The Beeching Legacy

1963 was memorable for railway enthusiasts due to the publication of Her Majesty's Stationery Office of Part 1 of the report 'The Reshaping of British Railways' by Dr Richard Beeching, then chairman of the British Railways Board. The term 'reshaping' was somewhat of a euphemism as the report envisaged a radical reduction in the national rail network. Hundreds of stations were to be closed to both freight and passenger traffic, along with thousand of miles of track, while several thousand staff would be made redundant. This is a retrospective and current comparative view.