Beeching cuts

[whole diary]

[34104]

In 1963, the Southern and Western Regions did a survey of the competing routes to the South West of England and found that five times as many West Country passengers used the Paddington route to Exeter and beyond, and that, although the SR^‡(resolve) route was shorter, the WR route was quicker. They also concluded that concentrating expresses on the SR route would either require a new spur at Exeter, or time wasting reversal of all Plymouth and Penzance trains at Exeter St Davids (no HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) or DVTs^‡(resolve) in 1963!). Focusing expresses on the Southern Route would also have resulted in a less attractive direct service from Taunton to London.

Given the arguments above and also that the Southern lines west of Salisbury were losing money heavily from the late 1950s (in 1957, these lines were failing to cover direct costs by ^800,000), the Western Region announced in February 1964 that the WR route would be the trunk route with the SR route restricted to serving a limited number of intermediate stations between Salisbury and Exeter. Over the next 3 years, the WR removed loss making branch lines (e.g. Axminster, Seaton, Sidmouth) and Salisbury - Exeter stopping services, and further cut costs in 1967 by singling the line, leaving the 2 hourly semi-fast service which ran in various iterations until December 2009.

You can argue in retrospect that the WR pruned the services too much, but the cost cutting made sense at the time, and their plan to focus on semi-fast services was, in my opinion, the right one for the long term survival of the line.

Why would there have been a need for reversal if trains started at Waterloo?

Trains travelling from Waterloo enter Exeter St Davids Station from the south whereas trains from Paddington enter the same station from the north. Therefore if Waterloo had been the principal terminus for the South West from 1964 onwards, trains entering St Davids would, if they were to continue to Plymouth and Penzance along the favoured GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) route (rather than the SR's line via Okehampton to Plymouth), have had to have left St Davids from the same end of the station that they entered it. The argument was that this would have been time wasting as it would have required an engine change for every train going beyond Exeter (or at least detaching the engine from one end of the train and attaching it to the other end).  The same changes would have also been necessary for every Waterloo bound train.

Ah,right.I was assuming that the surveys went the whole hog as far as switching to the SR line was concerned and carried on from Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton/Tavistock.BTW^▸ (by the way),were those surveys ever published in any form? Frankly,i find it difficult to believe that the GWR route attracted 5 times as many passengers as the SR one back in the 1950's/1960's.

[JayMac]

What has to be remembered is that many of the surveys carried out as part of the 'Reshaping of British Railways' were very narrow in their scope. At the time an integrated rail network was seen as anachronistic. Roads and the private car were seen as the future. Particularly when you remember that Dr B was hired by Minister of Transport Ernest Marples. Whilst Marples was required by parliamentary rules to divest of his interest in road building company Marples Ridgeway Ltd on becoming a Minister, lest it be seen he had a conflict of interests; he did so in a sneaky (but allowed) way: Selling his shares to his wife!

And we think today's politicians are nowt but a self serving bunch of .....*


*Insert your own noun as you see fit.

[Chafford1]

From Modern Railways, April 1964:

'The hardening of BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) opinion in favour of retaining the Taunton - Newbury - Reading main line as the chief London - South-West express route has been influenced chiefly by two factors. The first is that five times as many passengers presently take Paddington trains for Exeter and beyond as do Waterloo departures; there is less danger of alienating public opinion by concentrating traffic on the ex-GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) route. Secondly, cardinal importance is attached to highly competitive speed of service, which BR feel would be jeopardised if all expresses had to stop at both Exeter stations and reverse at St Davids. BR wisely have a long-term eye on the effects of future road developments on overall journey times'

Also from the same edition in relation to journey times:

'Also mentioned was the new daily business service to be introduced this summer linking Plymouth and Paddington in less than 4 hr.... This is the BR answer to the immediate threat of a Plymouth - London air service'


From Modern Railways, April 1967:

'The foundation for the decision to make the Westbury - Taunton line the principle route to the West was a costing exercise conducted jointly by the SR^‡(resolve) and WR. The bulk of London - West Country passengers used the Paddington route to Exeter and made a bigger contribution to the total costs of running their expresses than did those between Salisbury and Exeter'

Given these articles were published 45 years ago, it would be difficult to verify their accuracy or otherwise. However, given the authors were presumably the Roger Fords of their day with close links to the rail industry, I would assume that there is a considerable element of truth in what they were writing. Unfortunately those involved in the original decisions would probably be in their 90s now, if they are still alive.

[The Grecian]

I should also perhaps point out in fairness after my last post that Honiton and Gillingham, 2 of the busiest stations after Yeovil Junction today, were always poorly served in comparison to other stations before the regime change. Templecombe, Axminster and Sidmouth Junction were favoured as express stops due to their branch line connections. The 2 hourly service actually gave them an improved service compared to what went before.

The economies may have saved the line, but at the same time there would be increased maintenance of the remaining track due to an increase in the number of trains using it. It's a shame that well into the 1980s BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) were constantly told by differing governments to make economies and that often meant singling lines which can create considerable delays - Burngullow - Probus was one (1986) until redoubling in 2004, Dorchester South-Moreton is one today that can cause problems as trains are scheduled virtually all day to meet not far west of Dorchester  and Cockett - Dyffyrn is another (the last two aren't really on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) territory apart from a handful of Carmarthen services but they are close by). That short-sightedness seems to have gone (for now anyway).

[Chafford1]

I should also perhaps point out in fairness after my last post that Honiton and Gillingham, 2 of the busiest stations after Yeovil Junction today, were always poorly served in comparison to other stations before the regime change. Templecombe, Axminster and Sidmouth Junction were favoured as express stops due to their branch line connections. The 2 hourly service actually gave them an improved service compared to what went before.

The economies may have saved the line, but at the same time there would be increased maintenance of the remaining track due to an increase in the number of trains using it. It's a shame that well into the 1980s BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) were constantly told by differing governments to make economies and that often meant singling lines which can create considerable delays - Burngullow - Probus was one (1986) until redoubling in 2004, Dorchester South-Moreton is one today that can cause problems as trains are scheduled virtually all day to meet not far west of Dorchester  and Cockett - Dyffyrn is another (the last two aren't really on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) territory apart from a handful of Carmarthen services but they are close by). That short-sightedness seems to have gone (for now anyway).

You're right about the stopping patterns - Crewkerne had 3 direct trains from Waterloo from 7 September 1964 (none before that date) and Gillingham 5 direct trains from Waterloo from 7 September 1964 (only 1 before that date).

In terms of overall numbers of trains, the WR estimated that the 1967 service along the Salisbury-Exeter line represented 50% less passenger and parcels mileage and 40% less freight mileage than that operated in 1962.

[34104]

From Modern Railways, April 1964:

'The hardening of BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) opinion in favour of retaining the Taunton - Newbury - Reading main line as the chief London - South-West express route has been influenced chiefly by two factors. The first is that five times as many passengers presently take Paddington trains for Exeter and beyond as do Waterloo departures; there is less danger of alienating public opinion by concentrating traffic on the ex-GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) route. Secondly, cardinal importance is attached to highly competitive speed of service, which BR feel would be jeopardised if all expresses had to stop at both Exeter stations and reverse at St Davids. BR wisely have a long-term eye on the effects of future road developments on overall journey times'

Also from the same edition in relation to journey times:

'Also mentioned was the new daily business service to be introduced this summer linking Plymouth and Paddington in less than 4 hr.... This is the BR answer to the immediate threat of a Plymouth - London air service'


From Modern Railways, April 1967:

'The foundation for the decision to make the Westbury - Taunton line the principle route to the West was a costing exercise conducted jointly by the SR^‡(resolve) and WR. The bulk of London - West Country passengers used the Paddington route to Exeter and made a bigger contribution to the total costs of running their expresses than did those between Salisbury and Exeter'

Given these articles were published 45 years ago, it would be difficult to verify their accuracy or otherwise. However, given the authors were presumably the Roger Fords of their day with close links to the rail industry, I would assume that there is a considerable element of truth in what they were writing. Unfortunately those involved in the original decisions would probably be in their 90s now, if they are still alive.

They certainly overestimated the long term London-Plymouth air threat!

[smokey]

I'm sure I read somewhere that BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) Southern had plans in the late 50's maybe early 60's that for the services to Exeter and West there off (talking the EX Southern routes here) that a Fleet of Hastings Line style DEMU^▸ (Diesel Electric Multiple Unit)'s were planned. Built to Normal (and Not Rip Off contractors Hastings line) body size.

That would have been interesting Thumpers to Bideford and Padstow. 

Shame it never happened.

[Chafford1]

I'm sure I read somewhere that BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) Southern had plans in the late 50's maybe early 60's that for the services to Exeter and West there off (talking the EX Southern routes here) that a Fleet of Hastings Line style DEMU^▸ (Diesel Electric Multiple Unit)'s were planned. Built to Normal (and Not Rip Off contractors Hastings line) body size.

That would have been interesting Thumpers to Bideford and Padstow. 

Shame it never happened.

That's interesting.  I've read that the SR^‡(resolve) was already planning to cut the services West of Exeter before the WR took over in 1963 and that they put forward proposals for faster steam hauled Waterloo to Exeter Central services for 1963 - the fastest time would have been reduced to 2 hours 48 minutes.