British Rail, finally dead, RIP

[NikkiA]

The Condems just announced that BRBR (British Railways Board (Residuary)) is one of the Quangos that will be axed. This is the last piece of British Rail, and was the holder company that held trademarks, copyrights, patents and some property from the old BR. Their assets are to be sold to the private sector and then the board dissolved.

Sadly, it will finally mean that BR is gone and not coming back.

:'(

 

[TheStoon]

Ah sad times. :'(

Can't help but feel we're crying over something that was never actually as good as we remember though.....The simple fact is theres more trains, carrying more people, with better punctuality than ever before; rail freight is also booming.

Its just a shame its costing us so much!! Its amazing to think what BR could have acheived with the subsidy given to rail these days.

It is also a crying shame that the engineering knowledge has been lost; BREL and its predecessors are sadly missed.

 

[NikkiA]

Ah sad times. :'(

Can't help but feel we're crying over something that was never actually as good as we remember though.....The simple fact is theres more trains, carrying more people, with better punctuality than ever before; rail freight is also booming.

Its just a shame its costing us so much!! Its amazing to think what BR could have acheived with the subsidy given to rail these days.

It is also a crying shame that the engineering knowledge has been lost; BREL and its predecessors are sadly missed.

Well, one thing that worries me, is that there are a lot of efforts around the country to re-open lines that closed in the 60s and 70s as demand has increased. With the BRBR holding onto property leases for a lot of the trackbed, that was a lot more likely that the situation we'll have after the Condems have forced BRBR to sell the land rights to property developers :/

Also, the BRBR has a lot of paperwork and data that would be paradise to hobbyists - time tables, activity logs, technical drawings and operating diagrams - there is a good chance that when the BRB is finally closed in the next year or so, a lot of that material will simply be destroyed.

I can't honestly imagine that the BRBR was costing that much to run either, as it's a fairly minimal organisation apart from their ownership and running of Waterloo station.

Sadly, the BRBR wasn't the only railway-related organisation in the 'Quangos to be killed' list, The 'Railway Heritage Committee' is getting the axe too.

 

[itareus]

....Also, the BRBR has a lot of paperwork and data that would be paradise to hobbyists - time tables, activity logs, technical drawings and operating diagrams - there is a good chance that when the BRB is finally closed in the next year or so, a lot of that material will simply be destroyed.....

From the BRB(R) website:

"BRB (Residuary) Limited does not hold historical archives. Material has been passed to the National Railway Museum, the National Archives, the National Archives of Scotland and local archives. Enquiries should be made to them."

 

[rjhowie]

There has been an interesting point made in that BR was never as good as reminiscing conjures and I don't just mean the sandwiches in tearooms! When the railways were nationalised in 1948 on purely ideological grounds they declined in continuance from the suffering of WW2 times. The companies had been run into the ground due to the war and there was no money in Great Britain for a long time after to do much of anything. Even routine things like pride in care of the engines fell away. It was a typical State run attitude that was different where a crew would look after their engine. Working for the government created a casual attitude and unless you murdered someone sacking was out.

Today even with criticisms we can make being back in private hands the railways numbers grow continually and at their highest since 1948. One company (the only non-private one funnily enough!) had a 30% increase over the last few years. Here in Scotland I have noticed far better running than the old BR days. We have also re-opened lines closed by the terrible Dr Beeching in the 60's and they have exceeded expectations.

I do grudgingly have to admit that Beeching was right in cases for closing passenger lines that were underused. Some lines had almost no-one using them but there were other places - towns of moderate size who lost their rail and gently slipped into a kind of being left out of the world. There has also been much population movement since then and there are places with old track beds and new housing where rail would be an asset. In such it is important they be kept.

I dare say there were good spots in the old BR but in general it was outdated and past it's date and much streamlining needed. We might not yet be perfect but the passenger numbers vindicate the situation of today.