This is the story of how around 150 pre-Grouping railways of Britain evolved from their 'Golden Age' in the heady Edwardian era to become the less popular nationalised British Railways. In 1961 it fell to Dr Richard Beeching, then Chairman of the British Railways Board, to wield his axe in order to achieve the Government's ambition of turning the railways back into profit. With the use of extensive and rare archive footage, this series of four programmes tells the story of his dramatic ‘cuts’ and examines Beeching's legacy as we look back over the six decades since his infamous report ‘The Reshaping of British Railways’ was published.
 
DISC 2: BEECHING'S AXE
 
Picking up the story in 1961, the second part of this series follows the chain of events after Beeching was appointed as the first Chairman of the British Railways Board. His task was to draw up a plan to eliminate the network's losses and to reorganise the railways for the future. It was a job that would secure his place in British Railway history.
 
PUBLISHED   JUNE 2025