Quote:
Originally Posted by wyvern
If it was 1953 it was before Beeching
However to reopen any line, its not enough to say it would be a good idea.
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This, I know, and don't blame beeching for THAT. And I'm sure that, at the time, it all made perfect sense to shut down so many lines as recommended by his report. However, as now, there was a a wild miscalculation as to whatever the future may hold; Housing needs have run amuk since then, and the capacity of roads to cope has been, to say the least, miserable. This has FAR from diminished over the years, and a great deal of what were then not much more than hamlets have grown into thriving towns, and the ability of the remaining transport system has failed to, for lack of a better expression, keep track of events.
There was far too much haste in selling off railway land, so major obstacles were put in the way of rectifying the situation even at an early stage.
Far-sightedness has NEVER been one of our greatest attributes; and should never have reached the stage whereby the local populace has to beg in order to have ANY means of getting in and out of their community.
OK, at that time, no-one expected (for whatever reason) that any communities would expand, but given the circumstances since our admission to the European Union, surely SOMEONE in authority could have foreseen the turn of events, and suggested plans to deal with the situation?
Answer? No.
A comparative (though NOT railway related) story springs readily to mind; a pub on The Hard, in Portsmouth, a local scrumpy house of ill repute, was demolished EVERYTHING but the rear walls, when someone discovered that it was a listed building. Hackles were raised, heads nearly rolled, and the ENTIRE (large) building had to be reconstructed, even though only the rear walls were original. It's been a thriving Berni Inns place ever since.
Same with railways; no-onr thinks it through until it's too late, and/or to expensive, to rectify.
