Mission: Impossible!

Most people will associate railway closures with the Beeching Axe of the 1960s but reducing the size of the railway network remained a government policy of sorts well into the 1980s. It was against this backdrop that on 11th January 1971, signs were placed at stations along the scenic route between Machynlleth and Pwllheli that unless any objections were received by 8th May, the line would close on 4th October that year.

David vs Goliath

Various objections were made and Merionethshire County Council retained Barrister and Aberavon MP John Morris to represent them. Disparate individuals and organisations raised concerns but that would not be enough, so with £5 borrowed from his local Plaid Cymru branch, Tywyn schoolteacher John Rogers called a public meeting and the Cambrian Coast Line Action group. It later emerged that, surprised by the level of opposition, British Rail had sent “spies” to the meeting to see what they were up to. The CCLAG spearheaded grassroots opposition to closing the line and persuaded British Rail to change the train times so that train users could attend the Transport users Consultative Committee (TUCC) Inquiry. The hall was packed with objectors who gave evidence of the importance of the railway to the local area and after the Inquiry, the CCLAG continued to organise a petition and letter writing campaign to gain newspaper publicity. In 1971 the TUCC announced that closing the railway would cause such hardship that it should be retained. Victory? Well, we’re only 30 minutes into the film at this point.

Plot twists and Perry Mason Moments
 

The Government was not happy with this recommendation and decided to have another go. They instructed the TUCC to hold another enquiry and this time, they had engaged the Crosville Bus Company to run new routes along the railway. What hardship could there be to this remote area if there were busses instead of trains? But the CCLAG was well prepared and while the Crosville representative was explaining the new routes they were asked whether the company had permission to use a private toll bridge and if they had checked the weight restrictions. Cut to the scene where the Crosville man is seen in a phone box with Harlech Castle as a backdrop, angrily, but inaudibly shouting into the phone.

After the Crosville man returned he admitted that the company did not have permission to use the bridge and in any case the busses were too heavy. Gotcha! The TUCC once again threw out the closure proposals, but there was silence from the minister.

Moles, leaks and phone tapping

While this was going on the CCLAG had made an unlikely ally in Whitehall. A senior civil servant, Reg Dawson, who was impressed by the campaign and who was a supporter of the Talyllyn Railway in Tywyn, arranged a grant for British Rail to introduce trains on summer Sundays, which of course boosted passenger numbers on the line. He also leaked a secret report showing that the Government had a plan for significant railway closures, including the Cambrian Coast line and the story made a huge impact in the media. The press went wild when it was revealed the authorities were so desperate to find out who had leaked the document that they resorted to blackmail and phone tapping. But Mr Dawson’s involvement in saving the Cambrian Coast line would remain secret until after he died in 2013. 
 

The CCLAG continued with the letter writing and other efforts to promote the railway, in November 1972 they organised a special train to London to keep the pressure on and deliver a message to 10 Downing Street. It was not until July 1974 that John Rogers received a telegram confirm the government’s decision not to close the Cambrian Coast Line. But we still have 30 minutes left so what next?

CCLAG’s endless complaints about poor service and campaigns for improvements to stations, a better timetable and more trains was starting to bear fruit and then….BANG!

Explosions and more Secret Reports
 

In April 1980 workers doing route checks on Barmouth Bridge, a timber trestle bridge carrying the railway for over half a mile over the Mawddach estuary, crashed their pontoon into one of the timber supports and it collapsed. The bridge was being eaten by shipworms! It was declared unsafe and after some repairs was opened only for lightweight diesel railcars for a short time with British Rail stating that unless £5 million was spent on repairs the line would have to close. The CCLAG however felt that something wasn’t quite right and that British Rail was using Barmouth Bridge as an example to press for more government investment. The plot thickened when another British Rail engineer examined the bridge and reported that it wasn’t that bad, that repairs would be much cheaper and that the contractors didn’t appear to know what they were doing. The Cambrian News led with a story that the damage had been caused by an explosion!

Did someone really try blow up Barmouth Bridge? If so who? And why? I can’t see any source for the story although I’m sure in the Hollywood version we would see a massive explosion leading to a train carriage dangling into the gap left by the “bomb”!

The happy ending
 

The CCLAG seem to have made such a noise over the previous decade that closing the railway wasn’t going to be that easy so money was found to repair Barmouth Bridge. Then, new trains came and a new computer signalling system was installed. Better marketing made the trains busier and the line remains an integral part of life along Cardigan Bay, although it could have been very different. But for the efforts of those involved in the CCLAG, the Cambrian Coast line would have been closed and may have been the first of many.

One of the founders of the CCLAG, John Rogers, kindly donated the archive to the Library in 2016 so that this amazing story isn’t lost even if Hollywood aren’t interested. But just in case they are, I think the archivist who packs up the boxes in the final scene should be played by Michael Sheen.