Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox
Get our free View from Westminster email
Sir: The fact that Paul Vallely's substitute coach service from Dumfries arrived at Stranraer half an hour before his (just) missed rail connection from Carlisle ("A Journey around the Whole Island of Great Britain", 15 August) is a sad reminder of one of the less than far-sighted acts of the Beeching era.
The 54-mile long direct rail link between Dumfries and Stranraer via Castle Douglas and Newton Stewart (the so-called "Port Road") was closed in June 1965, and, as Paul Vallely intimated, rail travellers from the south have to follow a 135-mile long diversion through Kilmarnock and Ayr.
TONY ROSS
Cottingham, East Yorkshire
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies