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1955 was my birthday year so of course I have no personal recollection of the strike! However, one effect of the 1955 Railway Strike was felt at Toddington, Gloucestershire, now the HQ of the Glos Warks Railway. Toddington Station, since opening in 1906, had always been a centre for the collection of fruit for transportation by rail, mainly to London or the West Midlands. Being on the edge of the famous fruit growing Vale of Evesham this was to be expected. Indeed, Toddington was far more important for foodstuff carriage than passenger services. However, for the growers, the 1955 strike was the last straw(berry!) and, once the strike was over, the fruit never came back for rail delivery and always went by road, as it does now. This was just a small example of how industrial action can, perhaps unwittingly, completely decapitate a source of railway trade. After 1955, UK Governments would not be held to account by nationalised industries (strange really because they were nationalised!) and, by dint of various policies, we have seen those industries decline ever since (I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with this policy - it just happened). The most (in)famous head girl of my daughter's school was one such politician - she took on the might of the coal miners and won (well why start a mining strike in early spring and when all the stocks of coal at power stations were full?). People have very opinated views of "that woman", many unprintable, but she was more of a leader than any of the ingratiating little toads that are supposed to represent our interests in the world today. Popularity doesn't always get the job done.
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