At the risk of a slapped-wrist at wandering O/T in only the third post of this thread
Whenever someone mentions Beeching I like to point out that there were
two reports:- The first and famous one axed the uneconomic parts of the railway network. Beeching-Part 2 reccomeded investing millions (billions?) of pounds in a modern high-speed intercity railway system. His two reports were meant to be read together.
Funny how the second one got so pointedly ignored by the Goverment(s) of the time. (Because they were pouring all that money into the new Motorways. The roads-lobby is nothing new)
No, Beeching wasnt the problem at all. He got it exactly right.