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Championing road haulage
Page 83
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I was very interested to read about the campaign (CM August 17/ by York Trailer Company to champion road haulage. This does seem like a much needed step in the right direction.
However. I wonder if the campaign goes far enough as the advertisement says "The trains don't stop at Hawick any moreand goes on to point out that trucks are now serving Hawick and other towns.
This is all very well but surely far more emphasis should be put on the need for new roads now that over 8000 miles of Britain's 20.000-mile network of railways is lying derelict. The VVaverley Line twin Edinburgh via Hawick to M6 just north of Carlisle is one of these derelict lines, and as I said in a letter (CM April 17 1970) it should be converted into a motor road so that towns such as Hawick are served by the good roads they so badly need.
In the 1840s it was quite common to open over 500 miles of railway in one year and in 1848 no less than 1182 miles were opened to traffic, yet in these days of powerful equipment it has taken over 16 years to complete 1100 miles of motorway.
Since the 1840s Britain's population has more than doubled, so is it any wonder with antiquated and inadequate roads that we are in such a mess? What we really need is a vast system of Instant Roads which can only be provided by converting our disused and little used railways into roads. This will get commercial vehicles out of the villages and towns and enable a far better, quicker and cheaper service to be provided.
A. I. WATKINSON. Harrogate, Yorks.