'Modernisation' harmed our railway network far more than Beeching

BEECHING will always inevitably be a controversial figure because many of us - enthusiasts and railwaymen alike - have an emotional attachment to railways. Sometimes our hearts rule our heads.

There are times when as a professional railwayman I lament the closure of some of the routes that were lost in the late 1960s and early 1970sThe . Harrogate to Northallerton via Ripon route would today be a very useful East Coast Main Line diversionary route and a direct route from Leeds to the north east avoiding the