The first edition of this popular volume has been out of print for several years and has become much sought after.

Produced in black and white, the first edition was the first volume in the series, taking a detailed regional look at the Beeching Report, its proposals for closures and modifications of the UK railway network.

The report has become legendary and the interest and debate it generated is no less today than it has ever been since first published. Indeed, with railways now rejuvenated and passenger numbers growing ever larger, the reflection on what Beeching got right and what perhaps in hindsight got very badly wrong makes for fascinating reading.

This new, expanded second edition has been completely reworked and is now published with color illustrations both new and replacing the original black and white images where possible. The text has been expanded and updated as appropriate and there are 32 extra pages, bringing the new edition to 192 pages.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 West Country railways before the Beeching Report
• 2 Passenger services listed for modification
  • 2.1 Castle Cary-Yeovil Pen Mill and Weymouth
  • 2.2 Taunton-Exeter St David’s
  • 2.3 Exeter St David’s-Kingswear
  • 2.4 Plymouth-Penzance
  • 2.5 Par-Newquay (Cornwall)
  • 2.6 Yeovil Junction-Exeter Central
  • 2.7 Exeter Central-Barnstaple
  • 2.8 Exeter Central-Okehampton
• 3 Passenger services listed for withdrawal
  • 3.1 Taunton-Yeovil Pen Mill (June 1964)
  • 3.2 Tiverton-Tiverton Junction (October 1964)
  • 3.3 Lostwithiel-Fowey (January 1965)
  • 3.4 Halwill-Torrington (March 1965)
  • 3.5 Barnstaple Junction-Torrington (October 1965)
  • 3.6 Axminster-Lyme Regis (November 1965)
  • 3.7 Seaton Junction-Seaton (March 1966)
  • 3.8 Yeovil Junction-Yeovil Town (October 1966) and -Yeovil Pen Mill (May 1968). Service reinstated (Dec 2015)
  • 3.9 & 3.10 Okehampton-Padstow and Okehampton-Bude (October 1966)
  • 3.11 Taunton-Barnstaple Junction (October 1966)
  • 3.12 Bere Alston-Callington (November 1966)
  • 3.13 Bodmin Road/Bodmin North-Wadebridge/Padstow (January 1967)
  • 3.14 & 3.15 Sidmouth Junction-Sidmouth and Tipton St John’s-Exmouth (March 1967)
  • 3.16 Okehampton-Plymouth (May 1968)
  • 3.17 Barnstaple Junction-Ilfracombe (October 1970)
  • 3.18 Taunton-Minehead (January 1971)
  • 3.19 Maiden Newton-Bridport (May 1975)
  • 3.20 Exeter Central-Exmouth (open)
  • 3.21 Liskeard-Looe (open)
  • 3.22 St Erth-St Ives (open)
• Appendices
  • 1 The political background to the Beeching Report
  • 2 Status in 2019 of the stations on lines listed for modification in Appendix 2, Section 2 of the Beeching Report
  • 3 Through trains using lines listed for closure in the Beeching Report running on Saturdays in August 1962, 1965 and 1970