Last Trains

by Charles Loft

  Norfolk 1, 2, 3;

  Norwich 1, 2, 3, 4;

  Nottingham 1, 2, 3, 4, 5;

  Oxford 1, 2, 3, 4;

  Padstow 1;

  Parliament 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6;

  Penistone 1;

  Perth 1;

  Peterborough 1, 2, 3, 4, 5;

  Peterhead 1;

  Plymouth 1, 2;

  Porthcawl 1;

  Portsmouth 1, 2;

  Rugby 1, 2, 3;

  Ryde 1;

  Salisbury 1, 2;

  Sandwich 1;

  Saxby 1;

  Sheffield 1, 2;

  Sheringham 1, 2;

  Skegness 1, 2;

  Silloth 1;

  Singleton 1, 2;

  Southend 1;

  St Ives 1;

  Stamford 1;

  Stratford-upon-Avon 1;

  Tavistock 1;

  Tetbury 1;

  Treasury 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29;

  Tunbridge Wells 1, 2;

  Ventnor 1, 2, 3;

  Wadebridge 1;

  Walsingham 1;

  Wellsnext-the-Sea 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6;

  Westminster 1;

  Whitby 1, 2;

  Whitehall 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21;

  Withernsea 1, 2, 3, 4;

  Woodford Halse 1;

  Yarmouth 1, 2

  United States of America (USA) 1 railway networks of 1

  Victorian Society 1

  Vinter, Jeff 1, 2

  Walker, Peter 1, 2

  Walker, Sir Herbert 1, 2

  Watkin, Sir Edward 1, 2

  Watkinson, Harold 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

  Waverley line 1

  West Riding express fire (1951) 1

  Westerham Branch Railway Passengers Association 1, 2

  Westerham Valley Railway 1

  Westerham Valley Railway Association (WVRA) 1, 2

  Western Railway 1

  White, Eirene 1, 2

  White, H. P. background of 1

  Forgotten Railways (1986) 1

  Whitelaw, Willie 1

  Wild, Ira 1

  Willis, J. R. 1

  Wilson, Harold 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 British Prime Minister 1

  critique of Beeching Report 1

  electoral performance of (1964) 1, 2, 3

  Wilson, Sir Reginald 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Former South Eastern Railway 31065 at Headcorn, preparing to haul the 08.50 to Robertsbridge on the last day of the Kent and East Sussex Railway’s passenger service, 2 January 1954. © Ben Brooksbank

  The 31065 at Tenterden on the final day. Built in 1896, it worked until 1961 and has since been preserved on the Bluebell Railway. © Ben Brooksbank

  Photographer Ben Brooksbank braved a cold and damp morning to attend this early closure. At Tenterden, one of the small band of enthusiasts who accompanied him talks to the driver, while others seek vantage points to record the occasion. © Ben Brooksbank

  In a ‘traditional’ railway scene that could still be found at rural junctions across Britain in 1954, the branch train waits in the bay platform at Robertsbridge as a Hastings to London train passes. © Ben Brooksbank

  Sixteen years later, and nearly a decade after the final freight service, Northiam station illustrates the typically basic nature of the facilities Colonel Stephens provided. © Crown, National Archives MT 124/629

  Platform 3 at Newport station before and after the arrival of the 16.02 from Freshwater, Wednesday 12 August 1953. The passengers in the second photograph are waiting for the 16.10 connection to Sandown. These pictures were part of the council’s evidence to the TUCC inquiry, demonstrating the use by tourists of two of the threatened lines. © Isle of Wight Council, National Archives MT 115/5

  Saturday 14 July 1951, the start of the high-summer season: an express from Derby via Melton Constable and the M&GN enters Yarmouth Beach station. © Ben Brooksbank

  Bourne station and the Red Hall two years after the closure of the M&GN to passengers. Today the Hall appears unchanged, but there is little to suggest the grass beyond it was ever a station, except the name of a new housing development, Great Northern Gardens. © Ben Brooksbank

  Chevening Halt in its final days (1960) and the view today from the bridge that has replaced the one in the earlier picture. The site of the halt is behind and to the right of the modern photographer; the higher of the roads continues under the bridge to obliterate the vantage point of his predecessor. Bottom image © Author collection

  Brasted station on the Westerham branch, 1977. In the foreground the M25 takes shape, in the background the English downland it defiles. © Nick Catford

  Beeching and Marples – could that be the Wells-next-the-Sea file the minister is holding? © Getty Images

  ‘Like some eleventh commandment’ – Dr Beeching presents Reshaping to the world, 27 March 1963. © Getty Images

  ‘Their footsteps echoed off tiled walls’, Leicester Central in 1967. The lift and one of the passageways are closed. Such disparities of scale between patronage and grand facility could be found on several parts of the network in the post-Beeching era. © Nigel Tout

  The abandoned restaurant of Leicester Central station, intended for passengers contemplating Paris, now a ghost of the great age of rail travel, 1967. © Nigel Tout

  Smaller than now but bigger than Beeching: Barbara Castle, Sir Stanley Raymond and the Network for Development map. © Getty Images

  Closed to passengers in 1930 and to freight in 1962, Bridport West Bay station was used as a boatyard and then left to rot. Purchased by the local council, restoration began in 1995. Beyond the coach, the trackbed footpath leads to a bypass. © Author collection

  Copyright

  First published in Great Britain in 2013 by

  Biteback Publishing Ltd

  Westminster Tower

  3 Albert Embankment

  London SE1 7SP

  Copyright © Charles Loft 2013

  Charles Loft has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the publisher’s prior permission in writing.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers would be glad to hear from them.

  ISBN 978–1–84954–563–1

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.