The denationalisation of road transport by the Transport Act 1953 dealt a further blow to goods traffic by facilitating long-distance transportation by motor vehicles. Decline and closure Both the M&GN and Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Committee were transferred to the British Transport Commission upon nationalisation in 1948. They were assigned to the Eastern Region of British Railways which corresponded very much to the southern region of the LNER. Reliance on summer traffic was not enough and a programme of closures and economies was put into action from 1953 with the closure of the first section of the Norfolk and Suffolk between Cromer and Mundesley, followed by the closure of Breydon Viaduct from 21 September due to the costs of maintenance. This resulted in the withdrawal of Lowestoft coaches on the expresses from Leicester, the M&GN freight trains and the ordinary passenger service between Yarmouth Beach and Lowestoft. A service between the coastal towns was maintained from South Town, as was a through service to Lowestoft from Birmingham on Saturdays; the Leicester service was reintroduced the following summer, running from Derby to Gorleston and Lowestoft via the Beccles line. Passenger services on the M&GN were the next to be withdrawn in February 1959, followed by those on the Yarmouth to Beccles line. This led to the re-routing of London to Yarmouth expresses via Lowestoft where they reversed and ran along the coast to Yarmouth South Town. This avoided the division of trains at Beccles and also provided Gorleston holidaymakers with a direct link to London; it also served the camps and caravan parks at Hopton and Corton. At this time there were expectations that the line would become the main London to Yarmouth route and in preparation for the additional traffic bridges were strengthened and track improved. However, following improvements to Yarmouth Vauxhall station and dieselisation in 1962, the bulk of the London service was re-routed via Norwich Thorpe and the Wherry Lines. There was still however enough holiday traffic in 1964 to justify nine services to and from South Town from on Saturdays. This declined in the face of the rationalisations and elimination of surplus rolling stock recommended by the Beeching Report which had the effect of greatly reducing the number of Saturday specials. From September 1966, the line – which had long been plagued by an imbalance between summer and winter patronage – saw the introduction of diesel sets