A RAILWAY line axed during Beeching's brutal cuts 50 year ago this month has survived to become the world's busiest steam heritage route.
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway was amongst 5,000 miles of track and 2,300 stations closed by Dr Richard Beeching following his report released on March 27, 1963.
The restructuring of Britain’s railways was viewed as so severe that the phrase 'Beeching-style cuts' has has been used ever since to describe savage restructuring.
With cars becoming the main form of transport, the report was expected to contain some cut-backs on the loss-making nationalised railways.
But the scale shocked many, getting rid of about a third of stations and resulting in the loss of about 67,000 jobs.
Beeching pointed out that a third of miles of the rail route carried just one per cent of passengers.
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway heritage railway was one of the first to reopen, in 1973, using old steam locomotives.
It is now the most popular heritage route in the world, ferrying passengers between Pickering, Grosmont and Whitby.
It carries about 350,000 passengers during the 260 days of the year it is open and employs about 100 full-time, paid staff and hundreds of volunteers.
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/ne...ors_Railway_is_world_s_busiest_heritage_line/
