Did Beeching get it right in Scotland?

[och aye]

Here's an interesting topic I was thinking about when looking at a railway map after the Beeching cuts in Scotland, was Dr Beeching generally "right" with the majority of his proposals in Scotland? I suppose if you live in an area that would benefit from a station today perhaps you'd disagree with some cuts, but we I want to look at it in the context of the 1950s, before population changes and such like happened many decades later. The lack of foresight to safeguard routes is also a separate discussion.

With the exception of the Waverley line (as far as Hawick, IMO) and the Far North Line (which was thankfully was saved), were the majority of Beeching's proposals and eventual cuts in Scotland actually the right? I'd also be interested to know what closures he got wrong and the reasoning for why.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Ironically the worst closures in Scotland were routes that Beeching planned to retain. The direct route to Perth via Kinross, St. Andrews branch, Levenmouth branch, and Stirling - Alloa - Dunfermline. Also somewhat ironically, Edinburgh to Glasgow via Bathgate was proposed for closure but is now electrified!

Today there is a case for Fraserburgh / Peterhead to reopened and in 1963 there was a case for retaining the 'Port Road' to Stranraer, but not now with the collapse of the traditional boat train traffic.

 

[och aye]

Ironically the worst closures in Scotland were routes that Beeching planned to retain. The direct route to Perth via Kinross, St. Andrews branch, Levenmouth branch, and Stirling - Alloa - Dunfermline. Also somewhat ironically, Edinburgh to Glasgow via Bathgate was proposed for closure but is now electrified!

Today there is a case for Fraserburgh / Peterhead to reopened and in 1963 there was a case for retaining the 'Port Road' to Stranraer, but not now with the collapse of the traditional boat train traffic.

Yes, the Glenfarg line and route to Fraserburgh and Peterhead were retained and closed in the 1970s I believe. I never realised that St Andrews was one line that wasn't in Beeching's recommendations.

Edinburgh to Glasgow via Bathgate was actually closed. A branch to Bathgate was reopened in the 1986 and a branch to Drumgelloch was reopened in 1989. The Airdrie-Bathgate project in 2010 completed the reopening of the link and is today part of the North Clyde Line.

 

[D6130]

Ironically the worst closures in Scotland were routes that Beeching planned to retain. The direct route to Perth via Kinross, St. Andrews branch, Levenmouth branch, and Stirling - Alloa - Dunfermline. Also somewhat ironically, Edinburgh to Glasgow via Bathgate was proposed for closure but is now electrified!

Today there is a case for Fraserburgh / Peterhead to reopened and in 1963 there was a case for retaining the 'Port Road' to Stranraer, but not now with the collapse of the traditional boat train traffic.

Passenger services on the Airdrie-Bathgate-Bathgate Junction (now Newbridge Jn) route were withdrawn as long ago as 1954....well before Beeching.

 

[Magdalia]

routes that Beeching planned to retain. The direct route to Perth via Kinross

I have never been to Glenfarg. But I did do Geography O Level in the 1970s, and I remember an Ordnance Survey map reading exam question based on the old inch to a mile map of Glenfarg. It is a very narrow glen with steep sides and one of the main motivations for closure was to use the trackbed for the M90 motorway, because there was no room in the glen to put it anywhere else.

 

[yorksrob]

Clearly not, given that a large chunk of his proposals (e.g. North and West of Inverness) were never carried out.

Not really surprising, given that he didn't get it right anywhere else either.

 

[Taunton]

Ironically the worst closures in Scotland were routes that Beeching planned to retain. The direct route to Perth via Kinross, St. Andrews branch, Levenmouth branch, and Stirling - Alloa - Dunfermline. Also somewhat ironically, Edinburgh to Glasgow via Bathgate was proposed for closure but is now electrified!

Today there is a case for Fraserburgh / Peterhead to reopened and in 1963 there was a case for retaining the 'Port Road' to Stranraer, but not now with the collapse of the traditional boat train traffic.

When I was in Scotland in the 1970s I occasionally went to Fraserburgh. If only the line had been built through Peterhead and the other intermediate points, instead of various separate branches, it would have been more useful. But there was a bus from Aberdeen to Fraserburgh, it went every two hours, sometimes worse, maybe seven a day, and the number of through passengers was typically in single figures. I think there had been no change to the service provided from before to after the line closed, apart from one "express" bus, inward mornings, out evenings, deliberately put on with the rail closure, which had been given up by the time I was there.

 

[The exile]

I’m sure there were several central belt closures which might have looked right at the time but where subsequent traffic developments might have justified retention (which is not necessarily the same as justifying reinstatement )

 

[Eyersey468]

Clearly not, given that a large chunk of his proposals (e.g. North and West of Inverness) were never carried out.

Not really surprising, given that he didn't get it right anywhere else either.

I think it's a bit unfair to say he didn't get it right anywhere else, he suggested closures as part of the report but it was ultimately the government of the day that implemented them. I agree mistakes were made and some lines closed that should never have done.

 

[eldomtom2]

Ironically the worst closures in Scotland were routes that Beeching planned to retain.

Planned to retain for the immediate future, that is.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Glenfarg ... is a very narrow glen with steep sides and one of the main motivations for closure was to use the trackbed for the M90 motorway

One job a few years ago, involved me flying to Edinburgh and then driving to Arbroath.
Each time I drove along the M90's parts which follow the old trackbed, I'll admit I made in-car noises of a steam loco!

 

[Taunton]

Some lament the end of the Perth to Aberdeen direct line, known for high express speeds - of course, because it didn't pass through anywhere meaningful. But diverting these trains through Dundee, Scotland's fourth-largest city, gave much-enhanced journey opportunities for higher traffic flows.

Likewise the Glenfarg line; sending trains, including those through from England, round the other side of the hill through Newburgh allows them to serve Kirkcaldy, the largest urban centre in Fife.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Some lament the end of the Perth to Aberdeen direct line, known for high express speeds - of course, because it didn't pass through anywhere meaningful. But diverting these trains through Dundee, Scotland's fourth-largest city, gave much-enhanced journey opportunities for higher traffic flows.

Likewise the Glenfarg line; sending trains, including those through from England, round the other side of the hill through Newburgh allows them to serve Kirkcaldy, the largest urban centre in Fife.

Exactly. The report was borne out of economics, not nostalgia. Even where some statistics were less than accurate, the overall aim was right.

 

[ScottGallagher]

I believe that Glasgow to Barrhead and Kilmarnock was also proposed for closure, anyone know the given reason it was saved?

 

[D6130]

Had the Hamilton-Stonehouse-Coalburn/Strathaven lines been retained, towns such as Stonehouse, Strathaven and Lesmahagow may have become desirable Glasgow commuter towns....but those lines were expensive to maintain - with several large steel viaducts - and the M74 came along less than ten years after closure in 1965. The line was of course reopened as far as Larkhall in recent years....but the demolished viaducts would preclude any reopening beyond there.

 

[Acfb]

Edinburgh-Hawick was obviously wrong as mentioned.

I also think it's odd that East Linton closed and Drem didn't. Was Drem seen as more useful as it was a junction?

 

[Rescars]

Today there is a case for Fraserburgh / Peterhead to reopened and in 1963 there was a case for retaining the 'Port Road' to Stranraer, but not now with the collapse of the traditional boat train traffic.

Whatever the cost-benefit arguments may be, the loss of the Port Road is still felt in some quarters. A further sadness is the pre-Beeching loss of the direct rail connection to Cairnyan - which might have proved quite handy now it is the ferry terminal. Still, we now have the joys of the A75 instead, though I'd guess I am not the only Stranraer-bound driver whose heart sinks when turning off the M6 to see the signs indicating that there are 90 miles of juggernaut-laden mainly single carriageway road ahead! I am told this is called progess!!

 

[Taunton]

I understand the Cairnryan "railway" was actually little more than a long siding, laid over the undulating ground with not much in the way of earthworks. Short freight trains needed to be assisted with a WD 2-8-0 front and rear over it. It was an emergency WW2 project, likewise the port facilities, to handle vessels which could not use Stranraer given the shallowness of Loch Ryan (a former user of Stranraer-Larne once described to me how the BR ferries occasionally grounded at low tide trying to get up the loch, the propellers churning up the mud).

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The Port Road might have been more use today if it had taken the A75 coastal route instead of 'going over the top' - Gatehouse of Fleet station was famously nowhere near the town. I read somewhere that one of the aims was to exploit the supposed iron ore reserves which in the event turned out to be very meagre.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

I think it's a bit unfair to say he didn't get it right anywhere else

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

 

[Rescars]

I understand the Cairnryan "railway" was actually little more than a long siding, laid over the undulating ground with not much in the way of earthworks. Short freight trains needed to be assisted with a WD 2-8-0 front and rear over it. It was an emergency WW2 project, likewise the port facilities, to handle vessels which could not use Stranraer given the shallowness of Loch Ryan (a former user of Stranraer-Larne once described to me how the BR ferries occasionally grounded at low tide trying to get up the loch, the propellers churning up the mud).

I think the Cainryan Military Railway was a bit more than a siding. AIUI Military Port No 2 was constructed in some secrecy in 1940 to provide an alternative deep water dock should Liverpool or Glasgow be rendered unusable by enemy bombing. The installation ended up with 30 miles of track, sidings for 2,900 wagons, 4 harbours, 31 wharf gantry cranes, 4 stations and accommodation for 4,000 men. Apparently 33 different classes of loco worked the line at some point or other. Happily the port was never needed to carry out its original purpose, but it did handle a very significant amount of military traffic. How the single line Port Road and Stranraer Road would have coped with traffic volumes normally routed through Liverpool or Glasgow as well as the Northern Ireland traffic is anyone's guess. The CMR remained in military use after the end of hostilities, when one of its functions was to assist in the disposal of vast quantities of redundant munitions which were shipped out and dumped in Beaufort's Dyke in the North Channel - one of the many complications which now challenge the prospects of constructing any sort of tunnel link between NI and the rest of the UK.

The Port Road might have been more use today if it had taken the A75 coastal route instead of 'going over the top' - Gatehouse of Fleet station was famously nowhere near the town. I read somewhere that one of the aims was to exploit the supposed iron ore reserves which in the event turned out to be very meagre.

Very true, but the prime purpose of the Port Road was to convey mail traffic to Ireland via Portpatrick (a choice of ultimate destination which didn't work out too well either). I fear the good folk of Galloway were a secondary consideration - but at the time of the line's construction most of the coastal communities were served by boats on the Solway.

 

[Bevan Price]

Ironically the worst closures in Scotland were routes that Beeching planned to retain. The direct route to Perth via Kinross, St. Andrews branch, Levenmouth branch, and Stirling - Alloa - Dunfermline. Also somewhat ironically, Edinburgh to Glasgow via Bathgate was proposed for closure but is now electrified!

Today there is a case for Fraserburgh / Peterhead to reopened and in 1963 there was a case for retaining the 'Port Road' to Stranraer, but not now with the collapse of the traditional boat train traffic.

I doubt that the Port Road was ever really necessary. Stranraer / Cairnryan are only ideal for Scotland / Ireland traffic.
Liverpool or Heysham were always the most suitable ports for traffic between Northern Ireland and most of Northern England and the English Midlands.

 

[Eyersey468]

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

I'm not suggesting that they got everything right, as I say mistakes were made, I just feel its unfair to say it was all his fault. His terns of reference were solely financial, he was not to consider any social aspects and ultimately it was the government of the day that closed the lines, not Beeching himself

 

[Rescars]

I doubt that the Port Road was ever really necessary. Stranraer / Cairnryan are only ideal for Scotland / Ireland traffic.
Liverpool or Heysham were always the most suitable ports for traffic between Northern Ireland and most of Northern England and the English Midlands.

But Stranraer is a much shorter sea crossing (even shorter if Portpatrick had worked out), which has certain attractions.

 

[Bevan Price]

But Stranraer is a much shorter sea crossing (even shorter if Portpatrick had worked out), which has certain attractions.

Yes, a shorter sea route, but a much longer land route from most of England.

 

[jadmor]

Some lament the end of the Perth to Aberdeen direct line, known for high express speeds - of course, because it didn't pass through anywhere meaningful. But diverting these trains through Dundee, Scotland's fourth-largest city, gave much-enhanced journey opportunities for higher traffic flows.

Likewise the Glenfarg line; sending trains, including those through from England, round the other side of the hill through Newburgh allows them to serve Kirkcaldy, the largest urban centre in Fife.

I would have to disagree with the comment about Newburgh, as it was 5 years before the edinburgh to Inverness services were routed this way. The justification for the 1970 closure was that the service could run in about the same time via Stirling. There wasn't even a semi fast Edinburgh Perth service by either route for some years, according to my timetables for that period. If the line had survived into the 70s, it is possible that a decent regular interval service to Perth might have got a foothold. But I would agree that the economic situation at the time could not be ignored. I think that Scottish Region applied for grant aid around this time (and also for St Andrews and Waverley) but were refused.
Exactly. The report was borne out of economics, not nostalgia. Even where some statistics were less than accurate, the overall aim was right.

Exactly. The report was borne out of economics, not nostalgia. Even where some statistics were less than accurate, the overall aim was right.

 

[Rescars]

Yes, a shorter sea route, but a much longer land route from most of England.

Especially when going to such great lengths to bypass Gatehouse of Fleet!

 

[Kingston Dan]

I’m sure there were several central belt closures which might have looked right at the time but where subsequent traffic developments might have justified retention (which is not necessarily the same as justifying reinstatement )

The Corstorphine branch is one - survived to the very end of the 60s - had it stayed a few more years it would probably end up the western terminus for North Berwick/Dunbar trains. Might also then have been considered for tram conversion (could still be I suppose).

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Likewise the Glenfarg line; sending trains, including those through from England, round the other side of the hill through Newburgh allows them to serve Kirkcaldy, the largest urban centre in Fife.

Although for some years after the closure the few remaining through trains were re-routed via Stirling, the routing via Ladybank only came about in the mid 1970s (I took my first trip over it in 1977), and then my recollection is it was only one train each way per day for a good number of further years (and it was only ever a diversionary route for the once daily through train from England).

 

[nw1]

The Port Road might have been more use today if it had taken the A75 coastal route instead of 'going over the top' - Gatehouse of Fleet station was famously nowhere near the town. I read somewhere that one of the aims was to exploit the supposed iron ore reserves which in the event turned out to be very meagre.

That rings a bell from the 80s, I holidayed in the general area on several occasions then and am starting to remember road signs to "Gatehouse Station" and it being someway from the town. Obviously the railway was long gone by then (earliest trip 1982, latest 1990) but presumably a small settlement of that name had grown up round the station.

There are quite a few towns in the area, and the nearest surviving stations are a considerable distance away, so in some ways - with the NI boat traffic too - it's surprising that it couldn't sustain a rail service.