BR in 1968: Taking a hard line on loss-makers
In 1968 British Rail’s total route mileage was reduced by 748 to 12,098. Although the closure of two main lines stole the headlines, the wholesale elimination of small yards and sidings was changing the face of the network in a more noticeable way.
It also contributed to a reduction in the workforce by 22,000 to just under 300,000. This compared with 400,000 in 1964, and 550,000 back in 1948.
Principal passenger routes that disappeared were Derby-Manchester via Matlock and Buxton, and Exeter-Plymouth via Okehampton and Tavistock, plus BedfordCambridge, and local stopping services between Birmingham-Derby/Leicester, and Manchester-Exchange-Huddersfield. More rural lines through Norfolk and along the Moray Firth coast of Scotland were also shut.
Although more than 200 freight spurs of varying distances lost their residual goods traffic, and minor collieries and harbours and docks also closed, countless stations lost their handling facilities because BR was no longer interested in running a train with a couple of vans with 25 tons of payload, often coal or local produce.
There was a strongly held view that road vehicles were better suited, and that BR should concentrate on what it could do best, namely long-distance container freight and express parcels and newspapers, plus the traditional core business of colliery to power station coal and coke, iron and steel, and aggregates for the construction industry. Marshalling yards, some only five years old, were therefore under threat.
In 1968, the Labour Government was worried about the worsening finances, and disputes between management and unions during the summer played further into the hands of road competition.
Regardless of the millions invested since the 1955 Modernisation Plan, the latest National Traction Plan was geared simply to saving money. It anticipated more electrification - especially the West Coast Main Line between Weaver Junction (Runcorn) and Glasgow, more inter-regional locomotive working, and the need to rediagram fleets to get maximum use. The future of some maintenance depots less than a decade old was a concern because of finding skilled staff to work at them.