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Wong waged
Page 26
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I was interested to read about British Rail's trick film at Byfield showing up commercial vehicles in the worst possible light.
I know the road through Byfield very well as I use it travelling between Harrogate and Southampton. It used to be the B4036, but has now been reclassified the A361, and the interesting thing is that it passes over the derelict Great Central Railway at Charwelton, just north of Byfield, and under the Banbury spur railway, which is also derelict, a few miles south of Byfield.
If these railways were converted into roads, I am sure they would be used by heavy traffic in preference to hilly undulating roads such as the A361, which pass through narrow twisty little villages like Byfield.
At the present time, when road user taxes are over £4,000 million per year, there are ample funds for a large road building programme, but so much money is being drained away to pay for unsound investment, such as the electrification of the Midland railway from St Pancras to Bedford.
It is railways such as the Midland and Great Central and their branches which should have been converted into motorways years ago. If they had been then, there would be no need for heavy commercial vehicles to go through Byfield, or many other villages for that matter. A I WATKINSON Harrogate