Beeching

Described as the most hated civil servant in Britain, it was 60 years ago that Dr Richard Beeching was appointed as chairman of British Railways with one key directive - to cut the soaring losses. The 1950s had seen the start of a mass shift from public to private transport, as lorries, cars, buses and motorbikes replaced trains as Britain’s most popular means of travel. Was Dr Beeching the villain of popular legend - or was he a hero who made Britain’s railways into a slimmer, leaner machine far more capable of tackling the challenges of the future? You decide!