Mad Doug Biker
Mediocrity Manifest.
- Location
- Craggy Island
Oh my goodness, ALL the railways, ALL?
What drivel!
Firstly, he did not have the final say, he just saw 50 years of crap and said what he thought.
He was brought in as an independent judge on an industry that had been in decline since 1913... NINETEEN THIRTEEN... Since the start of WW1!
The railways had been in decline for 50 years before and things had been closing LONG before a certain head of ICI came along.
This is not even mentioning both the world wars that broke things too either!
By the time he got to things, there was more dead wood than the Stage of the same name!!
He simply came in and made (educated) recommendations on what should go, oh and yes, he made mistakes too, he even said so in later years and he apologised (believe it or not, he was actually human too, he didn't just simply appear in 1963 and then cease to exist afterwards), but, BUT he also recommended certain lines stay open, but BR closed them anyway... He was not the one with the final decision, BR were and they were about as inept as it got... Look at the 'Modernisation Plan' for example - Brand new diesels built for a career of 40 years, withdrawn when they were barely 10 or 15 years old... FFS, they were still building steam locos in 1960... When Steam finished in 1968, BR really didn't have a zarking clue and they just bought whatever untested things companies threw at them, with predictable results!!
The modernisation plan was a total disaster that was utterly emblematic as to their utter, utter incompetence and Beeching was the result!!
BR were quite literally loosing Millions in the 1960s, I'd hate to think how much it would have been in todays money, but I can well believe it was into the billions or trillions!
Without Beeching's intervention, the railways would be in an even worse state now. 🤷♂️
No, no, Beeching was not the problem, BR was and don't you forget it!
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