The alacrity with which the rail system was decimated was matched by the speed at which the infrastructure was ripped apart on the branch, the whole process was completed by the end of 1965.

The history of Helston’s railway mirrors that of Britain’s system as a whole. Britain, locked into a spiral of post-imperial decline, took the easy options.

Rather than investing sensibly in an infrastructure that was potentially not only profitable, but vital in the light of today’s congested roads, the governments of the day decided to take the cheap, easy option. By raping the railways, they not only saved money to be spent on propping-up a dying empire, but their short-sighted policies deprived the nation of vital lines of communication and employment.

We are still suffering today!

It is to be hoped the William Bickford Smith, and all those pioneers who built the railways of the 19th century, are having a nice quiet word with Dr. Beeching and his band of merry Civil Servants in the afterlife.