HS2 Manchester to be scrapped

I am old enough to remember Beeching who closed down some of the Nationalised railway lines and stations and why, he closed the line from my home town that used to run into Yorkshire and beyond that line is now a cycle path and nature walk

Here is what is on Wiki giving the reason why

The Beeching cuts were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named for Richard Beeching, then-chair of the British Railways Board and the author of two reports – The Reshaping of British Railways (1963) and The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes (1965) – that outlined the necessity of improving the efficiency of the railways and the plan for achieving this through restructuring.



The first report identified 2,363 stations and 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of railway line for closure, amounting to 55% of stations, 30% of route miles, and the loss of 67,700 British Rail jobs,[1] with an objective of stemming the large losses being incurred during a period of increasing competition from road transport and reducing the rail subsidies necessary to keep the network running. The second report identified a small number of major routes for significant investment. Such was the scale of these cuts that the programme came to be colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, though the 1963 report also recommended some less well-publicised changes; including a switch to the now-standard practice of containerisation for rail freight, and the replacement of some services with integrated bus services linked to the remaining railheads.



Protests resulted in the saving of some stations and lines, but the majority were closed as planned. Beeching's name remains associated with the mass closure of railways and the loss of many local services in the period that followed. A few of these routes have since reopened. Some short sections have been preserved as heritage railways, while others have been incorporated into the National Cycle Network or used for road schemes. Others have since been built over, have reverted to farmland, or remain derelict with no plans for any reuse or redevelopment. Some, such as the bulk of the Midland Metro network around Birmingham and Wolverhampton, have since been incorporated into light rail lines.



Background

See also: History of rail transport in Great Britain



Banchory railway station on the Deeside Railway, Scotland, in 1961. The station closed in 1966.

After growing rapidly in the 19th century during the Railway Mania, the British railway system reached its height in the years immediately before the First World War, with a network of 23,440 miles (37,720 km).[2][page needed] The network had opened up major travel opportunities for the entire country that had never been available before. However, lines were sometimes uneconomic, and several Members of Parliament had direct involvement with railways, creating a conflict of interest.[3] In 1909, Winston Churchill, then President of the Board of Trade, argued that the country's railways did not have a future without rationalisation and amalgamation.[4] By 1914, the railways had some significant problems, such as a lack of standard rolling stock and too many duplicated routes.[3]



After the war, the railways faced increasing competition from a growing road transport network, which had increased to 8 million tons of freight annually by 1921.[5] Around 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of passenger railways closed between 1923 and 1939. These closures included the Charnwood Forest Railway, closed to passengers in 1931, and the Harborne Line in Birmingham, closed to passengers in 1934.[2][page needed] Some lines had never been profitable and were not subject to loss of traffic in that period.[6] The railways were busy during the Second World War, but at the end of the war they were in a poor state of repair and in 1948 nationalised as British Railways.



The Branch Lines Committee of the British Transport Commission (BTC) was formed in 1949 with a brief to close the least-used branch lines. This resulted in the loss (or conversion to freight-only operation) of some 3,318 miles (5,340 km) of railway between 1948 and 1962.[2][page needed] The most significant closure was that of the former Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway in 1959. In opposition to these cuts, the period also witnessed the beginning of a protest movement led by the Railway Development Association, whose most famous member was the poet John Betjeman.[7][page needed] They went on to be a significant force resisting the Beeching proposals.



Economic recovery and the end of petrol rationing led to rapid growth in car ownership and use. Vehicle mileage grew at a sustained annual rate of 10% between 1948 and 1964.[8] In contrast, railway traffic remained steady during the 1950s[9] but the economic situation steadily deteriorated, with labour costs rising faster than income[7][page needed][9] and fares and freight charges repeatedly frozen by the government to try to control inflation.[7][page needed] By 1955, the railways' share of the transport market had dropped from 16% to 5%.[10]



The 1955 Modernisation Plan promised expenditure of over £1,240 million; steam locomotives would be replaced with diesel and electric locomotives, traffic levels would increase, and the system was predicted to be back in profit by 1962.[11][page needed] Instead losses mounted, from £68 million in 1960 to £87 million in 1961, and £104 million in 1962 (£2.36 billion in 2021 terms).[12][13] The BTC could no longer pay the interest on its loans.



By 1961, losses were running at £300,000 a day;[14] since nationalisation in 1948, 3,000 miles (4,800 km) of line had been closed,[15][failed verification] railway staff numbers had fallen 26% from 648,000 to 474,000,[16] and the number of railway wagons had fallen 29% from 1,200,000 to 848,000

 My bit we could not afford it, which is sad to say seeing as travel by train was invented here in the UK 

Still waiting for Handyman to tell me the airline that flies from LCY to MAN?

He may have missed the question to be fair

I'll try whatever I want with whomever I want even including you Sheepy so don't come the old soldier here.

Your earlier response was particularly feeble so I'm merely suggesting you have another go.

If you don't wish to respond then of course feel free to keep quiet.

They will need to get the bumper book of excuses out.

What a pillock, it is even on a map for him, yet he doesn't get it, even with an EU watermark with a traceable resolution.