Rail Re-Openings - Dr Beeching

edgey2001 · Post by **edgey2001** » Fri 03 Oct, 2008 1:57 pm

Did anyone watch the programs last night on BBC4 about Britains railways, A fascinating interview with Beeching from 1981, He was still repentant even then and didnt regret anything at all about his infamous Re-shaping report, which brings me onto the former rail network around Leeds, Just for instance a large pot of money was available to improve the local network, Which line or station do you think could be re-opened and would pay its way now?, what about the Leeds wetherby Line for example, it is generally still intact and could cut congestion in that part of the region. your views please.

Tasa · Post by **Tasa** » Fri 03 Oct, 2008 2:12 pm

Leeds to Otley, without a doubt, but they'd have to relocate Otley Station.

Si · Post by Si » Fri 03 Oct, 2008 2:14 pm

Tasa wrote: Leeds to Otley, without a doubt, but they'd have to relocate Otley Station. Yes. It wouldn't be in Otley anymore, unless they dig up the by-pass.

Reginal Perrin · Post by **Reginal Perrin** » Fri 03 Oct, 2008 2:19 pm

edgey2001 wrote: Did anyone watch the programs last night on BBC4 about Britains railways, A fascinating interview with Beeching from 1981, He was still repentant even then and didnt regret anything at all about his infamous Re-shaping report, which brings me onto the former rail network around Leeds, Just for instance a large pot of money was available to improve the local network, Which line or station do you think could be re-opened and would pay its way now?, what about the Leeds wetherby Line for example, it is generally still intact and could cut congestion in that part of the region. your views please. What fascinated me about the program was the interviews with commuters of the day. Nobody wanted this and they stated they didn't care if it lost a bit of money the service invaluable. The whole thing was a scandal with Marples making money building roads.I would reopen the pit line between Rothwell and Hunslet for a cummuter service. They should make it a law that when you build a road you build a railtrack along side it as part of the project.

Loiner Paul · Post by **Loiner Paul** » Fri 03 Oct, 2008 2:51 pm

Even just to re-open some of the stations closed in the area on the existing lines would be a great help to getting some of the commuter traffic off the roads. It seems the stations that have been re-opened have had to go through a large amount of consultation in planning and studying before anything comes of it. What amazes me that the White Rose Centre has 2 rail lines passing it and yet doesn't have a station on either. Every shopper is brought in there by car or bus with the roads around the area regularly blocked with traffic. Why didn't Leeds City Council insist on a rail station?

edgey2001 · Post by **edgey2001** » Fri 03 Oct, 2008 3:13 pm

I think a new station was planned for the white Rose centre initially, I remember reading about , I think at the time about 1995 just before it was built, that there was some consultation going on and the cost to build a wooden 2 platform halt was about 500 grand and then it went upto 1 million within 2 or 3 years plus the fact that they said there weren't any available slots in the timetable for trains to stop there. I reckon now your'e looking at upwards of 3 million just to build a fairly simple station. Its also been mentioned about re-opening the station at Ardsley as a park and ride but I wont hold me breath on that one.

Reginal Perrin · Post by **Reginal Perrin** » Fri 03 Oct, 2008 4:19 pm

Loiner Paul wrote: Even just to re-open some of the stations closed in the area on the existing lines would be a great help to getting some of the commuter traffic off the roads. It seems the stations that have been re-opened have had to go through a large amount of consultation in planning and studying before anything comes of it. What amazes me that the White Rose Centre has 2 rail lines passing it and yet doesn't have a station on either. Every shopper is brought in there by car or bus with the roads around the area regularly blocked with traffic. Why didn't Leeds City Council insist on a rail station? The White Rose centre is a prime example of how things are done in Leeds. Badly. We are a richer city than Sheffield yet we get a White Rose centre and they get Meadowhall. We get a paved area called Millenium Square they get an indoor arena. We get South Leeds Stadium and they get Don Valley. We get half assed promised and two purple bendy buses they get a tram system.

Fevsdad · Post by **Fevsdad** » Fri 03 Oct, 2008 5:29 pm

Go on lad.

Post by **cnosni** » Fri 03 Oct, 2008 5:52 pm

Reginal Perrin wrote: Loiner Paul wrote: Even just to re-open some of the stations closed in the area on the existing lines would be a great help to getting some of the commuter traffic off the roads. It seems the stations that have been re-opened have had to go through a large amount of consultation in planning and studying before anything comes of it. What amazes me that the White Rose Centre has 2 rail lines passing it and yet doesn't have a station on either. Every shopper is brought in there by car or bus with the roads around the area regularly blocked with traffic. Why didn't Leeds City Council insist on a rail station? The White Rose centre is a prime example of how things are done in Leeds. Badly. We are a richer city than Sheffield yet we get a White Rose centre and they get Meadowhall. We get a paved area called Millenium Square they get an indoor arena. We get South Leeds Stadium and they get Don Valley. We get half assed promised and two purple bendy buses they get a tram system. Your right mate,but there are some reasons i think that can explain.The White Rose is meant to complement the City centre,whereas Meadowhall decimated the centre of an already ailing City centre,which i believe is coming back now.I prefer the White Rose as it is,keep the City Centre just that,THE Centre,the White Rose is ok for a quick visit if you are short of time.The Sheffield Supertram was commisioned and paid for by South Yorkshire as a whole,all the taxpayers in South Yorkshirepay towards it still,and of course it got a leg up from the governmentMust be a pain for those down there who dont actually benefit from it.The Don Valley stadium,and all the other sporting facilities were heavily subsidised by the government for the 1991 World Student Games to regenerate vast swathes of brownfield sites following the loss of the steel industry.We get the South Leeds Sports centre,and now nothing in the City Centre,where as Ponds forge in Sheffield is in the centre and can be reached by all,including those on public transport.This is the failing of Leeds council here,clearly Sheffield could see the benefit of such a centrally located facility,whereas Leeds wants the money from the land at the International Pool.Obviously Sheffield can to a certain extent afford to do this because of the subsidies they recieve as the National City of SportEverything you say i agree with,but Sheffield has recieved massive government handouts,along with Manchester,Liverpool and of course the capital itself.Leeds gets nowt.and plenty of it.I think for a number of reasons which i have gone into before,namely despite the fact that Leeds suuffered massive job losses in the clothing trade we still ahd plenty of other eggs in the basket,where as Manchester,Sheffield and Liverpool tended to have one main source of employment.Though we suffered just as much,if not more job losses the Leeds lot ,rather than wait to be helped,actually went and helped themselves,an attribute of which,as a Loiner,am very proud.However because of this we didnt make a lot of noise,so the government thought,and still do,"Oh Leeds is Ok,they cant be doing too bad,theres no picket lines,no left wing councils taking over,anbd look they keep telling everyone they are the fasted growing city in Europe,they are the Knightbridge of the North.They are clearly ok so let them get on with it"and to an extent they have done just that.But,also,the council fail miserably at getting government funding,they present their cases for various projects poorly,the supertram for example,we get knocked back and Manchester gets granted a shed load of money for the 3rd part of their tram,not long after Croydon (Croydon for Christs sake!) and Edinburgh get theirs granted .Edingburgh was given the go ahead by the then Transport Minister Alistair Darling,who just happens to be MP for Edingburgh West,a bit like when Barnbow was shut in favour of Vickers at Sedgefield,when the incumbent MP was a Mr Tony Blair,PMSo i believe that overall we are victims,victims of our own get up and go attitude,but also of overstating our actual position in the UK and also of not having the right people biding for the government handouts.As for Sheffield Arena,then im not surprised they got that,they must have had a wad of spare cash from the government regeneration subsidies.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 03 Oct, 2008 5:53 pm

Si wrote: Tasa wrote: Leeds to Otley, without a doubt, but they'd have to relocate Otley Station. Yes. It wouldn't be in Otley anymore, unless they dig up the by-pass. Anyone remember the first generation of diesel trains on the Ilkley - Otley -Leeds service ?? The right hand curve at Arthington station was of such a tight radius that Leeds bound trains frequently refused to set off there, and had to roll back a little towards Otley to get a decent start. Of course the copious amounts of leaked oil that these little pioneers shed onto the lines didn't help. Having said that, I liked them and they had real character - the strange sensation of bus engines and gearboxes on a real vehicle was intriguing. The earliest ones also had an embarrassing habit of shedding prop shafts for a while, but when all is said and done the little trains in general prevented or at least delayed a heck of a lot of line closures in the climate of the time. A ride today on the splendid Wensleydale Railway brings it all back nicely.