Date/Time
Date(s) - Thursday 04/06/2026
19.00 - 20.30
Zoom link (when applicable) Link to Zoom
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Professor Colin Divall’s talk is subtitled “The politics of the Somerset & Dorset closure, ca 1951-67”. In this 60th anniversary year of the final service trains, he will investigate the background, controversy and intrigue behind the closure of the S&D, one of the most bitterly fought Beeching cuts in the south west. Accusations of fiddled stats, poor marketing and useless timetables led to suggestions of a valuable N-S link being sabotaged by short-sighted railway managers and uncaring mandarins. But the line was in deep financial trouble by the early 1950s. Professor Divall concludes modernization could never have saved the route.
The Beeching Report
Colin Divall is emeritus Professor of Railway Studies at the University of York and former Head of the Institute of Railway Studies founded jointly by the University and the National Rail Museum. He is a RCHS member.