THE report was slender – a shade over 100 pages – but its contents are still felt, half a century on.
When Dr Richard Beeching announced the intention to carve up the nation's railways to save money, it was clear he meant business.
The Government handed him the brief of solving the problem of British Rail losing around £140 million a year.
As half of Britain's railway stations were producing just two per cent of the traffic, Beeching decided the best option would be to prune.
Many local routes were considered unprofitable and the network had to be tidied up from when it was re-nationalised in the 1940s.
In Notts and the surrounding areas, the axe fell hard.
Eighteen stations were listed for closure in Beeching's report, from Awsworth to Trowell, with further closures proposed in Ilkeston and Long Eaton.
And reminders of the lost stations remain, nowhere more so than in the city centre where the clock tower of Victoria Station now guards an entrance to the Victoria Centre.
From here, the Great Central Railway used to haul people down to London Marylebone and, to this day, tunnels still exist under Mansfield Road.
Nottingham used to have two other routes into the capital, one via the Midland line via Trent Junction and another via Melton into St Pancras.
Two of these – the line from Victoria to Marylebone and the line to London via Melton were ditched.
And following the last service to Rugby in 1967, tunnels were blocked in and the shopping centre rose up.
Notts County Council rail officer Jim Bamford says: "Whereas in the past the problem for the trains seemed to be a lack of passengers on certain routes, the problem these days seems to be that too many people want to use the railways and it's a case of making people comfortable.
"That's part of the reason for the developments at Nottingham station at the moment. Train stations need to have facilities for lots more people these days."
Some of the lines that were culled have seen a renaissance, including the Robin Hood Line from Nottingham to Worksop.
The story goes that Mansfield was the largest town in the country without a railway station until the line was reopened in 1998.
Mr Bamford said: "It's been a huge success story and it was just a case of reacting to need. In fact, other people have learnt how to reopen a railway line from the example here."
Elsewhere in the region, the damage Beeching inflicted is being reversed.
Two stations in Ilkeston were closed but a new station may be on the horizon.
The Ilkeston North station, part of the Great North Railway Derbyshire Extension between Burton-on-Trent and Nottingham Midland, closed in 1964. The line travelled over Bennerley Viaduct – which still stands today – through Awsworth and Kimberley before heading into the city centre.
The other station in the town – Ilkeston Junction and Cossall – dates from 1847 and was part of the Midland Railway on the Erewash Valley Line. But it closed in January 1967.
A third station – Ilkeston Town – was closed in 1950 and on its site now stands the Tesco supermarket in Chalons Way.
However, Ilkeston can still hear the rumble of trains going onward to Langley Mill, Liverpool or Leeds.
Now it may soon be getting a station of its own.
After 46 years, plans for a new Ilkeston stop have moved closer after Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said it was one of three most likely to be built using the Government's New Stations Fund.
A final announcement is expected to be made by the Secretary of State in May.
Derbyshire County Council bid into the £20 million fund for the £4.574 million project earlier this month.
If the bid is successful, a new station could be running in Ilkeston by 2015 following a campaign which has lasted nearly two decades.
The axe may have fallen 50 years ago, but with a potential new station in Ilkeston and the development of the High Speed 2 rail line through Toton Sidings, it looks like the growth of railways is finally back on the cards.
