Model Railway Forum

Funny you mention that, LC, British railroading is quite viewed differently upon this side of the pond, what
with the late transition to diesel and electric, comparatively short wheel bases, smaller trains. I spent a
rather interesting and pleasant year in Shiplake in '66, and thus my youthful railroad ambitions were
started with a Wren wind up set.

Mr. Beacham, I understand, took a surgical approach to realigning British rail systems, whilst in the USA,
about that time, a short sighted governmental underwriting of expansive interstate highways and a
heavy subsidization of airlines left the private railroads to fend for themselves, resulting in a massive
Beacham-like contraction of rail services, which used to blanket the North American continent.

With your indulgence, here is another parody of American railway promotional film trailer, this one
promoting the role of American railroads in the transportation of beef stock to table.

(As an historical aside, prior to 1880, large herds of buffalo roamed the American West, and deer
in great multitude in the American East. With the near extinction of buffalo, and the decimation
of wild deer, beef became a common, and profitable, substitute staple for the industrializing USA).

https://youtu.be/WQF2CsmqomY

Another fun video, thank you Chops. Backing track was appropriate again.

I am not sure if you deliberately referred to Dr. Beeching as 'Beacham', during the time of cuts we used to say that a closed branch line had been given a Beecham pill, after the well known Pharmaceutical company, because Dr. Beeching had been an industrial chemist high up in ICI before he was made chairman of British Rail.

The guy was much vilified by railway enthusiasts and residents in the villages which lost its train service, but he did promote some great ideas for the bits of the railway he chose to keep. For example under his watch the Freightliner network was established taking high capacity shipping containers quickly from ports to major cities, and still does today. He also introduced Merry Go Round coal trains which moved large quantities of coal from the collieries to the new high capacity electrical generating stations which were coming on line at that time. He was also instrumental in promoting Inter City passenger express trains which reversed the fortunes of British Rail passenger business, and eventually saw the introduction of the HST (High Speed Trains) which massively improved journey times, and are only now being replaced nearly 50 years later.

British Railways don't quite do freight as the American Railways. I remember watching video my work colleague took at a US station of a passing freight train about ten years ago. It was so long it kept passing for about five minutes, possibly more, it was huge. We have some longish freights, but nothing like that!

No more livestock trains here, either, pigs, cattle and sheep are only hauled on the roads and have been for over 30 years.