Lions, Wheels and Wires: A British railway TL

[SilverLizard]

Promotional poster, 1959​

After four years of proposals, the modernisations of the West Coast and East Coast mainlines were finally approved in October 1958. In a speech to Parliament Transport Minister James Callaghan announced from the following Spring, most of Britain's busiest railway routes were to be upgraded to the standards of the Great Eastern and London-Southend lines. This would be the the network's largest expansion of overhead wired AC electrification, centralised colour-light signalling and remodelled junctions to date.

Initial timelines forecast that the East Coast works, technically easier and cheaper to modernise on its straighter, flatter and sparser alignment, would be completed to Cambridge, Leeds and Newcastle by 1970. Heading north from London King's Cross, the Stevenage section and Hertford branch were prioritised for the first phase due 1961 to benefit the fast growing 'New Towns', such as Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield. Letchworth would be covered in the phase to Hitchin and Cambridge due 1962. The initial promotional campaign featured an artist's impression of a pristine electric locomotive speeding into the future. Even though such services were still several years away, that bold glimpse of the future proved to be effective marketing on posters, leaflets, timetables and even the title card of an hour-long BBC television special, British Railways: All Change. Originally broadcast on TV2 in April 1959, it preceded now predominantly lost footage of further concept art, blueprints and diagrams in a promotion only that still-emerging visual medium could provide.

Reception was not universally positive however. Shadow Transport Minister Harold Watkinson questioned such large spending on railways given the slow progress on the road network. Railway traffic had been declining for the roads since the War, yet construction on the future M1 motorway was almost two years behind schedule. Several newspapers ridiculed it as partisan electioneering attempts by the Labour government for 1959/60, and urged the Conservative Opposition to properly commit to the apparent future of road-building. Watkinson would later announce a future Conservative government would conduct a thorough review of the railway network and all major transport policy.

 

[SilverLizard]

The "Deltic" diesel prototype during tests, mid to late 1950s​

The news came after the Eastern Region had already ordered a diesel fleet based on the "Deltic" prototype to replace its A4 "Pacific" steam locomotives. As long-distance electric expresses were at least a decade away, the regional management was permitted to keep its order as a stopgap until works were completed. Following this the locomotives would be retained for non-electrified Newcastle-Edinburgh and freight services. Being the most powerful diesels on the network, it was argued that with upgraded infrastructure the type later classified "55s" could deliver an interrim electric-comparable performance.

The London suburban routes were already operating diesel units, with more about to be transferred upon the imminent closure of the Midland and Great Northern line. It was again decided to temporarily retain them pending electrification, after which they would be reployed elsewhere on the network.

 

[SilverLizard]

Exit tunnel from the Widened Lines at King's Cross York Road
(Credit: std70040)
​

Uncertainty still clouded the headache that was the Widened Lines route. Or more specifically, the steep, narrow tunnels between the adjacent King's Cross York Road station and the tracks beside the Underground Circle and Metropolitan lines to Moorgate. They were too obviously small for wires and the original size of "the hole" proved the inability to enlarge them. The solution suggested by initial announcement documents was third rail electrification and using dual voltage units. However an alternative proposal was also discussed: diversion via what was then branded as the Highbury branch of the Underground's Northern line. Although this would still require remodelling Finsbury Park and using dual voltage units, converting to third from fourth rail was cheaper than fitting it from scratch. It would also finally fulfil the long-held intention to integrate that otherwise short, isolated line. London Transport warmed to the prospect for supporting plans for the future Underground Victoria line, and the "Northern City" option was confirmed as initial clearance works began in April 1959.

 

[e350tb]

This looks interesting. I take it the POD is the election of a Labour government at some point in the 50s?

Depending on how electrification goes, and how long it takes, this might extend the life of some of the standards.

 

[SilverLizard]

This looks interesting. I take it the POD is the election of a Labour government at some point in the 50s?

Depending on how electrification goes, and how long it takes, this might extend the life of some of the standards.

Thanks! I've mapped out a political PoD and background, obviously Labour is indeed in government through the 50s but there won't be detailed coverage besides transport policy. I might release a brief PM list later on.

Sorry for the wait, the next major update should be ready by the weekend.

 

[SilverLizard]

Class 305 unit on the Lea Valley Lines
(Credit: N nine)​

Concurrent work for the Lea Valley lines modernisation meant the Eastern region had already designed an electric unit suitable for its flagship route. Moorgate to Stevenage, Hertford and Cambridge suburban services would use a dual-voltage variant of the AM5/Class 305 then being constructed for the West Anglia line's equivalents. It would complement a pioneering technical feature with an existing suburban design, complete with the same three standard class carriage formation.

Class 309 unit in the later 1960s
(Credit: Unknown)
​

King's Cross to Peterborough and Cambridge regional services would use the specifically designed AM9/Class 309. The first ever express multiple units would be formed of three standard class carriages and either a single first class or 'griddle' carriage serving takeaway hot food. This unique feature was intended as a modern counterpart to the sit-down restaraunt carriages of classic long distance rail travel. Units of two additional standard class carriages would allow for ten carriage operations in the peak hours.

 

[SilverLizard]

Wagon-load freight in 1958
(Credit: Ben Brooksbank)
​

Ballooning expenses from 'both coasts' modernisation meant British Railways' finances deteriorated at a rate pressuring even the Labour government to act. In October 1959, Victorian era regulations were amended to allow closures of unprofitable services and infrastructure. This was targeted at increasingly disused wagon-load yards as road haulage continually sapped traffic. This was already a departure from the previous plans to renovate such facilities. However it also had immediate consequences for passenger rail. Although line closures pre-dated the War, the deregulation signficantly increased this in the following two years, with a major example being most of the Great Central mainline in January 1960.

These landmark actions would set the stage for the much larger reforms to come under the following Conservative government.

 

[SilverLizard]

A brand new electric locomotive symbolises completed modernisation at Manchester Piccadilly, 1960
(Credit: Mike Hemming)​

September 1960 saw the landmark completition of the first phase of West Coast modernisation from Manchester to Crewe, but also the costs- what would become the infamous Beeching Report.

The Conservatives lad long trumpeted road building, and its ambitious manifesto commitment to 1000 miles of motorways by 1970 made no secret of this. Although this was intentionally vague enough to claim either full long distance routes or just a large volume of classified bypasses, it marked a definite reversal from public transport friendly Labour that budgets would obviously reflect. Of course it cannot be unsaid that the new Transport Minister Ernest Marples held personal interests in road construction firms, which despite conflict of interest laws were tangentially retained through his entire spell in office.

Prime Minister Rab Butler himself explained that there needed to be a coherent strategy for the inherited state of ad hoc closures and modernisations for it to function most efficiently. Mentions of the faster progressing West Coast project hinted at possible cutbacks for the comparatively less beneficial equvialents elsewhere.

 

[SilverLizard]

Opening of the Doncaster bypass, 1961
(Credit: John Law)​

By mid 1961 the road lobby were pushing for its own answer to East Coast modernisation in the form of a fully motorway-ised A1 from London to Newcastle. The new Doncaster bypass was already being constructed to motorway standards, and the continuation of it for following ones- most notably at Hatfield- suggested this was the eventual conclusion.

The prospect was a major rival to the railway, but costs had already been sunk into clearing, resignalling and then ongoing mast-fitting from Stevenage south to Finsbury Park including the adjacent Hertford loop, pending its completed re-modelling and conversion of the onward Underground line to Moorgate. This meant at least the first phase would be finished before the upcoming reviews. Uncertainty over London-Cambridge motorway plans supported the chances of a second, depending on the finalised re-development proposals in the King's Cross area.

 

[SilverLizard]

Drayton Park as an Underground terminus before conversion
(Credit: H K Nolan)
​

The Moorgate branch closed as an Underground line in December 1961 with the depot closed and fourth rail electrification removed shortly after. Closures at Finsbury Park for remodelling saw frequent diversions to St Pancras via the Gospel Oak to Barking line just south of Harringay. To British Railways this provision was a convient but temporary one.

The Midland Railway's striking neo-gothic, hotel topped terminus was a late addition to the capital and its peak traffic levels had never matched its rivals. It had fallen rapidly from even that since the 1922 LMS grouping favoured Euston, leaving the site broadly dilapilated, partially closed and on the demolition list by 1962. But the replacement details were still uncertain, and the proximity to King's Cross meant the chances of its own Euston-style rebuild for the electric age was dependent on it.

A Euston diversion of the Midland mainline had long been the preferred option, then to maximise the modernised infrastructure within the London Midland's own region. But that year the first Beeching Report was released and proposal of functional rather than regional operations opened up many new ideas, one of which was a King's Cross diversion. Providing an existing and historic connection to a quieter mainline began to win approval. However such a large reform was, along with many details, far from certain. There were aslo the issue of the remaining local services and the future of the Midland's City widened line services. Whatever the outcomes were, they would not be quick ones.

In the meantime, plans were drawn up to divert regional services to the little-used Broad Street before and during a potential re-development. It was so sparse that the first dual voltage Class 309s had already begun testing in third rail DC mode there with little to no disruption.

 

[SilverLizard]

A4 Pacific near Hitchin in 1949
(Credit: Ben Brooksbank)
​

After almost four years the first phase of East Coast modernisation was officially completed in January 1963. Heralded as athe beginning of a new era for the railway, it coincided with the first withdrawals of A4 Pacifics from expresses. Eastern region management had decided with the Class 55 fleet fully delivered it was time to properly showcase their diesel investments before electrification. The "streaks" were phased out within a year and transferred to Scotland for Aberdeen-Glasgow services until 1966.

Despite the lingering uncertainty clouding much of the project's future, individual works were green-lit in advance further north- southern enlargement of the Newcastle Central over the former goods yard, and grade seperation of the Retford crossing in anticipation of the construction and coal traffic for new power stations. These represented a new freight focus, promoted in Beeching's first report, of abandoning traditional wagonloads and small yards in favour of heavy goods and large terminals. Such traffic was lucrative enough to save some passenger-closed lines, such as the Central Wales and East Suffolk, from entire demolition in following years.

 

[SilverLizard]

King's Cross as seen in later years, ultimately spared from redevelopment
(Credit: London Metropolitan Archives)​

Despite its staunchly pro-road policies the Butler government funded East Coast modernisation to Peterborough and Letchworth (the latter reduced from Cambridge) shortly after the second Beeching Report was released in June 1963. Beeching supported an electrified East Coast, but closed north of Newcastle in favour of the West Coast- which would also recieve the Midland Mainline traffic south of Leicester. Alongside general financial concerns, it ended the chances of a King's Cross redevelopment, with the goods yards anticipated for simply private construction after the railway overhaul. The City's increasingly dilaplilated Broad Street terminus, a diversion along the North London line after Finsbury Park, was also considered as a terminus for electric regional services but likewise, deemed too costly for requiring a complete station rebuild as well as miles of additional wiring.

Electrified suburban services had generated interest, with cleaner, faster trains and the addition of a new City terminus increasing passenger numbers within the first six months. As a demonstration of positive 'efficiency' with Beeching's backing, Marples took the chance to deflect criticism of line closures as pro-road crony giveaways.

 

[SilverLizard]

Newcastle Central in 1963- the new northern terminus for expresses
(Credit: Malcolm Dunnet)​

The second Beeching report was issued in June 1963. Whilst the most infamous in popular memory for its endorsement of mass closures, but the conditions of the day had already sealed many lines' fates with later examples simply formalised. Ironically the costs of modernisation meant the East Coast was recommended for closure north of Newcastle, with the view of focusing all Anglo-Scottish traffic along the Tyne Valley line on the West Coast. Although modernisation for the latter was not then approved north of Liverpool, it was anticipated that would be fully completed to Glasgow and Edinburgh with the costs saved from the closures elsewhere.

Most express services north of Newcastle were withdrawn by January 1964, with the whole line having potentially followed if politics hadn't gotten in the way. In that year's election the Conservative vote was unexpectedly down in the Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles constituency as the local Liberals seized upon the issue, eventually winning the seat in the 1965 by-election. This drew comparison with the loss of most passenger services on the Penistone line in Labour-voting South Yorkshire as one of the most infamously politically biased decisions.

 

[SilverLizard]

Introduction to the new British Rail identity, 1965
(Credit: Double Arrow)​

The newly re-elected Butler government was quick to follow the Beeching reports, and a new Railways bill was announced in the 1964 Queen's Speech. It would legally spin off the already de facto-independent railway operations from the BTC into a separate British Railways corporation. As the first report had recommended, the regions would be replaced by functional units. Passenger services would have further divisions for expresses (InterCity), regionals and stoppings (Regional) and London suburbans (Southeastern). Admist management pressure, it was later added these would be operationally organised in common geographic bases along the mainlines. There was also complete freight and closure to more easily and quickly withdraw unprofitable services. The bill passed as the Railways Act 1965, a reform described as "the most monumentous" since 1854.

This coincided with the adoption of the British Rail brand identity to present a modernised public image, containing the double arrow logo as well as a comprehensive font and pictogram library for all signage and promotional media.

 

[Lucas]

@SilverLizard how much the Beeching closures are from OTL? And another question, did BR pass to buy a bunch of everything diesels that could,leave to some very problematic engines, or ITTL they have a more standard fleet and less models.

 

[SilverLizard]

how much the Beeching closures are from OTL? And another question, did BR pass to buy a bunch of everything diesels that could,leave to some very problematic engines, or ITTL they have a more standard fleet and less models.

I haven't mapped out the full network yet, but by 1965 the closures have gone slightly further. As well as OTL, the East Coast is mostly reduced to the intended electrification terminus at Newcastle, the Great Central is being phased out earlier and a few more rural/semi-rural branches have lost passenger services.

The engine fleet will be covered in the next post. The regions have still ordered their own collections of diesels with all the fallout from that but things will begin to change.

 

[SilverLizard]

A Class 86 at King's Cross in later years
(Credit: David Flett)​

Unlike the vast regional variations of diesel fleets, the novelty of overhead wiring meant AC electric locomotives had always been concieved in standardised models. The five prototype classes, each built by different manufacturers, shared strong visual and operational similarities despite technical variations. All were delivered from 1959-64 for the electrified sections of the West Coast.

It was from this testing ground that the AL6 or Class 86 emerged as the standard production model, ironically for the East Coast first in May 1965. Modernisation had reached Letchworth and Peterborough by July 1964, before finished remodelling at King's Cross allowed the wires almost a year later. With the Class 309 electric units now running regional services, BR wanted to quickly demonstrate the next step of electric expresses. After initial testing and training, the first examples began in September 1965, with Class 86s running from King's Cross to Peterborough, where a Class 55 would take over the onward journey. West Coast delieveries commenced the following January.

Although diesel orders had begun to standardise under cost pressures as early as 1962, under the new BR regime the AC electric experience became the template for further locomotives. The mostly successful Class 47 model was decreed the diesel equivalent to the 86, also becoming the general basis of further locomotive development.

 

[Railmotive]

Watched and looking foreward to more

 

[focus9912]

Watched and looking foreward to more

Agreed.

 

[SilverLizard]

A Class 55 near Peterborough in later years
(Credit: David Pond)
​

By the time the wires reached Grantham in June 1966, the programme had been reduced to Leeds only. As part of the new reformed BR system, Transport Minister Anthony Barber announced new modernisations would be subject to a competitive bidding process to cut external subsidies. Projected costs had increased after surveying in North Yorkshire advised a diversion in the Selby area over mining subsidence concerns, and the intially disappointing returns on the West Coast programme had dampened enthusiasm. In contrast Southeastern's London-based revenue had held up over its provincial counterparts and demonstrated superior cost-efficacy. Hence, the electrification priority map was redrawn in its favour.

The prospect of continued operation of Class 55s on Newcastle traffic was well recieved by InterCity East Coast management, which would now have longer to showcase its diesel investments.