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British Rail

British Railways , later rebranded as British Rail, ran the British railway system Rail transport in Great Britain

The British [i] railway [i] system is the oldest in the world. ... 

 from the nationalisation of the 'Big Four' British railway Rail transport

Rail transport is the transport [i] of passenger [i]s and goods [i] along railways or ... 

 companies in 1948 until its privatisation in stages between 1994 and 1997. This period saw massive changes in the railway network: steam traction was eliminated in favour of diesel and electric power, passengers replaced freight as the main source of business, and the network was severely rationalised.

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Timeline

1948   Nationalisation of UK United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country and sovereign state [i] tha ... 

 railways Rail transport

Rail transport is the transport [i] of passenger [i]s and goods [i] along railways or ... 

 to form British Railways. Arab militants lay siege to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem Jerusalem

Jerusalem is Israel [i]'s capital [i] and largest city, with a population of 724,000 contained in 123 ... 

. First day of the Italian republican constitution Constitution of Italy

The Constitution of Italy is the supreme law [i] of Italy [i]. ... 

, first day of the New Jersey State Constitution New Jersey State Constitution

The Constitution [i] of the State [i] of New Jersey [i] is the basic governing document of th ... 

.

1956   British Rail renamed 'Third Class' passenger facilities as 'Second Class' (Second Class facilities had been abolished in 1875, leaving just First Class and Third Class).

1968   The last steam passenger train service runs in Britain. A British Rail steam locomotive Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway [i] vehicle [i] that provides the motive power for a train [i] ... 

 makes the 314-mile journey from Liverpool Liverpool

Liverpool is a city [i] and metropolitan borough [i] in North West England [i] ... 

 to Carlisle Carlisle

Carlisle is a city in the extreme northwest of England [i], some 16 km from the border with Scotland [i] ... 

 and returns to Liverpool before being dispatched to the wrecking yard Wrecking yard

A wrecking yard, or auto salvage yard, more commonly known as junkyard, is the location of a... 

.



Encyclopedia

British Railways , later rebranded as British Rail, ran the British railway system Rail transport in Great Britain

The British [i] railway [i] system is the oldest in the world. ... 

 from the nationalisation of the 'Big Four' British railway Rail transport

Rail transport is the transport [i] of passenger [i]s and goods [i] along railways or ... 

 companies in 1948 until its privatisation in stages between 1994 and 1997.

This period saw massive changes in the railway network: steam traction was eliminated in favour of diesel and electric power, passengers replaced freight as the main source of business, and the network was severely rationalised.

History


The rail transport system in Great Britain Rail transport in Great Britain

The British [i] railway [i] system is the oldest in the world. ... 

 developed during the 19th century. After the grouping of 1923 under the Railways Act 1921 there were four large railway companies, each dominating its own geographic area: the Great Western Railway Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company [i] a... 

 , the London, Midland and Scottish Railway London, Midland and Scottish Railway

The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British [i] railway [i] company. ... 

 , the London and North Eastern Railway London and North Eastern Railway

The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created ... 

  and the Southern Railway .

Railway profitability suffered during the great depression of the 1930s 1930s

... 

, capital spending was postponed and maintenance cut back. This meant that state of Britain's railways was already poor on the eve of Second World War World War II

World War II, or the Second World War, was a worldwide [i] conflict [i] fought betwe ... 

. During the war, the railways were taken into state control as a vital part of the wartime economy. They were heavily damaged by enemy action, and a further lack of capital investment and maintenance caused by wartime economic necessity compounded this. In parallel with the rest of Britain's economy, after the war the railways were in a very run-down state.

1948: Nationalisation

The Transport Act 1947 made provision for the nationalisation of the network, as part of a policy of nationalising public services by Clement Attlee Clement Attlee

Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG [i], OM [i], CH [i] ... 

's Labour Government. British Railways came into existence on 1 January 1948 with the merger of the Big Four as the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission .

The London Underground London Underground

This article is about the British underground transport system.... 

 and the Glasgow Underground Glasgow Subway

*Kelvinbridge [i] — For Great Western Road and Kelvingrove Park [i]. ... 

 which were already public concerns, the Liverpool Overhead Railway, a small number of independent light railways and industrial railway Industrial railway

An industrial railway is a type of private railway [i] used exclusively to serve a particular industry [i] ... 

s which did not contribute significant mileage to the system, were not included in British Railways, nor were non-railway-owned tramway Tram

A tram, tramcar, trolley, or streetcar, is a railborne [i], lighter than ... 

s. The Northern Counties Committee lines owned by the LMS in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom [i] and covers 5,459 square miles [i] in the north... 

 were quickly sold to the Stormont Government, becoming part of the Ulster Transport Authority Ulster Transport Authority

The Ulster Transport Authority ran rail and bus transport in Northern Ireland [i] from 1948 until 1966.
... 

  in 1949.

The new system was split geographically into six regions along the lines of the Big Four:
  • Eastern Region Eastern Region of British Railways

    The Eastern Region was a region of British Rail [i] from 1948. ... 

      — southern LNER lines.
  • North Eastern Region  — northern LNER lines in England England

    England is the largest and most populous constituent country [i] of the United Kingdom [i]. ... 

     and all ex-LMS lines east of Skipton Skipton

    Skipton is a town in Northern England [i] that lies along the River Aire [i] and Leeds and Liverpool Canal [i] ... 

    .
  • London Midland Region London Midland Region of British Railways

    The London Midland Region was one of the six regions created on British Railways [i] and consisted of ex ... 

      — LMS lines in England and Wales Wales

    Wales is one of four constituent parts [i] of the United Kingdom [i]. ... 

     and most ex-LNER lines west of Skipton Skipton

    Skipton is a town in Northern England [i] that lies along the River Aire [i] and Leeds and Liverpool Canal [i] ... 

    .
  • Scottish Region  — LMS and LNER lines in Scotland Scotland

    Scotland is a nation [i] in northwest Europe [i] and one of the constituent [i] countries [i] ... 

    .
  • Southern Region Southern Region of British Railways

    The Southern Region was a region of British Rail [i] from 1948. ... 

      — SR lines.
  • Western Region Western Region of British Railways

    The Western Region was a region of British Rail [i] from 1948. ... 

      — GWR lines.


These regions formed the basis of the BR business structure until the 1980s. The regional boundaries were re-drawn in 1958 to make them more geographically-based rather than being based on pre-nationalisation ownership. The North Eastern Region was merged with Eastern Region in the 1960s; a new Anglia Region was split off from the Eastern Region in the 1980s. They retained a level of independence, though there was also some centralisation.


1948-55: The early years


The priority in the immediate aftermath of nationalisation was to repair wartime damage and clear the backlog of maintenance work. Some pre-war capital investment schemes that had been cancelled upon the outbreak of hostilities were restarted . The new BR regions to a large extent inherited the organisations, structures and ethos of their predecessor Big Four companies and continued to work with a large degree of autonomy, building new steam locomotives and rolling stock to their respective companies' pre-war designs. There were also significant differences in fixed-stock engineering standards and operating standards between the former companies. The BR network was almost exclusively powered by steam locomotives, often of pre-grouping vintage, with rolling stock of a similar vintage and all in a poor state of repair. Only the Southern region with its large electrified suburban network around London operated a significant amount of non-steam-powered trains.

Rather than pursue other forms of motive power on a large scale, in 1951 a new range of BR standard steam locomotives was introduced, along with new standard passenger and freight rolling stock. Production of the various pre-nationalisation types ceased in favour of these. At the same time attempts were made to standardise other engineering standards and operating standards across the company wherever possible.

1955-63: The Modernisation Plan

Britain's railways arguably went into the Second World War having technologically fallen behind those of its peers. As the years passed after the War it became apparent that Britain was falling further behind. Countries like Japan, USA and France already had made significant investment in new diesels and electrics before the War, this continued after the war. Britain was not, and the run-down network deteriorated even more because of painfully slow rebuilding. Finally, and late, came the modernisation plan for Britain's railways. It cost the government much more than it should have due to bad timing.

The 1955 Modernisation Plan, detailed in the British Transport Commission's Modernisation and Re-equipment of British Railways, argued for spending £1,240 million Pound sterling

The pound, divided into 100 pence, is the official currency [i] of the United Kingdom [i] and the ... 

 over a period of 15 years. The aim was to increase speed, reliability, safety and line capacity, through a series of measures which would make services more attractive to passengers and freight operators, thus recovering traffic that was being lost to the roads. The important areas were:

  • Electrification of principal main lines, in the Eastern Region of British Railways Eastern Region of British Railways

    The Eastern Region was a region of British Rail [i] from 1948. ... 

    , Kent Kent

    Kent is a county [i] in England [i], south-east of London [i]. ... 

    , Birmingham and Central Scotland Scotland

    Scotland is a nation [i] in northwest Europe [i] and one of the constituent [i] countries [i] ... 

    ;
  • Large-scale dieselisation to replace steam locomotives Steam locomotives of British Railways

    British Railways [i] inherited a number of locomotives from its constituent "Big Four" companies, the vast maj... 

    ;
  • New passenger and freight rolling stock;
  • Resignalling and track renewal.


A government White Paper was produced in 1956, stating that modernisation would help eliminate BR's financial deficit by 1962.

At this time the some of BR's legal liabilities as a common carrier were removed, in particular the requirement that general goods handling facilities must be offered at every station. This ended the tradition of having a general goods handling facility with associated rail infrastructure at practically every station, many of which were becoming under-utilised in the face of competition from road transport. This had associated cost savings in staff, infrastructure and caused a significant reduction in the numbers of slow stopping freight trains, significantly increasing network capacity.

Unfortunately the modernisation plan failed to take into account this and the other effects that mass road transport would have upon the traditional role of the railways, and as a result much money was wasted by heavy investment in things like marshalling yard Classification yard

A classification yard or marshalling yard is a railroad [i] yard [i] found at some freig ... 

s that were soon under-utilised and quickly became obsolete. Much money was also wasted by the rapid introduction of new classes of diesel locomotives into fleet service without an adequate period of prototype testing, which resulted in several classes being scrapped within a very few years of their being built. The failure of the Modernisation Plan led to a distrust of British Rail's financial planning abilities by the Treasury which was to dog BR for the rest of its existence.

Some routes were closed during the 1950s to take account of changing transport patterns and to remove obvious route duplication. For instance in East Anglia East Anglia

East Anglia is a region of eastern England [i], named after one of the ancient Anglo-Saxon [i] ... 

 most of the former lines of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway

The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway was a joint railway [i] owned by the Midland Railway [i] an ... 

 were shut in 1959; long-distance passenger trains on the former Great Central Railway main line ended in 1960 as a prelude to its later closure. However the route closures were just a small taste of what was to come.


1963-68: The Beeching Axe and the end of steam


In 1963, BR chairman Dr Richard Beeching Richard Beeching

Richard Beeching, Baron Beeching, commonly known as Doctor Beeching, was chairman of British Railways [i] ... 

 published the Re-Shaping of British Railways calling for major rationalisation of the system. Many rural routes were unprofitable in the face of increasing competition from road hauliers and the private car. The Beeching Axe Beeching Axe

The Beeching Axe is an informal name for the British [i] Government's attempt in the 1960s [i] ... 

 fell on many branch lines and some main lines - some of these lines have since become heritage railways List of British heritage and private railways

This list of British heritage and private railways is intended as a list of railway [i]s (railroads) ... 

.

The late 1950s to the end of the 1960s saw first a reduction, then the final withdrawal of Britain's fleet of steam locomotives. Mass withdrawals of older classes started towards the end of the 1950s, with many of the pre-grouping companies' engines being scrapped. BR built its last steam engine at Swindon in 1960. Withdrawals of newer steam engines started in the early 1960s, some of which had been built to modern post-war designs and were less than 10 years old. During this period many new designs of diesel locomotives and multiple units were introduced to replace steam-powered trains. The greater availability and reliability of these new trains, coupled with the need for fewer locomotives and less rolling stock caused by the Beeching line closures, meant that the BR fleet reduced significantly. Main-line diesel locomotives began arriving in large numbers from 1963, in early 1966 the Western Region was the first region to declare that it had no further Steam locomotives; other regions quickly followed suit with the last pocket of steam traction being withdrawn from the North-West of England in August 1968. The short narrow-gauge Vale of Rheidol Railway Vale of Rheidol Railway

The Vale of Rheidol Railway is a narrow-gauge [i] heritage railway [i] that runs for 11¾ miles between Aberystwyth [i] ... 

 at Aberystwyth Aberystwyth

Aberystwyth /aber'?stw??/ is a historic market town [i], administrative centre and holiday resort with ... 

 in Wales Wales

Wales is one of four constituent parts [i] of the United Kingdom [i]. ... 

 was the only exception: it remained steam-operated until its sale by BR in 1989. Pre-nationalisation rolling stock was withdrawn as BR standard stock became available, the majority had gone by the end of the 1960s.

From 1958 to 1974 the West Coast Main Line West Coast Main Line

The West Coast Main Line is one of the most important intercity railway lines in the United Kingdom [i], ... 

 was electrified in stages on the French system of 25 kV Volt

The volt is the SI [i] derived unit [i] of electric potential difference [i] or electromotive force [i] ... 

 50Hz AC Alternating current

An alternating current is an electrical current [i] whose magnitude [i] and direction vary c ... 

 overhead line electrification Overhead lines

Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy [i] to tram [i]s, trolleybus [i] ... 

, this having been chosen as the standard system for new electrification north of London, despite BR having invested significant amounts in two 1,500V DC overhead systems a decade earlier. Many commuter lines around London London

London is the capital [i] city of England [i] and of the United Kingdom [i]. ... 

 and Glasgow Glasgow

The city was formerly a royal burgh [i], and was known as the "Second City [i] of the British Empire [i] ... 

 were also electrified, and the Southern Region extended its already extensive pre-war 750 V DC Direct current

Direct current is the constant flow of electrons [i] from low to high potential [i]. ... 

 third rail Third rail

A third rail is a method of providing electricity [i] to power a railway [i], typically a ... 

 system to the Kent Kent

Kent is a county [i] in England [i], south-east of London [i]. ... 

 and Dorset Dorset

Dorset is a county in the south-west of England [i], on the English Channel [i] coast.... 

 coasts. However electrification never reached system-wide level, as on many other Europe Europe

Europe is one of the seven traditional continent [i]s of the Earth [i]. ... 

an railways.

1969-79: British Rail


As the last steam locomotives were being withdrawn, the corporations's public name was re-branded as British Rail . This re-branding introduced the double-arrow logo, still used by National Rail National Rail

National Rail is a brand name of the Association of Train Operating Companies [i] . ... 

 under licence to represent the industry as a whole ; the standardised typeface Typeface

In typography [i], a typeface consists of a coordinated set [i] of glyph [i]s designed with stylistic un ... 

 used for all communications and signs; and the "rail blue" livery, which was applied to nearly all locomotives and rolling stock.

In 1973 the TOPS system for classifying locomotives and multiple units was introduced. Hauled rolling stock continued to carry numbers in a separate series. Also during this time, yellow warning panels, now characteristic of British railways, were added to the fronts of diesel and electric locomotives and multiple units in order to increase the safety of track workers.

The major engineering works were split off into a separate company, British Rail Engineering Limited , in 1970.

1980-94: Sectorisation



In the 1980s the regions of BR were abolished and the system sectorised into five sectors. The passenger sectors were InterCity , Network SouthEast Network SouthEast

Network SouthEast was a sector of British Rail [i] that principally operated commuter [i] trains in the ... 

  and Regional Railways Regional Railways

Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail [i] created in the 1980s [i] th ... 

 . Trainload Freight took trainload freight, Railfreight Distribution Railfreight Distribution

Railfreight Distribution was a sector of British Rail [i] responsible for non-trainload freight operatio ... 

 took non-trainload freight, Freightliner took intermodal Intermodal freight transport

Intermodal is a term that refers to more than one mode of transport [i]. ... 

 traffic and Rail Express Systems Rail Express Systems

Rail Express Systems was the sector of British Rail [i] responsible for transport of mail and parcels tr ... 

 took parcels traffic. The maintenance and remaining engineering works were split off into a new company, British Rail Maintenance Limited . The new sectors were further subdivided into divisions. This ended the "BR blue Rail Blue

Rail Blue was one of British Rail [i]'s corporate colours. ... 

" period, as new liveries were adopted gradually. Infrastructure remained the responsibility of the Regions until the "Organisation for Quality" initiative in 1991, when this too was transferred to the sectors.

Running concurrently with the Sectorisation process came the last of BR's major infrastrucuture projects; the East Coast Main Line was electrified in stages between 1987 and 1990, whilst the Chiltern Main Line was extensively modernised so as to open up an additional link between London and Birmingham. A follow on from the Chiltern project was to be the nationwide roll-out of the Automatic Train Protection system which was proven to prevent accidents caused by SPADs. However, privatisation intervened and this plan was largely abandoned.

1994-97: Privatisation

On the advice of the Adam Smith Institute, under John Major John Major

Sir John Major, KG [i], CH [i] is an English [i] ... 

's Conservative government's Railways Act 1993 British Rail was split up and privatised. This was a continuation of the policy of Margaret Thatcher Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG [i], OM [i], PC [i] ... 

's Conservative government's privatisation of publicly-owned services. The unpopular Conservative government was facing a Labour victory at the May 1997 General Election, and so privatisation was rushed through and was finished in November 1997.

Several models of privatisation were mooted, in the end the one that was chosen resembled that chosen previously for the privatisation of the electricity and gas industries. The ownership of track, trains and infrastructure was separated into different companies based upon the existing BR business structure, with government economic regulation of certain parts of the industry remaining after privatisation where sufficient competition was deemed not to exist. Passenger services in each sector were franchised out to private companies, often bus operators. The Association of Train Operating Companies Association of Train Operating Companies

The Association of Train Operating Companies is a body which represents 26 train operating companies [i] ... 

  was created to organise ticketing and market the rail services using the National Rail National Rail

National Rail is a brand name of the Association of Train Operating Companies [i] . ... 

 brand. Freight operations were mostly bought by one company, EWS EWS

English, Welsh and Scottish Railway is the largest British [i] rail freight company
... 

. Railtrack Railtrack

Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the tracks [i], signal [i]s, tunnel [i] ... 

 plc was created as a regulated monopoly controlling the infrastructure and its shares floated on the London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange

The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange [i] located in London [i], England [i].... 

. The Shadow Strategic Rail Authority was created to oversee and advise the government. The British Railways Board remained with some residual functions.

Privatisation has had mixed results. Passenger growth has been stimulated, but this has been at extra cost to passengers, who have seen steady fare increases since 1997, and to the public purse which, by 2006, was paying a subsidy more than three times as large as British Rail had received. Freight has also increased; however, there is debate as to whether these increases in passengers and freight have been due to privatisation, or simply to increasing congestion on the roads and an improved economy, which usually results in more travel. Some analysts have pointed out that a similar rise in passenger numbers occurred in the late 1980s when the economy was buoyant, only to fall in the recession of the early 1990s; however, recent passenger-journey numbers have climbed back to the level last seen in the 1950s.

Railtrack's management proved to be incompetent and the Labour government refused to continue to subsidise the losses of shareholders. It went insolvent, was put into administration and was replaced by a not-for-profit publicly owned Network Rail Network Rail

Network Rail is a British [i] "not for dividend" company limited by guarantee [i] that ow ... 

. Some saw this as the first step towards renationalisation. Given the costs, this is unlikely at present although some studies have recommended this as a cheaper choice than the current subsidies to commercial companies. The Shadow Strategic Rail Authority's power became real when it became the Strategic Rail Authority Strategic Rail Authority

The Strategic Rail Authority was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom [i] set up to prov ... 

 . It was itself abolished after a few years and its functions transferred to the Department for Transport .

There has been some controversy over the decision to withhold subsidies from Railtrack, which forced it to become insolvent. Press reports indicated that the then transport minister Stephen Byers deliberately forced the company to become insolvent, as this would remove any obligation on the government to provide compensation to its shareholders, who would lose their investment. However, the High Court ruled that the Department for Transport had not actively sought Railtrack's collapse .

Network

The BR network, with the trunk routes of the West Coast Main Line West Coast Main Line

The West Coast Main Line is one of the most important intercity railway lines in the United Kingdom [i], ... 

, East Coast Main Line East Coast Main Line

The East Coast Main Line is a major railway [i] line in the United Kingdom [i], linking London [i] and Edinburgh [i] ... 

, Great Western Main Line Great Western Main Line

The Great Western Main Line is a main line railway [i] in Great Britain [i], corresponding to the princi ... 

 and Midland Main Line Midland Main Line

The Midland Main Line is a main railway line in the United Kingdom [i], part of the British railway system [i] ... 

, remains unchanged. The Beeching Axe Beeching Axe

The Beeching Axe is an informal name for the British [i] Government's attempt in the 1960s [i] ... 

 fell on many branch lines and some other main lines.

Locomotives and rolling stock


Locomotives


Steam locomotives
BR inherited more than 20,000 locomotives from the constituent Big Four companies, the vast majority of which were steam locomotives. BR built 2537 steam locomotives in the period 1948-1960: 1538 were to pre-nationalisation designs, and 999 to its own standard designs. These locomotives were destined to lead short lives, some as little as five years against a design life of over 30 years, because of the end of steam traction on 11 August 1968. The exceptions were locomotives No. 98007-98009 British Rail Class 98

TOPS [i] Class 98 has been used to cover all steam locomotives used on the mainline in Britain, but also has a ... 

 which continued to work the Vale of Rheidol line Vale of Rheidol Railway locomotives

The Vale of Rheidol Railway [i], which runs from Aberystwyth [i] to Devil's Bridge [i], opened in 1902, and wa ... 

 until 1989, in spite of one of them having been built in 1902.
Diesel locomotives

When BR was created, diesel traction was in its infancy in the United Kingdom United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country and sovereign state [i] tha ... 

 . Only two main-line diesel locomotives was inherited in 1948 and a handful of diesel shunters of various types.

Initially, BR persisted with the small scale experimentation with diesel traction while continuing to build hundreds of steam locomotives to old and new designs. Even some steam shunters were being built through to the mid-1950s, when standard diesel shunters were already in large-scale production. It was not until the 1955 Modernisation Plan that more substantial developments in main-line diesel locomotive technology were planned.

The Plan envisaged small numbers of prototype locomotives of varying power types being ordered from a variety of manufacturers. These could be tested and compared against each other before large-scale orders were placed. Unfortunately, even before many of the prototypes had been delivered, a combination of the political need to maintain employment in the British locomotive-building industry and over-optimistic assessments of the possibilities offered by new diesel locomotives meant that large-scale orders were placed for a wide variety of untested and incompatible designs, many of which proved to be very poor.

By the end of 1968 all steam locomotives had been withdrawn - but during 1967-71 so were a large number of virtually new diesel locomotives and shunters as many designs had proved unsuccessful, non-standard, and unnecessary with changed requirements on the railways, e.g. widespread line closures and the decline of wagonload freight traffic. However, some of the diesel shunters withdrawn during this period found further use on industrial railway systems.

After the production of some 5000 diesel locomotives in the 1956-1968, the British locomotive-building industry virtually collapsed. BR needed very few new diesel locomotives from then on; only 285 heavy-duty freight locomotives and 199 High Speed Train High Speed Train

There are three types of trains in the UK, which are traditionally viewed as being high speed trains:
... 

 power cars were purchased from then until privatisation began in 1994. No diesel locomotives have been built in Britain for the mainline system since 1991; the most recent new types have been imported from Canada Canada

Canada is the world's second-largest [i] country by total area, occupying most ... 

 and Spain Spain

Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a Europe [i]an parliamentary monarchy [i].... 

.
Electric locomotives

Electric traction was more advanced than diesel traction at nationalisation, with a number of isolated electrified networks across the country using a variety of power supplies, though 1500 V dc overhead supply had been accepted as the national standard in the 1930s. Most of these networks used electric multiple units to provide the passenger service, with steam locomotives operating freight trains. Thus, BR inherited only 13 ex-North Eastern and three ex-Southern Railway electric locomotives, plus two departmental electric shunters, also ex-Southern Railway.

In the early years of BR, a number of locomotives were built to operate on the newly-refurbished and electrified Woodhead Route using the 1500 V dc overhead system. However, by the time that the next major electrification project, the West Coast Main Line , was underway, the decision had been taken to adopt 25 kV ac overhead as the standard supply system.

BR decided to test a variety of new 25 kV ac types for the WCML electrification; 100 locomotives of five classes were built by different manufacturers. Having learned the lessons from these types, a further 100 examples, of standard class 86, were ordered. This class was introduced in 1966, and some are still in service today. The earlier prototypes, mostly pretty successful, succumbed in the 1980s and early 1990s as non-standard following the arrival of new electric locomotives.

Although the purchase of new electric types was carried out in a more successful way than the comparable process for diesel locomotives, the 200-odd electric locomotive fleet used to operate the WCML from the mid-1960s was still far smaller than that originally envisaged; more than 500 were thought necessary when the initial plans were developed. It was fortunate that changes in the railway's operation had already occurred before mass orders were placed for electric traction.

However, BR had intended to move away from loco-hauled electric trains on the main line as early as the 1970's. The Advanced Passenger Train Advanced Passenger Train

The Advanced Passenger Train was an experimental tilting [i] High Speed Train [i] develope ... 

  was a multiple unit Multiple unit

A multiple unit is a passenger train [i] whose carriages [i] have their own motor [i] ... 

 design intended to reduce journey times on the WCML by running at speeds of up to 150mph. The APT used a sophisticated tilting mechanism to allow the coaches to lean into curves, and featured a hydrokinetic braking system to allow the train to stop within the existing fixed block signalling system. The project was plagued with technical problems and a lack of political will to overcome them resulted in the project being cancelled in the mid 1980s. In the end, the APT enjoyed something of an "afterlife" in the 2000s when its tilting technology re-appeared on the Italian designed Class 390 British Rail Class 390

The British [i] Class 390 "Pendolino" [i] electric multiple unit [i]s are tilting train [i]... 

 "Pendolino" trains introduced for the WCML modernisation, finally replacing most of the electric loco fleet.

Coaches

BR inherited the rolling stock of the Big Four railway companies and also continued to build coaches to their designs. In 1951 BR began its own programme of coach construction using standard designs, and included significant improvements in comfort and safety over previous designs. The first BR design was the Mark 1, with the final design being the Mark 4.

  • British Carriage and Wagon Numbering and Classification
  • Coaches of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
  • Coaches of the Great Western Railway
  • Coaches of the Southern Railway
  • Coaches of the London and North Eastern Railway
  • British Railways Mark 1 British Railways Mark 1

    British Railways [i]'s first design of carriages were given the designation Mark 1.... 

  • British Rail Mark 2 British Rail Mark 2

    British Rail [i]'s second design of carriages was designated Mark 2. ... 

  • British Rail Mark 3 British Rail Mark 3

    British Rail [i]'s third design of carriages was designated Mark 3. ... 

  • British Rail Mark 4 British Rail Mark 4

    British Rail [i]'s fourth design of passenger carriage [i]s was designated Mark 4, and were designed for ... 




Freight wagons and industrial tankers.
  • Coal trucks.
  • Parcels vans and mail wagons.
  • Industrial and oil tankers.
  • Flat-cars and car-transporters.
  • Gravel hoppers.

Multiple units



See also

  • British Rail brand names
  • History of rail transport in Great Britain History of rail transport in Great Britain

    The British railway system [i] is the oldest in the world. ... 

  • British Locomotive and Multiple Unit Numbering and Classification
  • British Carriage and Wagon Numbering and Classification.
  • London Underground London Underground

    This article is about the British underground transport system.... 

  • List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom

    Due to historical differences the railway network of the United Kingdom [i] is split into two independent syst ... 

  • List of British companies
  • Gerry Fiennes
  • British Rail flying saucer British Rail flying saucer

    The British Rail flying saucer was a proposed space vehicle [i], designed by Charles Osmond Frederick [i] ... 



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