1968 THE YEAR OF THE LONG KNIVES

MANY column inches have been published concerning the 50 anniversary of the end of British Railways mainline steam traction in August 1968, with a countdown of withdrawals leading to a stock of just three BR steam locomotives after August 11 – those working on the Vale of Rheidol line.

However, the eradication of the 359-strong standard gauge steam fleet was considerably exceeded by the number of diesel and electric withdrawals in the year, which comprised 438 locomotives and 319 DMU and EMU cars, and yet this massacre of around 10% of the modern traction locomotive fleet rarely receives more than a brief mention in the history of our railways.

There are perhaps two key events that need to be considered as being instrumental in bringing about this major withdrawal programme. The first of these was the Modernisation Plan of 1955, which while proposing to build a large number of diesel and electric locomotives and units, also specified that many prototypes would be evaluated to decide which classes should be built in larger numbers.

As has been well documented the evaluation policy was abandoned just as the various trial locomotives were being delivered, with large orders being placed for many of the brand new types. Thus BR ended up with a plethora of designs in service in each power band, with all of its shunter and multiple unit deliveries being made by the end of 1962.

Then came the Beeching Report,