Last Trains: Dr Beeching and the death of rural England
By Charles Loft
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
“The debate about Dr Richard Beeching will rage until the Second Coming – and probably beyond. But in Charles Loft’s careful examination of the Beeching Report, we have as fine a study as we are going to possess in the meantime.” – Peter Hennessy
“Loft’s great strength is his judiciousness. He understands the political processes and assesses them fair-mindedly. And his verdict will, I suspect, hold up better than any of Beeching’s judgements.” – Matthew Engel, Financial Times
“Prepare to be impressed, shocked and saddened … This is undoubtedly one of the best books of the year – a riveting read.” – Railways Illustrated
“Lucid, to the point, thought-provoking at every turn, Last Trains is a volume that everyone should read before making judgements about the rail closures of the Sixties.” – Heritage Railway
“Thoughtful and well-researched analysis.” – Edinburgh Evening News
***
During the course of the 1950s England lost confidence in its rulers and convinced itself it must modernise. The failing steam-powered local railways, run by Colonel Blimp, symbolised everything that was wrong with the country – surely the future lay in motorways and high-speed express trains? Along came Dr Beeching with his diagnosis, and suddenly branch-line Britain was gone for ever.
The debate about the Beeching cuts has raged ever since. In this superbly researched examination, Charles Loft exposes the political failures that bankrupted the railways and lays bare the increasing alienation of bureaucrats from the public they were trying to serve. The result is a fascinating study of a nation grappling to come to terms with modernity.
Read more from Charles Loft
Last Trains: Dr Beeching and the death of rural England Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Red Beginnings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Last Trains
Related ebooks
Britain's Railway Disasters: Fatal Accidents from the 1830s to the Present Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Light Railways of Britain & Ireland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLondon's Transport Recalled: A Pictorial History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBritish Steam Sunset: A Vision of the Final Years, 1965–1968 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNight Trains: The Rise and Fall of the Sleeper Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5British Trolleybus Systems - London and South-East England: An Historic Overview Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBritish Trolleybus Systems—Yorkshire: An Historic Overview Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRailways in the Landscape Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBritish Railways in the 1970s and ’80s Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Century of Railway Travel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Historical Dictionary of Railways in the British Isles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Photographic Journey Through the London Underground: Look Again Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTracing Your Railway Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Country Railway Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLondon Transport Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCroydon Tramlink: A Definitive History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnderground, Overground: A Passenger's History of the Tube Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Pageant of British Steam: Steam Preservation in the 21st Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBritish Trolleybus Systems - Wales, Midlands and East Anglia: An Historic Overview Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBelles and Whistles: Journeys Through Time on Britain's Trains Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Transport Journey in Colour: Street Scenes of the British Isles, 1949–1969 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Trams Around Dewsbury & Wakefield Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Railway: British Track Since 1804 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBritains Declining Secondary Railways through the 1960s: The Blake Paterson Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Railway Preservation Revolution: A History of Britain's Heritage Railways Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLuxury Railway Travel: A Social and Business History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBritain's Railways in the First World War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trams and Trolleybuses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRails Across Australia: A Journey Through the Continent Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Privatisation Classes: A Pictorial Survey of Diesel and Electric Locomotives and Units Since 1994 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Social History For You
Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters--And How to Get It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Library Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whore Stories: A Revealing History of the World's Oldest Profession Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Slaves in the Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American Community Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5made in america: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 2]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scapegoat: A History of Blaming Other People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories of Rootworkers & Hoodoo in the Mid-South Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Miami Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Last Trains
4 ratings0 reviews