Politicians not Beeching killed off railways

ROBINJ onesa' rticlei n issue2 69, ' BeechingA: Man of hist ime- or ahead of it?' r aisess omei nterestingp oints.

The first of these is that the real villain of the piece was Transport Minister, Alfred ErnestM arplesw, ho was able to useB eechinga sa convenientf ront man.

Marples was a major shareholder of MarplesR idgwayt, h e company that built both Hammersmith and ChiswickF lyoversa nd was heavily involved in construction of the lower end of the M1. On his appointment as transport minister on October 14, 1959, Marples was required to sell his 800/ 4sh areholdingi n MarplesR idgway so as to avoid any conflict of interest. By January 1960, he had failed to do this, but later did sell them - to his wife! Putting this man in control of the railwaysw as like putting a fox in charge of the hen house. L atera, llegationsa nd evidence emerged that he had some involvement in the Profumo affair and later still he fled to Monaco to avoid financial problems. Some character.

Secondlya, fter Labour'sv ictory in the 1964e lection, T om Frasewr as appointed Transport Minister from October 16, t hat year, t o be succeeded by BarbaraC astlef rom December 1965. Under both of these ministers, not only did the Government not honour its election manifesto promise to sack Beeching and stop his ( Marples') cuts but it presseda headw ith them enthusiasticallyc, l osingn o fewert han 2300 miles between 1965 and 1969so much for the party that championed a nationalisedr ailway. of them and travel would cost more wasa self- fulfillingp rophesy.

No well- run commercial enterprise would have followed this strategy. There were opportunities aplenty at this time. Can you imagine the old GWR sitting on its hands while the largest and busiest airport in Europe ( Heathrow) w asd evelopingw ithin a mile orso of its main line? S urelyi, t would have built a loop to connect with the new terminals so that the airport became the first stop out of Paddington for all trains.

Insteadt, h e Governmento f the day gave responsibilityfo r the railways to a man who whose businessw as building roads. How different the nation'st ransport infrastructurem ight look today had a more balanced and visionary approach been adopted.

Beeching? A man of hist ime? M ore of a fall guy and front man for a scheming politician. A nd we area ll losersa sa result.

ChrisR obertse, mail

➔ BeechingB: ritain'sR ailwayC losures and their Legacy- The Definitive Guideb y RobinJ onesp, ublished by Gresleyb ooks/ MortonsB ooks, 256pp, ISBN 978 1 91165814 6, price £ 14.99- isa vailablen owa t www. mortonsbooks. co. uk