 The line was mentioned as a candidate for closure in the "Reshaping of British Railways" report (the Beeching cuts), in 1963, but it was not closed by British Railways until 1970.Indeed, steam-hauled passenger services and freight operations ceased on 7 September 1964 (with one special running on 3 October 1965), and the rationalisation of the line began.DMU services began, the Waterloo through services were stopped, and the line was down-graded to single track on 25 November 1967.