ABSTRACT
The estimated annual savings amounted to the equivalent of only 7 per cent of the railways’ loss for 1960. Timetables would have been recast, and diesel multiple unit trains in particular would have been deployed more economically, savings in rolling stock on some lines enabling the complete dieselization of more branches much earlier. A few individual stations would have been closed to passengers and a few to goods, while more stations would have become unstaffed halts. A skeleton service for passengers, sharing the motive power employed on the freight side, would have met the needs of commuters and long-distance travellers by one or two of the most popular trains, including the Cornish Riviera Express. Mileage would have been cut by half except on summer Saturdays, when several hundred people used the line in each direction and a fuller service would have been economic.
