The name of Dr. Beeching is well-known in Britain. He's regarded as the government official most responsible for the decimation of our rail network in the 1960s. Many small branch lines were closed down, leaving a lot of rural communities with no public transport, a situation which still exists today.

You can see remnants of stations and rights-of-way in places, along with a little irony at times. One town near to where I lived some years ago had a road named Beechings Way. No prizes for guessing that the railway once passed through there.

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I was very impressed as I doubt any driver/ticket seller on the Blackpool system would know a word of German.
It's Lancashire -- They can barely speak English! [Linked Image]