Ernest Marples: The Shadow Behind Beeching

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David Brandon had many jobs before becoming involved in teaching and organising in Further and then Higher Education, specialising in Adult Education.

Unemployment 23 Nov 1971 But the newspaper proprietors have been saying that for a long time and they are still going down the drain in Fleet Street. There [should be] an allocation of movements to pedal cycles,” wrote Professor Buchanan, projecting 47 years in the future, “but it must be admitted that it is a moot point how many cyclists there will be in 2010. The idea of well used lines being closed is rubbish, these were the Branch Lines created to serve a Victorian rural economy, changes in farming and rural communities simply made them unnecessary. He held various junior ministerial posts in the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, 1951-4, and the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, 1954-5, before becoming Postmaster-General, 1957-9, and Minister of Transport, 1959-64. I was interested to discover that the much-maligned Beeching never had the actual power to close railway lines, although this is what he is now associated with.

This was the era when one could drive a Jaguar E-type on the M1 at a three figure speeds and not feel guilty about it. The process used by BR British Rail or British Railways to close railways, although somewhat complex, was well established and some 3,318 miles of railway were closed between 1948 and 1962. He left just before the end of the tax year, fearing that he would otherwise be liable for a substantial tax bill. This book should appeal to those interested in Britain's railways and in mid-Twentieth Century British politics. John Holmes was a neighbour and ‘friend’ of my father’s and I well remember him dropping in and talking about this case.

But UK motor industry output has recovered somewhat in the last three decades, even if this is little publicised and most of it is foreign owned. By today’s standards, Marples was a wholly inappropriate choice as Minister of Transport, with his interests in road construction convincing his critics that a modern electrified rail network had little chance of being realised.He believes in some pre Beeching fantasy land, he overlooks that at the time people and freight were deserting the railways in favour of the Roads, because simply the Railway was not flexible enough. It may not be entirely a coincidence that as Beeching was closing railway lines, the government was providing funding for the construction of motorways, which were being built by companies in which Marples had an interest. Marples was a wine connoisseur and even produced his own wine from his 45-acre vineyard estate in Fleurie, France. The BTC had been established by the Transport Act 1947, the same Act which created British Railways ( BR British Rail or British Railways) and the other nationalised transport services.

There was an alternative, to follow the Continental model and allow private companies to build the fast road network and charge a toll to the motorist to use it. The dataset was opened up on 1 April 2010 following support from many people, including MPs, [31] [32] and Code-Point Open can now be downloaded free with data.These massive construction projects were completed by various engineering firms including his own, Marples Ridgway, raising questions of a serious conflict of interests. Marples would only be liable for Capital Gains Tax at 30 per cent on the transfer to Vin which, as an offshore company, would only be liable for stamp duty at 2 per cent. The Beeching cuts, or "Beeching Axe" that followed resulted in the major closures for both stations and lines.