In March 1963 The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr. Richard Beeching’s plan to stem BR’s enormous annual losses, was made public. Recruited to his post by ‘motorway age’ Transport Minister Ernest Marples, Beeching is remembered primarily for the thousands of miles of railway and the thousands of stations that he closed. He likened his rationalisation of the rail system to the pruning of a tree. Anyone who has ever done that – often essential – aspect of garden maintenance knows how easy it is to get carried away. “I’ll just trim one more branch…and that twig… and now it looks uneven so I’ll take that one as well.”