In my opinion, BR was far from perfect -- but even so, it was a lot better than the privatised "franchise era". In two spells of commuting, I never had to worry about cancelled trains due to staff shortages. Yes - trains were sometimes late, but rarely, if ever, was a train terminated short of its final destination. Yes - there were some grumpy / unhelpful staff, but nothing much has changed about that. Yes, some timetables were infrequent and seemed planned for operational convenience rather than for passenger convenience - but little has changed there, either. Most trains usually had enough seats, connections would often be held for a few minutes rather than depart without waiting for slightly delayed trains. Things started to get both better and worse in the 1980s - more frequent, but shorter trains (outside London). Although it was becoming increasingly complicated, the fare structure was vastly simpler than the current system, where each operator has its own rules and/or peak hour definitions, etc. BR had a more "integrated" feel, rather than the disjointed, fragmented mess.