Last month I described the background to the appointment of Ernest Marples as Transport Minister and his selection of Dr. Richard Beeching as a Chairman who could bring major changes to British Railways. Bringing the railways’ finances under control meant making some unpalatable and controversial decisions, particularly with regard to the size of the railway network. Closures of stations and rail routes were inevitable and it is worth looking at a couple of them in more detail.
The ‘Waverley route’, as most readers will be aware, was a much-valued asset to people living in the Scottish Borders. Not only was it their prime way of connecting with Edinburgh and Carlisle (and thence South to London) it was also the steel thread that held the isolated Border communities together. Moreover, during the harsh border winters it was normally the only mode of transport that ensured these isolated communities were not cut-off from the outside world. So, perhaps, not too surprisingly there was a very strong locally-led community campaign to try and keep the line open. In fact, so effective was this campaign that it achieved a national profile, most notably when residents handed in a very strongly supported petition demanding the line’s retention to Harold Wilson at No 10 Downing Street. Sadly, though, all of this was to
