Whilst you are all correct in highlighting the failure of government policy, and the savage acts of Beeching, whilst romanticising the age of steam. We tend to conveniently forget what lead to much of this. Firstly, the UK nationalised industrial base could not be updated and receive all the necessary investment out of the public purse (tax receipts), especially as the UK economy was in steep decline. . Secondly the level of industrial unrest within the nationalised industries, eg the coal miners holding the country to ransom at every opportunity forced change.
