About the Book
More than 40 years after its publication, the 1963 Beeching Report on British railways remains controversial for recommending the closure of a third of Britain’s railways.
In this book, Charles Loft examines:
- why the nationalized railways were in such dire financial straits by 1963
- how government work on future transport needs led to conclusions which would have cut Britain’s railways down by thousands of miles
- what difficulties eventually halted attempts by Conservative and Labour governments to implement these cuts.
This book will be invaluable to anyone interested in how transport policy is made or how it has arrived at its current state and sheds fascinating new light on the working of government, the economy and the mood of the times under Churchill, Eden, Macmillan and Wilson.
About the Series
Social change impacts not just upon voting behaviour and party identity but also the formulation of policy. But how do social changes and political developments interact? Which shapes which? Reflecting a belief that social and political structures cannot be understood either in isolation from each other or from the historical processes which form them, this series will examine the forces that have shaped British society. Cross- disciplinary approaches will be encouraged. In the process, the series will aim to make a contribution to existing fields, such as politics, sociology and media studies, as well as opening out new and hitherto-neglected fields.
BISAC Subject Codes/Headings:
- HISTORY / General
- POLITICAL SCIENCE / General
- POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory
- POLITICAL SCIENCE / Economic Conditions