Peter Beet

Peter Leslie Beet MRCS LRCP (17 February 1937 – 28 October 2005)[1] was an English general practitioner notable for his pioneering work in the preservation of steam locomotives.

Not to be confused with Peter Beets or Pieter Beets.

Early years and education

Raised in Kendal in the Lake District, close to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway's West Coast Main Line, he was educated in Harrogate, close to the London and North Eastern Railway's East Coast Main Line. He attended medical school in Leeds, where on the weekends he would visit Tebay and its engine shed, with staff letting him clean and prepare locomotives. After graduation he became a general practitioner in Morecambe, Lancashire, in 1964.

Preservation work

Beet first tried to save the Sir William Stanier-designed Coronation 46243 City of Lancaster, but was unsuccessful. He then tried to save the Furness Railway's Lakeside branch line, chairing the Lakeside Railway Estates Company. Although the plan was backed by transport minister Barbara Castle, the need to widen the A590 road and the resultant loss of a railway bridge over the River Leven, meant that the complete vision was unsuccessful, but the company saved 3.5 miles (5.6 km), albeit isolated from the main network, to create the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway from 1973.

Still looking to preserve mainline locomotives, Beet was instrumental in saving 23.[2] Realising that there would be a need for maintenance and servicing, in 1968 he successfully acquired a lease on the LMS 10A shed at Carnforth, creating the attraction of Steamtown[3] from 1968, funded by industrialist and fellow steam enthusiast Sir William McAlpine, 6th Baronet. Originally planned to be the maintenance base for the L&HR, it became the base for some of the first private mainline preserved trains, operating from Carnforth to Sellafield and York. The venture closed as a public access visitor attraction in 1997, some years after the preserved site was taken over by businessman David Smith to become the base for his West Coast Railways (WCR).

After the Severn Valley Railway decided to sell their Jubilee 5690 Leander, Beet bought the locomotive and had it restored at the East Lancashire Railway. Still owned by his family, it is now operated by WCR from Carnforth.

Personal life

Beet died on 28 October 2005, aged 68.[4]

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References
  1. "BEET - Deaths Announcements". The Daily Telegraph. 10 November 2005. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  2. "Obituary: Dr. Peter Beet". The Railway Magazine. IPC Business Press. 152: 10. 2006.
  3. Hope, Adrian (12 August 1976). "The hi-fi special". New Scientist. 71 (1013): 335. ISSN 0262-4079.
  4. "Obituary - Dr Peter Beet". The Guardian. 7 December 2005. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
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