Thursday April 11th 2013
The guest speaker at the April lunch was David Walford, the Humber Regional Rail Development Manager. He was introduced by the chairman Ron Major and spoke on “Railways, Past, Present and Future”. Before beginning on a brief history of railways in Britain, the speaker pointed out that railways are at present on a 90 year high, with more people using the railway than since the 1914 – 18 war.
It was the development of railways in the 1820 and 30s which had let industry expand and had brought about the Industrial Revolution. They were first used as a means of moving goods and then became a means of passenger transport.
In the 30/40 years after 1825, twenty thousand miles of railway routes were built using private capital by labourers using, picks, shovels and wheelbarrows. They were the work of engineers like Brunel and Stephenson, with outstanding skills and without guide books to help them. Their skill in building bridges was phenomenal.
Most towns had a railway station which became a centre of the community. There were hundreds of independent companies which became amalgamated into four in 1923. The railways were heavily overused in both wars and a combination of neglect, lack of investment and the competition from motor transport led to their decline. The Beeching report of 1963 led to mass line closures in the 1960s and 70s.
The recent privatisation of the system has led to some confusion about co-operation between the various areas of the railway system but also to a refreshing approach and managers having greater business acumen. Railways are slow to respond to investment and so a longer view has to be taken. The franchise system needs to be longer term and over at least 20 years.
In general journeys over short distances are not profitable and need the greatest subsidy, medium distance journeys about break even, long distance main line routes are very profitable and therefore competition to bid for these franchises is greatest.
The speaker expressed concern that future proposals for a Northern Transport Board could see South and West Yorkshire and Manchester as dominant financial partners to the disadvantage of the East and North Ridings. Mr Walford pointed out that railways had transformed our lives and changed us from sedentary people to a mobile nation. The number of comments and questions was an indication of the interest Mr Walford had created in a very articulate and informative talk. The vote of thanks was given by Len Collins. Any retired gentlemen interested in joining the club can find more information on line at “ProbusBridlington” or by ringing Jim Hornsby on 673368.