Description

Picking up the story in 1961, the second part of this engrossing series follows the chain of events after Beeching was appointed as the first Chairman of the British Railways Board. His task was to draw up a plan to eliminate the network’s losses and to reorganise the railways for the future. It was a job that would secure his place in British Railway history, albeit somewhat ignominiously.

Full description from the producer:

This is the story of how around 150 pre-Grouping railways of Britain evolved from their ‘Golden Age’ in the heady Edwardian era to become the less popular nationalised British Railways. It fell to Dr Richard Beeching, Chairman of the British Railways Board (1961-1965) to wield his axe in order to achieve the Government’s ambition of turning the railways back into profit. With the use of extensive and rare archive footage, this series examines Beeching’s legacy as we commemorate 60 years since his infamous report The Reshaping of British Railways was published.

Picking up the story in 1961, the second part of this series follows the chain of events after Beeching was appointed as the first Chairman of the British Railways Board. His task was to draw up a plan to eliminate the network’s losses and to reorganise the railways for the future. It was a job that would secure his place in British Railway history.

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