Professional Recovery 374

MYOPINION
THE GREATEST EVER
WHITE
ELEPHANT
Fred Henderson
Breakdown Doctor
Like all mechanically inclined
youngsters, I couldn’t help but
be in awe of the fantastic steam
locomotives that passed through the railway
alongside our family farm in the 1950’s. It
was particularly appealing on a weekend
when the London to Edinburgh train would
be diverted due to line works and so some
of the greatest trains in the country would
pass within half a mile of our farm. Little did
I realise what an extravagance was operating
before me. Having read many articles on the
subject, it is now apparently commonplace
that passenger rail travel in this country has
never been able to turn a profit. Any profit
has always been in the hands of the people
who made the hardware and constructed
the railways but as regards turning a profit
from operating a service that appears never
to have been the case.
Of course, in the beginning, compared to
other forms of transport, the railways were
in another world so the cost was always
considered as a secondary factor. I am not
certain if freight trains fared any better. I
expect not as they are not used to any great
extent compared to normal haulage.
With its history of loss making, what on
earth has inspired Government to sanction
and commence work on the HSR2 link
between London and Birmingham and
wherever it might never finish up at. Since
the idea was conceived in the Labour days,
is has been shilly shallied about with a total
of seven Prime Ministers, none of whom
seem to have had the bottle to cancel
it! Just looking at some of the facts, we
certainly need a more educated person
than me to dissect them.
26 PROFESSIONAL RECOVERY MAGAZINE
26,27 Fred.indd 1 01/03/2023 16:25