The Beeching Legacy

Book excerpt: The first edition of this popular volume has been out of print for several years and has become much sought after. Produced in black and white, the first edition was the first volume in the series, taking a detailed regional look at the Beeching Report, its proposals for closures and modifications of the UK railway network. The report has become legendary and the interest and debate it generated is no less today than it has ever been since first published. Indeed, with railways now rejuvenated and passenger numbers growing ever larger, the reflection on what Beeching got right and what perhaps in hindsight got very badly wrong makes for fascinating reading. This new, expanded second edition has been completely reworked and is now published with color illustrations both new and replacing the original black and white images where possible. The text has been expanded and updated as appropriate and there are 32 extra pages, bringing the new edition to 192 pages.