Big Four British railway companies
Encyclopedia
The Big Four was a name used to describe the four largest railway
companies in the United Kingdom
in the period 1923-1947. The name was coined by the Railway Magazine in its issue of February 1923: "The Big Four of the New Railway Era".
The Big Four were:
The companies were formed as a result of the Railways Act 1921
, in a process known as "The Grouping" (of the railways), which came into effect on 1 January 1923.
On 1 January 1948 the companies were nationalised
to form British Railways as a result of the Transport Act 1947
.
The GWR was the only company to retain its pre-grouping identity, which it duly imposed on all that it absorbed. However, the other three found that past influences remained strong. The Southern's management remained decentralised, respecting the three distinct bundles of routes inherited from its constituents. The LMS struggled to reconcile different traditions, especially in locomotive engineering, only resolving that issue in 1932 with the appointment of Sir William Stanier
from the GWR. The LNER never made a profit, a fact partly accounted for by having inherited the huge debts incurred by the Great Central Railway
in building its extension to London.
During World War II
the railway companies' managements were united, effectively becoming one company, under the direction of the Railway Executive Committee
. The railways were hired by the Government from 1 January 1941, to continue for one year after the end of the war. In return, a fixed Annual Rent of £43,468,705 was payable, divided between the companies according to a set formula.
A commission was set up under the chairmanship of Sir Ernest Lemon
to consider the post-war planning and reconstruction of the railways, with representatives of the Big Four and the London Passenger Transport Board
.
The number of jointly operated lines was greatly reduced by the grouping but a substantial number survived, including the Cheshire Lines Committee
, the Forth Bridge Railway Company, the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway
(all LMS/LNER) and the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
(LMS/SR). At in excess of 180 track miles, the M&GN was the largest jointly operated network in Great Britain, and extended from Peterborough to the East Anglian coast. It was wholly incorporated into the LNER in 1936. The S&D connected Bath and Bournemouth, and wound its way through territory otherwise dominated by the GWR. The LMS was responsible for its locomotives and the Southern for the infrastructure. Initially, the S&D had its own locomotives but these were absorbed into LMS stock in 1930. Further simplification of the railway map, long advocated, was not achieved until nationalisation. One joint operation, the Fishguard & Rosslare Railways & Harbours Company, which Irish independence had rendered international, survives to this day.
. However, railway involvement in bus operations was transformed in the period 1928-30. The companies’ legal powers to run bus services were unclear and each promoted private legislation (the Road Powers Acts of 1928) to obtain clarity. Concessions were demanded in return, including the key one that the railways would refrain from taking a controlling interest in bus undertakings. This led the companies to enter into partnerships with the bus combines: British Electric Traction
, Scottish Motor Traction
and Thomas Tilling
, also the National Omnibus and Transport Company, soon afterwards absorbed by Tilling. The railways relinquished the majority stakes they had already acquired but also bought substantial minority shareholdings in other companies in the combine groups. Eventually there were investments in 33 bus and coach companies.
Where there was a local monopoly of rail services the agreements were bilateral but where inter-penetrating lines were common, there were two railway companies with minority shareholdings, for example, Devon General
and Thames Valley Traction
(both GWR/SR), Crosville and Midland Red
(both GWR/LMS), and Eastern Counties, Eastern National
, East Midland Motor Services, Hebble Motor Services, Lincolnshire Road Car, Trent Motor Traction, West Yorkshire Road Car, Yorkshire Traction
and Yorkshire Woollen District Transport (all LMS/LNER). The LMS and LNER also sat with the local authority on Joint Omnibus Committees in Halifax and Sheffield.
In October 1933, the railways jointly purchased the Hay's Wharf Cartage Company Ltd., owners of Pickfords
, and Carter Paterson
.
Ltd. Channel Island Airways, Ltd. and its subsidiaries (Jersey Airways
, Ltd. and Guernsey Airways, Ltd.) were wholly owned by the GWR and Southern.
The Thomas Cook Group
having come into Belgian ownership, its impounded shares were sold by the British Custodian of Enemy Property to the Big Four.
The regions - whose powers were greatly enhanced during the 1950s under the Area Railways Boards - ceased to be operational units following sectorisation during the 1980s and were finally abolished in the run-up to privatisation in 1992.
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
companies in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in the period 1923-1947. The name was coined by the Railway Magazine in its issue of February 1923: "The Big Four of the New Railway Era".
The Big Four were:
- Great Western RailwayGreat Western RailwayThe Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
(GWR) - London, Midland and Scottish RailwayLondon, Midland and Scottish RailwayThe London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
(LMS) - London and North Eastern RailwayLondon and North Eastern RailwayThe London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...
(LNER) - Southern RailwaySouthern Railway (Great Britain)The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
(SR)
The companies were formed as a result of the Railways Act 1921
Railways Act 1921
The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which...
, in a process known as "The Grouping" (of the railways), which came into effect on 1 January 1923.
On 1 January 1948 the companies were nationalised
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
to form British Railways as a result of the Transport Act 1947
Transport Act 1947
The Transport Act 1947 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under it the railways, long-distance road haulage and various other types of transport were acquired by the state and handed over to a new British Transport Commission for operation...
.
Characterisation
The three larger companies relied heavily on freight (especially coal) and long-distance passenger traffic. The Southern Railway, in contrast, was predominantly a passenger railway, which, despite its small size, carried more than a quarter of the UK's total passenger traffic. This was because the area covered by the railway included many of the dense commuter lines around London, as well as some of the most densely populated parts of the country. It responded to this geography by pursuing a vigorous policy of electrification.The GWR was the only company to retain its pre-grouping identity, which it duly imposed on all that it absorbed. However, the other three found that past influences remained strong. The Southern's management remained decentralised, respecting the three distinct bundles of routes inherited from its constituents. The LMS struggled to reconcile different traditions, especially in locomotive engineering, only resolving that issue in 1932 with the appointment of Sir William Stanier
William Stanier
Sir William Arthur Stanier, FRS was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.- Biography :...
from the GWR. The LNER never made a profit, a fact partly accounted for by having inherited the huge debts incurred by the Great Central Railway
Great Central Railway
The Great Central Railway was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension . On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern...
in building its extension to London.
Joint activities
Although nominally in competition, the four companies worked together on projects of significance to the railway industry as a whole.During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the railway companies' managements were united, effectively becoming one company, under the direction of the Railway Executive Committee
Railway Executive Committee
The Railway Executive Committee was a government body which controlled the operation of Britain's railways during World War I and World War II...
. The railways were hired by the Government from 1 January 1941, to continue for one year after the end of the war. In return, a fixed Annual Rent of £43,468,705 was payable, divided between the companies according to a set formula.
A commission was set up under the chairmanship of Sir Ernest Lemon
Ernest Lemon
Sir Ernest John Hutchings Lemon, OBE was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and later one of its three Vice-Presidents...
to consider the post-war planning and reconstruction of the railways, with representatives of the Big Four and the London Passenger Transport Board
London Passenger Transport Board
The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport in London, UK, and its environs from 1933 to 1948...
.
Joint lines
Each company operated a number of lines jointly with one or more of the others, a situation which arose when the former joint owners of a route were placed into different post-grouping companies. Most of these were situated at or near the boundaries between two or more of the companies; however there were some notable examples which extended beyond this hinterland zone.The number of jointly operated lines was greatly reduced by the grouping but a substantial number survived, including the Cheshire Lines Committee
Cheshire Lines Committee
The Cheshire Lines Committee was the second largest joint railway in Great Britain, with 143 route miles. Despite its name, approximately 55% of its system was in Lancashire. In its publicity material it was often styled as the Cheshire Lines Railway...
, the Forth Bridge Railway Company, the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway
Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway
The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway, was a joint railway owned by the Midland Railway and the Great Northern Railway in eastern England, affectionately known as the 'Muddle and Get Nowhere' to generations of passengers, enthusiasts, and other users.The main line ran from Peterborough to...
(all LMS/LNER) and the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway – almost always referred to as "the S&D" – was an English railway line connecting Bath in north east Somerset and Bournemouth now in south east Dorset but then in Hampshire...
(LMS/SR). At in excess of 180 track miles, the M&GN was the largest jointly operated network in Great Britain, and extended from Peterborough to the East Anglian coast. It was wholly incorporated into the LNER in 1936. The S&D connected Bath and Bournemouth, and wound its way through territory otherwise dominated by the GWR. The LMS was responsible for its locomotives and the Southern for the infrastructure. Initially, the S&D had its own locomotives but these were absorbed into LMS stock in 1930. Further simplification of the railway map, long advocated, was not achieved until nationalisation. One joint operation, the Fishguard & Rosslare Railways & Harbours Company, which Irish independence had rendered international, survives to this day.
Road transport
The Big Four inherited and developed networks of feeder bus services and after 1928 began to acquire majority shareholdings in local bus companies, such as the Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company, Crosville and United Automobile ServicesUnited Automobile Services
United Automobile Services or United, as it was commonly known, was a major provider of bus services across the North East and North Yorkshire for 80 years or more...
. However, railway involvement in bus operations was transformed in the period 1928-30. The companies’ legal powers to run bus services were unclear and each promoted private legislation (the Road Powers Acts of 1928) to obtain clarity. Concessions were demanded in return, including the key one that the railways would refrain from taking a controlling interest in bus undertakings. This led the companies to enter into partnerships with the bus combines: British Electric Traction
British Electric Traction
British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rentokil Initial.- Early history :The company was founded as...
, Scottish Motor Traction
Scottish Motor Traction
Scottish Motor Traction was founded in Edinburgh in 1905. It operated buses in much of central Scotland. Aside from its traditional bus operations, it operated an air taxi service with a De Havilland Fox Moth between July 18 and October 31, 1932 and for many years owned Dryburgh Abbey Hotel...
and Thomas Tilling
Thomas Tilling
Thomas Tilling Ltd, later known with its subsidiary companies as the Tilling Group, was one of the two huge groups which controlled almost all the major bus operators in the United Kingdom between the wars and until nationalisation in 1948....
, also the National Omnibus and Transport Company, soon afterwards absorbed by Tilling. The railways relinquished the majority stakes they had already acquired but also bought substantial minority shareholdings in other companies in the combine groups. Eventually there were investments in 33 bus and coach companies.
Where there was a local monopoly of rail services the agreements were bilateral but where inter-penetrating lines were common, there were two railway companies with minority shareholdings, for example, Devon General
Devon General
Devon General was the brand name for the principal bus operator in south Devon from 1919. The name was first used by the Devon General Omnibus and Touring Company which was created in 1919. In 1922 it was purchased by the National Electric Construction Company which merged with British Electric...
and Thames Valley Traction
Thames Valley Traction
Thames Valley Traction Company Limited was a major bus company operating services to and from Reading, Bracknell, Maidenhead, Newbury, High Wycombe and Oxford and surrounding areas for over 50 years during the 20th century...
(both GWR/SR), Crosville and Midland Red
Midland Red
Midland Red was a bus company which operated in the English Midlands from 1905 to 1981. It was the trading name used by the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company , which was renamed Midland Red Omnibus Company in 1974...
(both GWR/LMS), and Eastern Counties, Eastern National
Eastern National Omnibus Company
Eastern National was a bus operating company in south east England from 1929 to the 1990s.-Early history:Eastern National Omnibus Company Ltd started in 1929 as a joint venture between the London and North Eastern Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the National Omnibus &...
, East Midland Motor Services, Hebble Motor Services, Lincolnshire Road Car, Trent Motor Traction, West Yorkshire Road Car, Yorkshire Traction
Yorkshire Traction
Yorkshire Traction was a bus operator in South Yorkshire. Between 1986 and 2005 it was a key part of the Traction Group. In December 2005 it was sold to the Stagecoach Group.-History:...
and Yorkshire Woollen District Transport (all LMS/LNER). The LMS and LNER also sat with the local authority on Joint Omnibus Committees in Halifax and Sheffield.
In October 1933, the railways jointly purchased the Hay's Wharf Cartage Company Ltd., owners of Pickfords
Pickfords
Pickfords is a moving company based in the United Kingdom, part of the Moving Services Group UK Ltd.The business is believed to have been founded in the 17th century, making it one of the UK's oldest functioning companies. The earliest record is of a William Pickford, a carrier who worked south of...
, and Carter Paterson
Carter Paterson
Carter Paterson was a British road haulage firm, closely associated with the railway industry.-History:It was founded in 1860, formed into a private company in 1887, and converted into a public company in February 1934. In October 1933, the Big Four railway companies purchased control of the...
.
Other activities
Air services were another area of co-operation. The GWR, LMS and Southern acquired British and Foreign Aviation, Ltd. and formed Railway Air ServicesRailway Air Services
Railway Air Services was a British airline formed in March 1934 by four railway companies and Imperial Airways. The airline was a domestic airline operating routes within the United Kingdom linking up with Imperial's services....
Ltd. Channel Island Airways, Ltd. and its subsidiaries (Jersey Airways
Jersey Airways
Jersey Airways was an airline that operated air services to and from the Channel Islands from 1933 until 1947, when it became part of British European Airways.-History:...
, Ltd. and Guernsey Airways, Ltd.) were wholly owned by the GWR and Southern.
The Thomas Cook Group
Thomas Cook Group
Thomas Cook Group plc is a travel company created on 19 June, 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group plc. At flotation on the London Stock Exchange 52% of the shares in the new company were held by the German mail order and department store corporation Arcandor and 48% owned by...
having come into Belgian ownership, its impounded shares were sold by the British Custodian of Enemy Property to the Big Four.
Continuity
The areas served by the Big Four formed the basis of the British Railways regions as follows:- the GWR became the Western RegionWestern Region of British RailwaysThe Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992...
- the English and Welsh parts of the LMS became the London Midland RegionLondon Midland Region of British RailwaysThe London Midland Region was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways and consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway lines in England and Wales. The region was managed first from buildings adjacent to Euston Station and later from Stanier...
- the North Eastern Area of the LNER became the North Eastern RegionNorth Eastern Region of British RailwaysThe North Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. It was merged with the Eastern Region in 1967. It was the near direct post-nationalisation descendant of the North Eastern Railway, that had merged with the LNER just over 20 years early....
- the remainder of the English part of the LNER (its Southern Area) became the Eastern RegionEastern Region of British RailwaysThe Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992...
- the SR became the Southern RegionSouthern Region of British RailwaysThe Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992. The region covered south London, southern England and the south coast, including the busy commuter belt areas of Kent, Sussex...
- the LMS and LNER in Scotland were united as the Scottish RegionScottish Region of British RailwaysThe Scottish Region was one of the six regions created on British Railways and consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway and ex-London and North Eastern Railway lines in Scotland...
The regions - whose powers were greatly enhanced during the 1950s under the Area Railways Boards - ceased to be operational units following sectorisation during the 1980s and were finally abolished in the run-up to privatisation in 1992.
See also
- History of rail transport in Great BritainHistory of rail transport in Great BritainThe railway system of Great Britain, the principal territory of the United Kingdom, is the oldest in the world. The system was originally built as a patchwork of local rail links operated by small private railway companies. These isolated links developed during the railway boom of the 1840s into a...
- History of rail transport in Great Britain 1830 - 1922History of rail transport in Great Britain 1830 - 1922This article is part of a series on the History of rail transport in Great BritainThe history of rail transport in Great Britain 1830 - 1922 covers the period between the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway , and the Grouping, the amalgamation of almost all of Britain's many railway...
- History of rail transport in Great Britain 1923 - 1947History of rail transport in Great Britain 1923 - 1947This article is part of a series on the History of rail transport in Great BritainThe history of rail transport in Great Britain 1923–1947 covers the period when the British railway system was run by the Big Four group of companies – the London, Midland and Scottish Railway ; the Great Western...
- List of railway companies involved in the 1923 grouping
- Railways Act 1921Railways Act 1921The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which...
- Transport Act 1947Transport Act 1947The Transport Act 1947 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under it the railways, long-distance road haulage and various other types of transport were acquired by the state and handed over to a new British Transport Commission for operation...
- British Transport CommissionBritish Transport CommissionThe British Transport Commission was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain...