline.
Not all of the railway lines listed for closure were closed; some were kept open for a variety of reasons, including political manoeuvring. For example, the railway lines through the Scottish Highlands, although not cost-efficient by Beeching's definition, were kept open in part because of pressure from the powerful Highland lobby. It has been suggested that other lines may have been kept open because they passed through marginal constituencies.
Overall,
2,128 stations were closed on lines that were kept open. As well as minor railway
lines, a few major inter-city railway lines were closed, where it was deemed
that these lines were duplicates of other main-lines.
In 1964, Dr. Beeching issued a second, less well-known, report "The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes", widely known as "Beeching II", which went even further than the first report. The report singled out lines that were believed to be worthy of continued large-scale investment.
Essentially, it proposed that all railway lines other than major inter-city routes and important commuter lines around big cities had little future and should eventually close. The report was rejected by the-then Labour government and Dr. Beeching resigned in 1965. Although politicians were ultimately responsible for the rail closures, Dr. Beeching's name has become synonymous with them ever since.
In 1964, the Labour government was elected under prime minister Harold Wilson. During the election campaign, Labour promised to halt the rail closures if elected. Once elected, however, they quickly backtracked on this promise, and the closures continued, at a faster rate than under the previous administration and until the end of the decade.
In 1965, Barbara Castle was appointed transport minister, and she began to look at the country's transport problems as a whole. Mrs. Castle decided that at least 11,000 route miles (17 700 km) of "basic railway" would be needed for the foreseeable future and that the railway system should be stabilised at around this size.
The closures failed in their central purpose of restoring the railways to profitability, with the promised savings failing to materialise. By abolishing a third of the rail network, Beeching managed to achieve a saving of just £7 million whilst overall losses were in excess of £100 million. The losses were mainly because the branch lines acted as feeders to the main lines, and this feeder traffic was lost when the branches closed - in turn meaning less traffic for, and worsening the finances of, the main lines. The assumption at the time was that car owners would drive to the nearest railhead (which was usually the junction where the closed branch line would otherwise have taken them) and journey onwards by train, but in practice having once left home in their cars, they used them for the whole journey.
The "bustitution" policy of replacing rail services with buses also failed. Most of the replacement bus services were far slower and less convenient than the train services they replaced, and they proved unpopular with the public. Most of the replacement bus services only lasted a few years before being scrapped through lack of use, effectively leaving large parts of the country without any means of public transport.
The last major railway closure resulting from Beeching was of the 80-mile-long (130 km) Waverley Route main line between Carlisle and Edinburgh, in 1969; plans have since been made to re-open a significant portion of this line. One of the major criticisms made of the Beeching report was that it failed to take into account future trends such as population growth and greater demand for travel.
In the early 1980s, under the government of Margaret Thatcher, the possibility of more Beeching-style cuts was raised again briefly. In 1983 Sir David Serpell, a civil servant who had worked with Dr Beeching, compiled what became known as "The Serpell Report" which called for more rail closures. The report was met with fierce resistance from many quarters, and it was quickly abandoned.
Since the Beeching era, a number of the closures have been reversed. Notable amongst these is the Robin Hood Line in Nottinghamshire, between Nottingham and Worksop via Mansfield, which reopened in the early 1990s. Previously Mansfield had been the largest town in Britain to have no rail link.
Other reopenings include Snow Hill Station in Birmingham in 1987, the Coventry to Nuneaton line in 1988 and lines around Newcastle, Scotland and Wales.
The
effect of the Beeching Axe on a small station was the subject of Oh, Doctor
Beeching!, a television sitcom by David Croft and Richard Spendlove from
1995 to 1997. The theme song ran:
"Oh!
Dr. Beeching, what have you done?
There once were lots of trains to catch but soon there will be none.
I'll have to buy a bike as I can't afford a car.
Oh! Dr. Beeching! What a naughty man you are!"
This is based on the once-well-known and railway-related ditty used in the 1935 Will Hay film Oh Mr Porter
"Oh!
Mr Porter, what can I do!
I wanted to go to Birmingham and they took me on to Crewe.
Take me back to London as quickly as you can
Oh Mr porter what a silly (girl) I am!"
Flanders and Swann Flanders commemorated the loss of the branch lines and small country stations in 1964 in their song "Slow Train".
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InterCity (or, in the earliest days, the hyphenated Inter-City) was introduced by British Rail in 1966 as a brand-name for its long-haul express passenger services. In 1986 InterCity was divided into 7 divisions, with Warrington served by the West Coast Main Line from London Euston to the West Midlands, the North West and southern Scotland. It operated High Speed Trains (under the brand-name "Inter-City 125", reflecting its top speed in miles per hour - roughly 200 km/h), InterCity 225s (although this refers to the top speed in kilometres per hour - roughly 140mph), and various other loco-hauled trains. |
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InterCity
225 in Swallow |
The original InterCity livery consisted of standard British Rail corporate blue and grey with the brand "InterCity" added in white lettering on each coach. The power cars at each end of Inter-City 125 trains had extensive yellow panels, hence the nickname "flying bananas".
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The success of the HST trains and the investment in electrification schemes, resulting in shorter and more reliable journey times, coupled to innovative marketing, led to InterCity becoming one of the great successes for British Rail in the 1980s. Patronage increased markedly,
and it soon became the most profitable part of the state-owned rail
operator, and cross-subsidisation from InterCity's profits was used to
safeguard the future of unprofitable (but necessary) rural routes
which had been under threat from closure since the Beeching Axe of the
1960s. |
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| HST
power car 43 127 is shown here crossing the Kennet and Avon Canal. from Wikipedia.  IC
125 |
Class
91/1, no. 91118 ‘Bradford Film Festival’ at Peterborough on 27th July 2003. from Wikipedia. IC
225 |
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| Items from the collection at National Railway Museum, York. | |||
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All photos © GI Gandy 2006, mywarrington.
Reader Story: And the iron bridge further up the line - one day I was lay flat across the bridge, over the line where I knew the train would be coming on, as it roared beneath me, belching thick, thick smoke (I loved the excitement of doing this) but on my walk home, my eyes were smarting and watering AND it was Warrington Walking Day the following day. Lucky for me, I woke up feeling fine and suffering no ill effects. The slow line, just before it got to the Black Bridge heading south, branched off and ran under the road and into the grounds of Winwick Hospital. Just a single track presumably carrying coal etc for the hospital. What I DO remember now so vividly are the blackberry bushes that grew at the bottom of the bank and better still, in the hospital grounds. In between collecting train names and numbers, and waiting for the next train to come, I would go blackberry picking down the bank and feeling no fear at all, would walk through the 'tunnel' and into the hospital grounds. Many's the time I heard a train approaching on this single track and had to abandon my fruit picking until it had gone past. Sounds terribly dangerous (I KNOW it was), but SO exciting to a youngster who was "trains mad". Don't know if that track is still there hidden under years of undergrowth. Kathy Barker. |
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| Items from the collection at National Railway Museum, York. | ||
| All photos © GI Gandy 2006 | ||
The Advanced Passenger Train (APT) was an experimental tilting High Speed Train developed by British Rail during the 1970s and early 1980s, which did not enter regular service.
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In
order to permit a top speed of 150 mph (240 km/h), and thereby cut
journey times, British Rail's engineers at the Derby Research Division
developed an advanced active tilting technology, using hydraulic rams
controlled by computer to tilt the passenger cars into the curves so
that no lateral forces would be felt. This was a very ambitious project
and was led by a group of engineers, many of whom had an aeroengineering
background. Not only was the train designed to tilt, but it was also
articulated and had hydrokinetic brakes. The latter feature is often
overlooked but was in fact just as significant as the tilting concept,
because it enabled the train to stop within the existing signal spacings.
The fact that under operating conditions it failed to do so, was one of
the main factors in the train being withdrawn. |
| HST
at Bank Quay on 25 Feb 1978. Photo © Peter Spilsbury. |
The
APT-E unit is now owned by the National Railway Museum and is on main display at
their Locomotion museum at Shildon in County Durham. Also at Locomotion
is an APT-P power car, number 49006, which is due to undergo restoration work
after having been stored outdoors at York for many years. Appropriately the
second APT-P unit is now on display at The Railway Age, Crewe and can be seen
from trains passing on the adjacent WCML.
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The British Rail Class 180 "Adelante" is a type of British diesel multiple unit (DMU), built by Alstom between 2000 and 2001 at Washwood Heath in Birmingham. The units are express trains built for First Great Western to supplement their High Speed Train fleet. Class
180, no. 180114 at Cheltenham Spa on 31st March 2004. These units
currently form the majority of Cheltenham to London Paddington
services. |
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The Class 220 Voyager is a class of Diesel-electric high-speed multiple unit train, built by Bombardier Transportation for the British train operating company Virgin CrossCountry. They are the mainstay of those long-distance trains in Britain that do not terminate in London (although they are used for services between Holyhead and London Euston). They are air-conditioned throughout, with powered doors and a top speed of 125 mph. They were introduced to replace the thirty-year-old High-Speed Train fleet that had been so successful at building passenger traffic on these routes. When the Voyagers were introduced, there were many complaints that they were far more cramped and much less comfortable than the HSTs they were replacing, as well as offering fewer seats. |
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A
Class 220 Voyager |
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The Class 221 Super Voyager is a train used by Virgin Trains. They are similar to the Class 220 Voyager units, but they are built with a tilting mechanism to allow faster speeds on curved tracks, and most have five carriages rather than four. They are named after ‘famous voyagers’, including Christopher Columbus, Michael Palin, Marco Polo, Sir Francis Drake and Doctor Who. |
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Virgin
Trains Class 221 Super Voyager 221113 "Sir Walter Raleigh"
at Glasgow Central Station, Scotland. 5 May 2005.
By
Martin J.Galloway.
Donated from the British
Photo Encyclopedia. Dotonegroup
from
Wikipedia.
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East Midlands Trains |
The British Rail Class 222 is a diesel-electric multiple unit high-speed train. The Class 222, manufactured by Bombardier Transportation, is capable of 125 mph (200 km/h) and is similar to the Class 220 and 221 Voyager units used by Virgin Trains. Midland Mainline put twenty-three Class 222 units in service on certain routes in 2004. Midland Mainline's class 222 units are called 'Meridians'. The train operating company, Hull Trains, have also introduced Class 222 units to replace their Class 170 Turbostars in May 2005. Hull Trains Class 222 units are called 'Pioneers', which are fitting with the city that they serve. Their introduction has brought journey time reductions of up to twenty minutes on the Hull to King's Cross route. |
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This
image has been (or is hereby) released into the public
domain by its author, Dave
coxon at the Wikipedia
project. This applies worldwide. |
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Pendolino (from Italian Pendolo "Pendulum" and -ino, a diminutive suffix) is a family of tilting trains used in Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, the Czech Republic, United Kingdom and Switzerland. It was developed and manufactured by Fiat Ferroviaria, which was taken over by Alstom in 2002. In 2004 Virgin Trains began operating custom-designed Pendolino trains known as the Class 390 on its West Coast Main Line franchise. These trains were constructed by Alstom and are leased by Virgin Trains from Angel Trains. The Class 390 Pendolino are maintained by Alstom (West Coast Traincare) under contract to Virgin Trains until 2012. |
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An Italian-built Class 390 Pendolino at Carlisle.
Image
by Phil Scott
(Our
Phellap).
from
Wikipedia.
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| Items from the collection at National Railway Museum, York. | |||
| Photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington. | |||
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Items from the collection at National Railway Museum, York. |
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Photo © GI Gandy, mywarrington. |
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| Items from the collection at National Railway Museum, York. | ||
| Photo © GI Gandy, mywarrington. | ||
This series of photos is from my visit to the Channel Tunnel the day after the Queen's official opening.
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| Channel
Tunnel section with a quarry truck for removal of waste at National Railway Museum, York. Photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington. |
Celebrations in
1994. Photo © GI Gandy, mywarrington. |
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| My ticket. | The
DMU which took us into the tunnel. |
Terminal. | Trackside. |
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| Locomotives. | Into
the tunnel to the first crossover point. |
A
Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) for sale. Any offers? |
Ticket
for a trip on a steam train. |
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| 80079 The Harbour Master took us on a brief journey along Folkestone Harbour. | |||
| All photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington 7 May 1994. | |||
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| mywarrington special. So special, you
can't find it anywhere. Actually, it's a computer generated version of the GNER Class 91 tender approaching York from Scotland. |
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| Items from the collection at National Railway Museum, York. | |||
| Photo © GI Gandy, mywarrington. | |||
Four of my favourite films are set on the railways.
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Oh, Mr Porter! (1937). Will Hay stars as the stationmaster of a run-down railway station in Ireland where, among the comedy chaos, he manages to track down a group of gun runners. |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt (1952). This is an Ealing comedy starring Stanley Holloway about the rescue of a much-loved branch railway. I wonder if this is where Dr Beeching got his ideas from? The film featured a replica of LMR 57 Lion, now preserved at Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry. |
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The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966). The wild girls school discover a train has been robbed and the cash is stored in their school. Classic comedy starring Frankie Howerd and George Cole as Flash Harry. |
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The Railway Children (1971). A classic adaptation of E. Nesbitt's novel, starring Jenny Agutter. A wealthy family move from the city to the country when the father is wrongly imprisoned. It has often been described as the best children's novel of its time, spurning an ITV remake, again starring Jenny Agutter, but this time as the mother. |
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| Items from the collection at National Railway Museum, York. | ||
| All photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington 2006. | ||
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Warrington Bank Quay was graced with the appearance of a London Midland Scottish (LMS) Black 5 steam engine at 11 PM on Saturday 28 April, 2007. The 4-6-0 gauge No. 45407 hauled the return trip of a Railway Touring Company excursion from Manchester to Central Wales. It was a accompanied by BR standard class 4 No. 76079. The journey began at Manchester Victoria just after 8 a.m. with a Class 47 diesel engine pulling an array of old-style carriages. The Black 5 was designed by William Arthur Stanier (1876-1965). www.railwaytouring.co.uk |
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My last story is a true story from my first journey to London on Intercity. One of the stopping points was Nuneaton Station, 26 miles east of Birmingham. The train was slowing down and so the conductor announced "We are now approaching Nuneaton". Passengers alighting began to gather their belongings and move towards the exits. By now the platform was in sight of everybody and the conductor makes his announcement again "We are now approaching Nuneaton". Still pulling in, 20 miles per hour, ten miles per hour, 5 miles per hour and the Conductor has made his same announcement three more times. Finally the train stops at he platform and the conductor makes his final announcement: "We have now APPROACHED Nuneaton!" Roars of laughter and applause all the way down the train... |
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| Items from the collection at National Railway Museum, York. | ||
| All photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington 2006. | ||
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