This series looks at the background to the Report, and how it affected different parts of the country. This volume covers west Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, listing and describing all the lines that closed, the well-researched text supported by maps and contemporary photographs and timetables. It also lists pre-Beeching closures, lines that closed despite not being listed in the Report, those that survived the Report and the numerous wayside stations that closed on the lines that remained open. In 1963 most places in the West Country were within easy reach of a railway station. By the end of the decade all that had changed. This book attempts to catalogue what was lost and what remains.
THE BEECHING LEGACY The West Country (Second Edition)
The year 1963 saw the publication of the infamous ‘Beeching Report’, The Reshaping of British Railways. In fact, this ‘reshaping’ involved the radical downsizing of the existing rail network – hundreds of stations would be closed to both freight and passenger traffic together with thousands of miles of track, while many staff would lose their jobs.
The Beeching Legacy A comparative view, past and present, of The Beeching Report - The Reshaping of: BRITISHRAILWAYS
• Philip Horton •
Features the services listed for modification or closure including:
The Exmouth branch was the only example in the West Country of BR(Western Region) overriding a Beeching proposal (Chap 3.20). Topsham, the single passing place on the Exmouth branch, sees regular Great Western Railway services to and from both Barnstaple and Paignton. Here storm clouds gather as Class 150/0 ‘Sprinter’ No. 150.002 enters with the 12.23 from Exmouth to Paignton on 3 April 2019. The 2-car unit is strengthened by an additional coach No. 55401. Author
£25.00
• A SILVER LINK BOOK • from The NOSTALGIA Collection
Philip Horton
Front cover: Storm clouds gather over Exmoor as Class 4300 ‘Mogul’ No. 7304 arrives at Morebath Junction Halt with a train from Taunton to Barnstaple Junction in the early 1960s. In the background the Exe Valley line from Exeter can be seen coming in to join that from Taunton. The former line closed in October 1963 while that from Taunton succumbed three years later. M E J Deane collection, courtesy of Ian Bennett
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Castle Cary - Weymouth Exeter St David’s - Kingswear Plymouth - Penzance Yeovil Junction - Exeter Central Exeter Central - Barnstaple Exeter Central - Okehampton Taunton - Yeovil Pen Mill Lostwithiel - Fowey Barnstaple Junction - Torrington Axminster - Lyme Regis Seaton Junction - Seaton Okehampton – Padstow & Bude Taunton - Barnstable Junction Bodmin North - Padstow Sidmouth Junction - Sidmouth Okehampton - Plymouth Barnstaple Junction - Ilfracombe Taunton - Minehead Maiden Newton - Bridport Liskeard - Looe St Erth - St Ives
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Second Edition with Colour