Looking back

Loco-spotting BR remembered... You couldn’t pass through a large station in the Fifties and Sixties without seeing a gaggle of school-uniformed boys (never girls) at the platform end scribbling down engine numbers. years on Tens of thousands of boys spent all their 70 spare time and pocket money in pursuit of elusive locomotives. Today, the rather sneering

Railway writer and former editor of Steam World magazine Barry McLoughlin N O T

description ‘anorak’ is frequently applied to E L T T

celebrates the 70th anniversary of the formation of British Railways trainspotters. And yes, we did wear anoraks and E N

L

we usually carried duffel bags crammed with Tizer U A P

bottles and sandwiches. © RITAIN’S RAILWAY network used economic forces – most importantly, the railway technology, branding, marketing For my fellow ‘gricers’ and me, our favourite There’s no mistaking the huge BR B be a vast adventure playground for massive expansion of road travel. and organisation. spotting location wasn’t at a station but by the double-arrow logo on the side of this Class my group of friends during our It’s easy to become misty-eyed As with the NHS – founded in the same busy West Coast Main Line just south of 37 diesel – one of the more successful of teenage trainspotting expeditions. about BR: it wasn’t all gleaming green year – it was a substantial achievement Warrington. From our vantage point near the the Modernisation Plan locomotives – on an In the Sixties we scaled signals and bridges, engines, spotless ‘blood and custard’ after six years of total war. Twelve Arches bridge, we could see expresses excursion to Blackpool last year climbed into goods wagons, put coins on the (red and cream) carriages and smiling hurtling down the incline from the viaduct over the N

The birth of BR I tracks… it was daft and dangerous but we porters. Like any massive organisation, it Ship Canal. On the other side, L compared with what would happen under H G were young and had to find something to do could be bureaucratic, inflexible The Thirties have been called the golden meanwhile, shunting engines fussed about in the U the Good Doctor after 1963. O L C

marshalling yards at Arpley and Walton. It was a M during lulls between trains. and sometimes uncaring, and many age of Britain’s railways, with sleek, stylish As for traction, steam was still seen Y R

trainspotters’ paradise. R

Such activities would, rightly, attract the of its engines were scruffy, smelly high-speed trains on the main routes and A as the answer. In 1951 the BTC B attention of the British Transport Police and unreliable. an astonishingly diverse network of lesser And the key to this paradise was a small but © authorised the production of a dozen new today, but somehow this seemed a more Yet it inspired a camaraderie among lines. Under the so-called ‘Big Four’ chunky book: the Ian Allan abc Combined Volume More British Railways station signs at the classes of so-called ‘standard’ steam innocent era – the era of British Railways. both its workforce and users… and – railway companies, however, there was of British Railways Locomotives . In this we preserved Ribble Steam Railway in Preston locomotives to rejuvenate the antiquated Although it lasted less than 50 years albeit very remotely – it belonged to all of also much needless duplication meticulously underlined our ‘cops’, compared fleet. With hindsight, this decision turned from its foundation on January 1, 1948, us. You didn’t, for instance, have to worry and competition for business. them with our comrades and, like anglers, began the massive process of rebranding its out to be folly: steam traction on the main BR will have been a formative fixture in whether your ticket only allowed you to The Second World War put paid to all bemoaned the ‘ones that got away’. thousands of locomotives, carriages, goods line had disappeared by the summer of the lives of many Choice readers. travel on a certain operator’s trains. that. From August 30, 1939 the network was The craze survived the transition from steam wagons and stations. 1968 and some of the new locomotives – The butt of jokes about everything from its British Railways was a flawed but fully effectively nationalised under the control of to diesel and electric but most trains today are Harder to reform was the railways’ efficient and modern by steam standards infamously curly sandwiches to late-running integrated national network, unlike the Railway Executive Committee. what is known as ‘multiple units’ – instead of culture: the Big Four companies had – had a working life of barely a decade. being pulled by a locomotive, they are just a trains, BR nevertheless kept the railway on an today’s fragmented regiment of The war left the always jealously guarded their ‘patches’, Happily, however, a fine selection of them series of carriages with an engine underneath. even keel at a time when it was in decline as competing companies. railways nearly and the six new BR regions – are now still working on preserved lines. Coupled with security fears and health and safety a result of social, demographic and And despite rail being seen in the Sixties Midland, Eastern, North Eastern, laws, it’s made trainspotting the preserve of a The Modernisation Plan and Seventies as outmoded and evocative of dedicated band of mainly adult enthusiasts. Western, Southern and Scottish – were in Below: With the early ‘cycling lion’ emblem the Victorian era, BR pioneered some some ways re-creations of the pre-war As the growth of the road network on its tender, and the dignified lined black important developments in situation. As late as the Sixties, BR continued to eat into railway revenues, livery of BR mixed-traffic locomotives, bankrupt, with locomotives and enginemen would still refer to particularly on the freight side, BR’s preserved ‘Black Five’ No 45407 The infrastructure devastated. However, the locomotives from other regions working finances remained precarious and in N

O Lancashire Fusilier stands at Bury Bolton T E

L wartime nationalisation had shown how a in their areas as ‘foreigners’. 1955 it posted its first operating loss. T

T Street Station on the East Lancashire E N

unified system could pull all the railway’s BR was bequeathed an incredibly The BTC grasped the nettle by L Railway. It is ‘double-heading’ a train of U A

P disparate strands together, and Clement diverse collection of rolling stock, some publishing its much-vaunted Modernisation

© mixed ‘Rail Blue’ and BR maroon carriages Attlee’s triumphant Labour government of dating back to the Victorian era, and Plan early in 1955. It proposed investment 1945, with its radical programme of public around 20,000 route miles of track. Many of more than £1.2bn – £25bn today – in a ownership of vital industries, saw no reason of these were overlapping and 15-year drive to revive the railways’ fortunes to change things. competing, a legacy of the days before the with new locomotives, rolling stock, The Transport Act of 1947 received Big Four were created in 1923. particularly for goods trains, track royal assent in August that year, and put Another major problem was the massive electrification and signalling. the war-ravaged railways under the network of secondary and branch lines, Just four years after the authorisation of control of a new British Transport with tiny stations, some of which were the new standard steam locomotives, the Commission (BTC). used by only a handful of passengers every report recommended the rapid British Railways came into being on day. Competition from the expanding bus replacement of steam by thousands of New Year’s Day 1948, inheriting a vast network was putting a further strain on new electric or diesel trains. The new enterprise that also included subsidiary their profitability. In the 15 years before diesels that began to appear were a shock for businesses such as shipping, ports, road the Beeching Report, some 3000 route a generation brought up with romantic but

haulage and even hotels. It immediately miles were axed, though this was nothing smelly and smoke-shrouded steam engines. t

78 CHOICE FEBRUARY 2018 FEBRUARY 2018 CHOICE 79 Looking back

infamous report on the ‘Reshaping of privatised railway industry of the 21st routes electrified included the East Coast, The fires go out on steam N

O British Railways’. century. Indeed, one of the main South Western and Great Eastern Main I T C

E Fifty years ago this summer, in August 1968, the

L The statistics were telling. In 1938, fewer criticisms aimed at him is that he failed to Lines. Coupled with an intensive TV L O

C final main line steam locomotives ran on BR. than two million private cars were registered; take into account the social value of the advertising campaign, the ‘Sparks Effect’ D R

A Steam had powered Britain’s railways for 150 K by 1961 there were around six million, and railways. Post-Beeching, the railway attracted thousands of new passengers to C I P years and BR had inherited some 20,000 steam D road haulage had grabbed more than 40 per rumbled along, with its market share the electrified network. R A

N locomotives; now there were none.

R cent of what had once been a railway being steadily eroded by road transport. One much-publicised mis-step, E B As the BR board sought to modernise the © monopoly. The railway’s problems were Critics claimed it was in a period of however, was the tilting Advanced In the days before high-vis clothing, a compounded by a spate of industrial action, ‘managed decline’, an acceptance that Passenger Train, introduced in the early railways’ image, it had dramatically telescoped the group of BR workers takes a break outside caused by poor labour relations. railway travel would inexorably dwindle. Eighties to rival continental and Japanese original 30-year timeframe for getting rid of steam Blackpool Central Station in 1963 Beeching’s report proposed cutting about But in many ways BR strove hard to high-speed trains. This proved an and by January 1968, there were just 13 steam The Ian Allan ‘ABC Combined Volume’ depots left in the country. Then these were 5000 route miles – nearly a third of the adapt to and meet the demands of the expensive failure, though some of the t gradually whittled down to a tiny enclave in They were clean (relatively) and, although network – and closing 2363 of BR’s stations. modern era. With the phasing out of technology from the ill-fated project was what the respected railway commentator Lancashire. By August 1968, just three steam not much quieter, they set a new tone for the There was a national outcry, particularly steam traction by 1968, it sought to used successfully in future trains. Christian Wolmar has described as sheds remained: Carnforth in the north of the railway with their smart green liveries and from rural communities which would be present a more up-to-date image. These technical advances and the “pretend capitalism”. They enjoyed the county, Lostock Hall near Preston, and Rose Grove sleek lines. Sadly the old regional rivalries left isolated, but most of the cuts were By the Eighties, BR’s locomotive and effective rebranding and publicity profits of a free-enterprise organisation outside Burnley. resurfaced, and each region opted for its implemented by the Conservative rolling stock liveries had largely been campaigns ensured the railway was in a with little of the concomitant risk. Enthusiasts decorated some of the trains on own designs; some of the less successful government and later by Labour under standardised into the all-embracing ‘Rail fairly robust position, though it was still Overall, the network was broken up into the final day, August 4, with makeshift headboards diesel classes were withdrawn even before Harold Wilson (although the party had Blue’, though some sectors retained a losing money. It also saw off the proposals more than 100 companies, some of which and chalk messages on their boilers. the last steam engines ran in 1968. criticised the cuts when in Opposition). separate identity. in the of 1983 whose cuts were soon sold on for big profits. The sheer A week later, the ‘Fifteen Guinea Special’ ran Others, though, such as the robust Nearly 70,000 railway jobs were lost. BR’s publicity whizz-kids came up with would have made Beeching look benign. number of companies also led to a between , Manchester and Carlisle on Class 37 and 47 locomotives, proved to The Beeching Axe did have a snappy advertising slogans such as ‘This complex web of contracts and interfaces. August 11, and attracted droves of onlookers. Most have long-lasting value, and are still in use devastating effect on many communities. Is ’, ‘Let the Train Preparing to privatise Today the privatised operators have been of these tearful observers thought they would today almost 60 years on. It also proved to be short-sighted: when Take the Strain, and the perhaps less However, ’s slimmed down from the 1996 figure to never see steam again, but the success of the The railways had always been rail traffic started growing again, there triumphalist ‘We’re Getting There’. Conservative governments in the Eighties around a dozen, and subjected to much railway preservation movement has ensured there image-conscious, with big budgets for just wasn’t the infrastructure to support it. BR’s engineering advances were also to were determined to undo Labour’s tighter regulation and Whitehall control. is a heritage railway within reach of virtually every marketing, advertising and what we But there are respected figures in the have a lasting effect on the development nationalisation programme of 40 years Perhaps the greatest irony is that much major town and regular tours on the main line.

would today call brand identification. BR railway industry who insist that Beeching of the network. earlier, and began a period of selling off of the privatised network is now run by N O I T C E

publicity teams had to condense the saved, rather than butchered, the In the mid-Seventies, what has been public utilities to the private sector. state-owned overseas companies; it has L L O C

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various distinct identities of the Big Four loss-making railways. Indeed, there were dubbed ‘Britain’s best train’ was introduced. BR managed to survive the privateers’ effectively been part-renationalised by I L H G

into a single, universally recognisable some terrible inefficiencies: for example, I This was the InterCity 125 High Speed pruning forks throughout the Eighties, foreign states. The Germans, Dutch, U O L C M

brand. A mass of literature was produced, recall seeing scores of ‘holiday’ carriages Train – or, more simply, HST – which is still but it was split into various sectors in what French, Chinese and Italians are now Y R R A B from posters to timetables, bearing the parked up in Blackpool every summer in operation today, though rapidly being was seen as a foretaste of the big sell-off. responsible for half the 1.7 billion / L O O P

new corporate identity. which were only used on a handful of days superseded by more modern traction. And that came as a result of the 1993 passenger journeys made in the UK each K C A L B

In its early years perhaps the most a year. Much the same applied to the tens The HST was a diesel train but, Railways Act, passed by John Major’s Tory year, though some commentators believe , E T T E Z

ubiquitous logo was the lion astride a of thousands of antiquated goods wagons long-term, BR believed the future lay in government after his 1992 election victory. Brexit could help reform the situation. A G

E H T spoked wheel – the ‘cycling lion’, as it was stored in sidings around the country. electrification. The completion of This came into force the following April, Mick Whelan, leader of the train © nicknamed – which appeared on the side Today Beeching has become a byword the electrification of the Anglo-Scottish though it was to be a couple of years before drivers’ union Aslef, claims: “Ministers say Enthusiasts throng the platform to see of locomotives and tenders. This was for economic short-termism and putting West Coast Main Line saw a the Great Rail Sale was in full swing. they don’t believe in state control, yet are the last steam-hauled train Preston to replaced in the mid-Sixties by the famous profitability before the public good – a transformation in the speed and comfort Some argued for a wholesale perfectly happy to allow Britain’s train Blackpool train on August 3, 1968. It was double-arrow symbol – one of the few criticism sometimes levelled at the of trains on this hilly route. Other key privatisation of the entire network to companies to be run by state-owned the eve of the final day of scheduled main parts of BR that has survived into the create a ‘ plc’. Sadly, however, railways – as long as it’s another state.” line steam on BR. The train is hauled by privatisation era (though cynics dubbed it the Government plumped for what However, Paul Plummer of the Rail ‘Black Five’ locomotive No 45212… N O I the ‘arrows of indecision’ and the ‘coming T turned out to be perhaps the worst of all Delivery Group insists franchising has C E L L

or going’ logo because it was facing in two O the options – franchising, splitting the meant “rail companies from around the C

N I

directions at once). This was L passenger services between no fewer than world bring new ideas and innovation to H G

accompanied by a shortening of the name U two dozen train operating companies. Britain’s railway”. O L C M

to ‘British Rail’, to reflect a sharper, The principal flaw of this piecemeal Since the Nineties usage of the Y R R

snappier image for the future. A privatisation, apart from its complexity, passenger railway has risen has more to do B / L N O was that the companies actually owned… with road congestion, increased O T O E P L K

Beeching and after T C

nothing. They paid state-owned Railtrack commuting and the general economic T A E L N

B

L In 1961, Dr Richard Beeching, a brilliant, , (now Network Rail) to use the tracks, and revival of the early 2000s than free E U T A T P

E © business-minded ICI executive, was Z hired their locomotive and coaches from enterprise. Most telling is that so-called A G

recruited to chair the BR Board. He E the three so-called ROSCOs – rolling privatised railway receives around twice as H … which is now preserved and is seen in T

believed railways should be run as © stock companies, which raked in money much in public subsidy (in real terms) as tip-top British Railways condition at the profitable concerns and not just public In BR’s heyday, happy holidaymakers from Oldham pack the platforms at Blackpool Central from the leasing charges. With no real its state-owned predecessor in its last full East Lancashire Railway, Bury services, and in 1963 he published his Station in 1963, a year before the closure of the terminus stake in the network, they were playing year of operation.

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