Re Beeching, again
The ‘Railway Problem’ is not new and I have an extensive library on the matter including ‘The Train that ran away’ (Stewart Joy) and ‘I tried to run a railway’ (Gerry Fiennes) both of which point to the problem of central planning and political interference.
Colonel H.F. Stephens and his collection of quirky branch lines that were not grouped into the Big Four in 1923 but soldiered on using a mixture of second-hand rolling stock and idiosyncratic operational methods, the last being the Ffestiniog, which of course is now a model for the preservation movement.
If 4,000 churches are closed, how many congregations will declare UDI and run independently, perhaps forming a Federation of Churches, since all denominations are in a similar plight? And the Methodists did just that in 1778!
(Professor) Lewis Lesley
Liverpool
5th February 2021