trackoff.org - history of the railways

Railway Mania reached its peak between 1846 and 1850 with the opening of some 6,500km (4,000 miles) of railway lines but amalgamations of small lines had already begun. George Hudson, from York became known as the 'Railway King' as he bought up many small railway companies in the North East. By 1850, the railways of Britain had over 2,500 steam locomotives with the top speed record of 78mph held by Brunel's locomotive Great Britain.

Railway stations improved dramatically and railway architecture dominated many British towns. Following the tradition of coaching inns, stations began to offer refreshment facilities and other services - the first station bookstall was opened by WH Smiths in 1848.

Railway Crime is estimated to cost £150 million a year

Improvements to passenger carriages, especially for first class travellers, were made with the introduction of the first luxurious Pullman parlour cars imported from America on the Midland Railway between London and Bradford in 1874. The first dining car called Prince of Wales was introduced by the Great Northern Railway on the Leeds to London route five years later. The first all-Pullman train ran between the capital and Brighton in 1881 and it also became the first train to be electrically lit throughout.

From 1860, coal took the place of coke as the fuel for locomotives which themselves developed rapidly in the next 50 years. Although the railways were almost all steam operated, Britain's first all-electric railway built by Magnus Volk was opened on the sea front at Brighton in 1883. The first electrified suburban railway line was opened between Newcastle and Benton in 1904. Steel rails gradually replaced iron and the track lengths of around 20m (60') were bolted together by iron sections called fishplates.

Many rail routes are electrified with overhead power lines carrying 25,000 volts or with a third rail carrying 750 volts. They are NEVER switched off, even on Christmas Day

By 1914, there were 130 individual railway companies in Great Britain each with their own distinctive livery. The rail network had grown to 32,265km (20,053 miles) and it was estimated that no village in England was more than 32km (20 miles) from the nearest station.
The railways possessed some 23,000 locomotives, nearly 73,000 carriages and 1.4 million goods wagons. This size of network was to serve Britain well moving troops around the country to the various embarkation points for the war on the mainland of Europe. Working the railways under a central Government committee during the war revealed how wasteful cut-throat competition between over 100 companies had been.

Midland Railway, 1914

The years after the First World War were therefore to see a massive change in the way the railways in Britain were organised. In August 1921, an Act of Parliament was passed to merge the 123 existing companies into just four. The four great railways that came into being on 1st January 1923 were the Great Western Railway (GWR), the Southern Railway (SR), the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMSR) and the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER).

The big four companies continued building steam locomotives because coal was cheap and plentiful. There was a degree of rivalry between the companies through the 1920's as to who could build the biggest and most powerful locomotives. GWR had their 'Castle' and 'King' Class locos, LNER under Nigel Gresley developed the 'Pacific' Class locos, LMSR introduced
their famous 'Royal Scot' Class locos and SR its 'King Arthur' Class.

Facing increasing competition from other forms of transport, the railway companies diversified into operating road vehicles, internal airlines and shipping services. The first train ferry services began in 1924 on the Harwich to Zeebrugge route. The speed of trains became the new rail battleground, an intense rivalry that began in 1928 when LMSR beat LNER to the record for the then world's longest non-stop railway journey between London and Scotland.

The 1930's saw deliberate efforts to beat the world speed record on Britain's railways. GWR began the race with its claim for 'the world's fastest daily train' known as the 'Cheltenham Flyer'. The Treganna Castle then claimed a world record of 92 mph for the journey between Swindon and Paddington in 1932. The first steam locomotive to reach 100mph was LNER's Pacific Class Flying Scotsman designed by Nigel Gresley.

At 225 kph a train can travel over 400 m ( ¼ mile) in seven seconds

In September 1935, Gresley introduced Britain's first purpose-built high-speed train, the Silver Jubilee, between London and Newcastle. On a demonstration run the streamlined A4 Class locomotive Silver Link hauled the train at a world record speed of 1121/2 mph.

During 1937 intense rivalry developed between LNER's Coronation, a streamlined loco operating on the London to Edinburgh route and LMSR's Coronation Scot, a streamlined Pacific class loco designed by William Stanier, operating from London to Glasgow.

Nigel Gresley decided to go for a record that would not be beaten, even by the Germans who had achieved 1241/2 mph in 1936. He chose his newest A4 Mallard which in a special trial on 3rd July 1938 along a stretch of track north of Grantham touched 126mph - a world speed record for steam that would never be broken.

With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, racing on the railways stopped and the industry turned its mind to far more serious matters. Two massive rail movements took place in the early war years. During a weekend in September 1939 over 1,300,000 in over 3,000 special trains were evacuated from the cities to the countryside and following the evacuation at Dunkirk over 600 special trains transported over 319,000 troops from Dover to camps and hospitals throughout Britain.

The railways played a vital part in the war effort and were targeted by German bombers. Thousands of items of rolling stock were damaged or destroyed and sadly, 395 railway staff were killed and over 2,400 injured on duty. One old loco named Victoria was credited with downing an enemy aircraft as its boiler exploded during the attack and caused the plane to crash!

Trespassing on or near railway lines is a criminal offence which carries a fine of up to £1,000