the biggest mistake of all?

Economists often talk of opportunity costs and misallocation of resources. I reckon that in 50 years time we'll all look back and see the Beeching cuts and the, once quite serious, belief that railways were finished and the policies that grew out of that huge error as the biggest misallocation of resources the UK has ever seen.

For a start the Beeching cuts didn't save the railways a penny - they made no contribution to reducing the costs of the railways. If anything they reduced the overall income as many people living on closed routes simply abandoned the railways altogether, rather than find alternative means to get to the railhead.

But even more importantly the consequent congestion effects caused by people being FORCED to use the roads, both for passenger and freight services, had a huge cost, massively outweighing any savings made by scrapping a few branch lines.

I know some people think that the second railway age will merely reverse the Beeching cuts, but remember that this assumption is based on some miraculous energy source being available to keep at least some cars running. In reality of course once the level of traffic on roads falls to a certain point it will no longer be viable to keep roads open. Rail will really be the only available option. So just reversing the Beeching cuts will nowhere near solve the problem, unless we're prepared to totally abandon whole swathes of countryside. But surely these will be the very areas that need transport to bring food to the towns and cities? So if lines will be needed to bring food in then surely it will be best to operate them as passenger routes as well? This supposes a huge expansion of light and ultra-light rail, bringing rail to every corner of the country. So as well as a total reversal of Beeching the trunk and branch lines will be accompanied by a Vicinal style network of narrow gauge and light railways. I do sometimes think most of us simply haven't taken on board the scale of the rail revival, and the benefits (and problems) that will bring!

And as for misallocation of resources - how many billions were wasted on developing a road system for a form of transport with a severely limited life, and what will the costs be to restore the network, particularly through developed areas, compared to the costs of keeping the routes open? These questions will keep transport economists in work for decades!

bloody know-alls!

Take a look at the picture above. It's a very nice atmosphere shot of the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway, in Wisbech. This is from the book 'The Wisbech and Upwell Tramway' by Chris Hawkins and George Reeve, published in 1982.

1982 was close to rail's lowest ebb in the UK. Even many rail enthusiasts fell for the con, others simply loved the 'romance' of closed lines and really believed that once closed a line would stay closed forever - regardless of the future of roads!

The interesting part of the above picture is the caption. Not sure if you can view it clearly in your browser, but the last line of text reads - Rails in the street are now largely unknown in this country and their like will never be seen again.
Hmmm. Just a few years later rails started appearing in the streets of Manchester, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, Nottingham and Croydon. And in a few months time not only will the streets of Porthmadog contain rails, but will see regular, daily STEAM trains running down 'em.

So when someone tells you 'The S&D will never reopen' remember the absolute certainty of the Wisbech and Upwell statement above. Not only will rails in the street become commonplace throughout the UK, of all guages, but many industrial concerns will run street lines connecting the factory to the network, most towns above 100,000 population will have street-based tramways, smaller towns and villages will have ultra-light rail, interurban street and roadside tracks will litter the countryside and the street railway will become more common than it ever was.

And, of course, the S&D will not only be fully restored but will probably have a dozen of more street-running tramways and light railways connecting to it, not to mention the industrial lines!

I even think the Wisbech and Upwell tramway will be restored!

the beginning of the end?

Results just in from the AA Populus poll -

Subject: March survey results Posted At: 12/04/2010 13:26:31

Impact of current fuel prices - Over a quarter of members (27%) have cut back on car use - Two thirds of members have cut back on spending and car use.

'Current fuel prices'? Prices are still ridiculously low compared to what's coming, but this does rather challenge the standard view that motorists will NEVER give up their cars, regardless of the price of fuel. If the very low cost of fuel we are currently experiencing can have this effect - what does the future hold?

What this means is that we really have to start getting railways back to pre-Beeching levels NOW, and that's just the start. With the terminal decline of road transport we'll need to bring the rails to every village, hamlet, factory, shop and market in the country. Some lines will be standard gauge heavy lines, others standard gauge tramways, others will be narrow gauge or ultra light rail. There's an awful lot of work to do in the next twenty years!

deadly serious

Swanage Railway.


Welsh Highland Railway.


Gartell Railway. (John Penny).


Jinty at Midsomer Norton 2005.

One of the oddest things about all this New S&D thing is that I still occasionally get asked 'Is this a serious scheme?' It's deadly serious. I have studied the economics of Peak Oil, of transport and of railways and I still can't see any way - short of apocalypse - that this can't happen.

Consider two futures. One in which - somehow - economic expansion continues and some sort of alternative/s to oil is found. Roads would become increasingly congested, towns would continue to expand. Already our railways are bursting at the seams - new lines are not just desirable but inevitable. And in this (extremely unlikely) scenario economic expansion could lead to increased carbon output. How long before every government finally 'gets' what the rest of us have for years - that fuel efficiency is one way of reducing atmospheric carbon? Railways are at least FOUR times as efficient as road transport, much more than four times as efficient as air travel (which even in this scenario is doomed). Light and ultra-light rail are even more efficient.

The other future, the far more realistic one, will see economic expansion halt and even contract, and the road system grind to a halt due to a mix of sky-high oil prices, deteriorating maintenance of roads and ever greater limits on carbon output. This could happen over decades, years or even weeks. In this scenario rail expansion won't only be desirable but a matter of life or death, for communities if not for individuals. New railways will be opening everywhere, not just totally reversing the Beeching cuts but reaching places that never got a railway first time round, because in this scenario no railway = no way of continuing as an economic community.

The New S&D has never been about dreams, but more about stopping a nightmare. A New S&D is already needed, many feel that the original line should never have closed, in twenty years time only a few rocking lunatics won't see the need for it.

What we need - HAVE - to do is get organised NOW, develop our networks and contacts, within the rail industry, among local people, at local, regional and national political levels. It will be a struggle to get resources, human and financial. We will be competing with hundreds or even thousands of other routes desperate to reopen before the oil runs out. Serious? You could say that!

missed - and future - opportunities

The old S&D served three major national venues, and the New S&D will do the same. One was there even in 1966, one has sprung up since, coincidentally on the route and the third was actually inspired by the S&D. All will be served directly by the New S&D.


First off is the Bath and West Showground at Prestleigh. This actually is already rail served, but only internally and on the 7¼" gauge. The Bath and West Show is a really big event, and is on at the moment. As road traffic falls it will, if it plans to survive, need a rail link. This could either be a standard gauge branch off the main line, or a narrow gauge feeder route that also serves the showground internally. There are regular events at the showground, many of which attract thousands of people, so the route would be opened many times a year.



Second is the Great Dorset Steam Fair. This was inspired by the S&D and the operating company is currently looking at an internal narrow gauge permanent railway to service the site in future years. No doubt the wheel will turn full circle and the restored S&D serve the site, again either with a standard gauge branch from Blandford or an extension of the narrow gauge internal railway to a new S&D station.


Lastly is the Glastonbury Festival. This is one of the most famous and important music events in the world. Currently special trains are run to Castle Cary during the festival with onward transport by buses (LOL!) Interestingly the old S&D Highbridge branch trackbed currently serves as an internal road within the festival grounds - so building a station within the festival site will be a doddle.

Railways in the future will serve the areas they operate in far more intimately than the old lines did with many branches, tramways and ultra light rail systems connecting to the main routes. The S&D will hopefully be a leader in this new form of community transport, linking communities to each other and to the wider world.

excellent news - Tavistock returns!!

(All Okehampton 4.12.1984)

West Devon Borough Council, to their credit, last night voted through a plan to build 750 new homes in Tavistock, by a company called Kilbride, who will also rebuild the 6 miles of railway to Bere Alston and thus a direct link to Plymouth for the first time since 1968. [Google This is Plymouth, Western Morning News for further details]. Planning, consultation etc, is going to take another year, but it definitely looks good. I know there was a scheme to build a lot of houses on railway land at Radstock- is that signed sealed and delivered, or would it be possible to get a company like Kilbride to come up with a similar model? Or indeed, in future, maybe parts of the S and D could be rebuilt in this way. Just food for thought really, wonder what your opinions are.

From a message board post.

This is fantastic news and indeed will serve as a model for future large housing developments. A point often made to me is that there is little point building new homes if there are no modern transport links in place. In the 70s and 80s roads would have provided these links, but that's history now, or very soon will be. This should certainly apply to Radstock and surely the Midsomer Norton Trust and North Somerset Railway are making this point to everyone who will listen?

Hopefully restoration of the line to Tavistock will reinvigorate calls for the whole route to Meldon and Okehampton be restored, giving an alternative route to the sea level rise threatened Dawlish route. At the very least it will take some of the capacity restraints off the existing line as traffic continues to climb. Really the whole Dartmoor route needs to be reopened and double tracked as quickly as possible.

If this government had any balls it would make putting in modern transport links compulsory for all major new housing, retail or industrial developments. This could be heavy rail (restored or new build), light rail, ultra light rail or tramway. Soon there will be no other option in any case. Better still if rather than the new line be appropriated by a large concern they are set up as locally owned and run co-operatives, ensuring that the route is geared towards local needs and is maintained and run to the highest standards. We are getting there slowly ...