I know it was before my time, but I can't help thinking that the Beeching cuts whilst undoubtedly necessary, had an element of vandalism to them that perhaps wasn't necessary.
A few examples locally resulted in ripped up tracks, demolished (impressive) viaducts and closed stations and sold off goods yards.
With a view to going green, transporting goods at night on electric rails to local depots for last mile deliveries by road would have been a great green initiative or even for light transport systems with automated trains (like the docklands light railway).
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