Benutzer:Voyager/Testgelände

The history of rail transport in Great Britain to 1830 covers the period up to the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the world's first intercity passenger railway operated solely by steam locomotives. The earliest form of railways, horse-drawn wagonways, originated in Germany in the 16th century. However, the first use of steam locomotives was in Britain. The invention of wrought iron rails, together with Richard Trevithick's pioneering steam locomotive meant that Britain had the first true railways in the world.

Pionierleistungen (bis 1830)

Anfänge des Schienenverkehrs

Erste Schienenbahnen wurden im frühen 17. Jahrhundert verlegt, um die Beförderung von Kohle zu erleichtern. Diese tramroads oder wagonways bestanden aus einer in den Boden eingelassenen, mit Holzbohlen ausgekleideten Spur, in der die Wagenräder einen leichteren Lauf als auf bloßer Erde hatten. Auf diesen konnten Pferde mehrere aneinender gehängte Karren mit einfachen Spurkränzen ziehen. Die 1604 von Huntingdon Beaumont erbaute Wollaton Wagonway bei Nottingham war die erste Einrichtung dieser Art.

Die Wagonways waren so angelegt, dass die Loren sich mit Hilfe der Schwerkraft abwärts bewegten. In einer der Loren reiste jeweils ein Pferd mit, das die Loren wieder hinauf zum Ausgangspunkt zog. Ralph Allen erfand in den 1730er Jahren den einseitigen Spurkranz, der die Wagen sicher auf dem Gleis führt. Erstmals zur Anwendung kam diese Erfindung auf einer Schienenbahn, die von einem Steinbruch zum Fluss Avon bei Bristol führte. Um 1740 goss man erstmals Eisenschienen in die hölzernen Spurrillen und befestigte diese mit Nägeln.

Ab 1770 verwendete man nicht mehr Holz als Unterlage für die Eisenschienen, sondern verlegte diese in Spurrillen, die aus dem Gestein herausgehauen wurden. Benjamin Outram, der Direktor des Cromford Canal in Derbyshire, ließ eine Schienenbahn mit L-förmigen gusseisernen Schienen ohne Spurkranz errichten. Die Bahn war etwas mehr als eine Meile lang und besaß eine Spurweite von 3 Fuß 6 Zoll (1067 mm). Karren mit einfachen spurkranzlosen Rädern wurden mit vertikalen Leisten auf den Schienen gehalten. Gusseiserne Schienen waren ein Fortschritt gegenüber Holzschienen, da sie ein größeres Gewicht tragen konnten und die Reibung zwischen Rad und Schiene geringer war; dadurch konnten Pferde längere Züge als vorher bewegen.

William Jessop entwickelte Outrams System wenige Jahre später weiter. Räder mit Spurkränzen liefen direkt auf den einfachen rechteckigen Schienen, ohne Outrams Führungsleisten. Jessop, ein ehemaliger Schüler von John Smeaton, ging eine Partnerschaft mit Outram ein, um die neuartigen Schienen herzustellen. Erstmals wurden sie 1789 am Kanal in Loughborough verwendet. Gusseisenschienen neigten dazu, leicht zu brechen, so dass im Laufe der Zeit Schienen aus Schmiedeeisen an ihre Stelle traten.

• 
  Querschnitt des Tanfield Wagon Way (ca. 1765) mit hölzernen Schienen und gusseisernen Rädern mit Spurkranz
• 
  Querschnitt von Outrams tramway beim Cramford-Kanal mit L-förmigen Schienen aus Gusseisen und Eisenrädern ohne Spurkranz
• 
  Gusseiserne Räder mit Spurskranz auf spurkranzlosen Eisenschienen (Jessop 1789)

Diese Vorläufer der heutigen Eisenbahn entstanden überall dort, wo abgebaute Bodenschätze schnell und kostengünstig zu Verladeplätzen an schiffbaren Flüssen oder Kanälen transportiert werden mussten. Die Bahnen wurden von den Besitzern der Minen und Steinbrüche finanziert. Mit der Weiterentwicklung der Technologie war es möglich, auch bei weit von Schifffahrtswegen entfernten Abbaustätten die Transportkosten niedrig zu halten. Diese längeren Strecken benötigten oft parlamentarische Zustimmung, da sie über Grundstücke führten, die nicht den Minenbesitzern gehörten. Das britische Parlament musste jeweils eine Gesetzesvorlage verabschieden, um die Landbsitzer zum Verkauf der Wegrechte zu zwingen. Die Gesetze sollten die Investoren auch vor unrealistischen oder gar betrügerischen Projekten schützen.

Die erste Strecke, die aufgrund eines solchen Gesetzes eine Konzession erhielt, war 1758 die Middleton Railway zu einer Kohlemine bei Leeds. Die erste öffentlich zugängliche Eisenbahn war die 1803 eröffnete Surrey Iron Railway von Wandsworth nach Croydon (heute Stadtteile im Süden von London). Bis zu ihrer Schließung im Jahr 1845 war sie dem Güterverkehr vorbehalten. Es handelte sich aber nicht um eine Eisenbahn im modernen Sinne, da sie wie eine Mautstraße funktionierte: Es gab keinen festen Fahrplan und jeder konnte die Bahn nach Bezahlung einer Maut mit seinen eigenen Pferden und Wagen befahren. Die Oystermouth Railway bei Swansea war 1807 die erste von Pferden gezogene Bahn, mit der auch Personen befördert wurden.

Im Gegensatz zu England und Wales verlief die Entwicklung in Schottland weitaus langsamer. Erst 1812 wurde in diesem Landesteil die erste Güterbahn eröffnet: Die Kilmarnock and Troon Railway in der Grafschaft Ayrshire hatte eine Spurweite von 1219 mm und diente dem Transport von Kohle. Zahlreiche dieser frühen schottischen Bahnen entstanden in der sogenannten schottischen Spurweite von 4½ Fuß (1372 mm).

Einführung der Dampflokomotiven

Trevithicks Catch me who can

Datei:Salamanca von John Blenkinsop.jpg

Blenkinsops Salamanca

Richard Trevithick entwickelte 1799 erstmals eine stationäre Dampfmaschine, die Hochdruck erzeugen konnte. 1801 baute er ein Dampfstraßenfahrzeug: Der Puffing Devil („schnaubender Teufel“) hatte zwar geringen praktischen Nutzen, besaß aber bereits ein wesentiches Konstruktionsmerkmal einer Dampflokomotive, den Schornstein.

1803 baute Trevithick die erste auf Schienen fahrende Dampflokomotive der Welt. Sie kam auf der schmalspurigen Bahn des Pen-y-Darren-Eisenwerks in der Nähe der walisischen Ortschaft Merthyr Tydfil zum Einsatz. Am 21. Februar 1804 zog sie fünf Güterwaggons mit 10 Tonnen Kohle und 70 Personen über eine Distanz von 15,7 Kilometern nach Abercynon, bei einer Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit von rund 8 km/h. Obwohl die Dampflokomtive sich als funktionsfähig erwies, war ihr kein Erfolg beschieden. Wegen ihres hohen Gewichts zerbrachen die für Pferdewagen konzipierten gusseisernen Schienen. Die Lokomotive wurde wieder in eine ortsfeste Dampfmaschine umgebaut.

Vier Jahre später konstruierte Trevithick eine zweite Lokomotive, die Catch me who can, die mit bis zu 19 km/h auf einer temporären kreisförmigen Vorführstrecke in London fuhr. Passagiere konnten für einen Shilling mitfahren. Das Unternehmen scheiterte nach zwei Monaten an den zu spröden Schienen und am geringen Interesse des Publikums.

Die erste kommerziell erfolgreiche Dampflokomotive war die 1812 von John Blenkinsop und Matthew Murray konstruierte Salamanca für die Middleton Railway (Spurweite 1219 mm). Sie war leicht genug, dass die Schienen nicht brachen. Blenkinsop war aber überzeugt, dass seine Lokomotive nicht leistungsfähig genug war, um Steigungen im Adhäsionsbetrieb bewältigen zu können. Er entwickelte deshalb für diese Strecke ein Zahnradbahnsystem − trotz der Tatsache, dass Trevithick ein Jahrzehnt zuvor erfolgreich eine Adhäsionsbahn vorgeführt hatte.

William Hedley, der Direktor des Kohlebergwerks von Wylam bei Newcastle hatte schon 1804 Richard Trevithick mit dem Bau einer Dampflokomotive beauftragt; die Wylam Dilly befriedigte jedoch nicht. Neun Jahre später konstruierte er zusammen mit seinem Angestellten Timothy Hackworth selber eine Lokomotive, die unter dem Namen Puffing Billy bekannt wurde. Sie ist die älteste noch existierende Dampflokomotive der Welt und wies einige Konstruktionsmerkmale auf, die später für solche Maschinen typisch waren, wie z.B. Kolben und Kurbelwelle). 1814 baute George Stephenson, ebenfalls ein Angestellter des Wylam-Bergwerks, seine erste Lokomotive, die Blücher.

Beginn des öffentlichen Personenverkehrs

Im April 1821 genehmigte das Parlament den Bau einer Bahn zwischen Stockton und Darlington. George Stephenson schlug dem Initiator Edward Pease vor, Dampflokomotiven statt Pferde einzusetzen und die Streckenführung entsprechend anzupassen. Das Parlament genehmigte 1823 die Änderungen. Die Schienen wurden in einem Abstand von 4 Fuß und 8½ Zoll (1435 mm) gelegt, die in der Folge vor allem durch George und Robert Stephensons weltweite Beteiligung an den ersten Bahnbauten die am meisten verbreitete Spurweite wurde, die sogenannte Normalspur.

Stephensons Rocket

Eröffnungsfahrt der Liverpool and Manchester Railway

Die Eröffnung der Stockton and Darlington Railway erfolgte am 27. September 1825. George Stephensons Locomotion No 1 zog 36 Wagen mit einer Geschwindigkeit von 19 bis 24 km/h, darunter einen eigens zu diesem Zweck gebauten Wagen für Passagiere. Somit verkehrte erstmals überhaupt ein von einer Dampflokomotive gezogener Personenzug auf einer Bahnstrecke. Dieses Ereignis gilt als Geburtsstunde der modernen Eisenbahn.

Um eine geeignete Lokomotive für die neue Strecke zwischen den Großstädten Liverpool und Manchester zu finden, organisierten die Direktoren der Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) vom 6. bis 14. Oktober 1829 das Rennen von Rainhill. Den Preis von £500 gewann die Rocket von George und Robert Stephenson. Sie war mit bis zu 48 km/h unterwegs und besaß neben einem um die Feuerbüchse herumgebauten Stehkessel einen Flammenrohrkessel mit einem Blasrohr - alles wesentliche Konstruktionsmerkmale, die sich bis zum Ende der Dampflokära halten sollten. Die Strecke wurde am 15. September 1830 eröffnet. An diesem Tag ereignete sich auch der erste tödliche Passagierunfall der Eisenbahngeschichte, als der Parlamentsabgeordnete William Huskisson während der Eröffnungsfahrt durch eine Unachtsamkeit von der Lokomotive erfasst wurde und wenige Stunden später an den Verletzungsfolgen starb.

Die L&MR war die weltweit erste Eisenbahn für Personenbeförderung, auf der sämtliche Züge nach festem Fahrplan und mit Dampflokomotiven verkehrten. Dies im Gegensatz zur Stockton and Darlington Railway, wo Privatpersonen die Strecke nach Bezahlung einer Maut mit ihren eigenen Pferden und Wagen befahren konnten und in der Regel nur die Kohlenzüge von Dampflokomotiven gezogen wurden. Die Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, die ebenfalls Passagiere beförderte, war drei Monate vor der L&MR eröffnet worden, doch auf dem größten Teil der Strecke erfolgte der Antrieb durch Kabel, die von ortsfesten Anlagen gezogen wurden. Die erste Eisenbahn mit Dampflokomotiven in Schottland war die 1826 eröffnete Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway.

Expansion der britischen Eisenbahnen (1830 bis 1922)

1830er Jahre

Manchester und Leeds hatten sich zu führenden Industriezentren entwickelt und die Transportbedürfnisse zwischen beiden Städten nahmen rasch zu. Das dazwischen liegende Pennines-Mittelgebirge schränkte jedoch die Möglichkeiten zum Bau von Kanälen stark ein. Somit bot sich mit der Eisenbahn eine realistische Alternative, zumal auch die Nachfrage nach Kohle aus Nordostengland und Yorkshire stark angestiegen war. Die 1834 eröffnete Leeds and Selby Railway verband Leeds mit dem Nordseehafen in Hull, die erste West-Ost-Verbindung Englands.

Zwar nahm die Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) dem Kanalsystem in Lancashire vorerst nur einen Teil des Güterverkehrs ab, der Personenverkehr nahm jedoch unerwartet stark zu. Der finanzielle Erfolg der ersten Eisenbahnlinien war jenseits aller Erwartungen und bald planten Unternehmer in London und Birmingham, diese beiden Städte miteinander sowie über die L&MR mit Manchester und Liverpool zu verbinden. Es entstanden einerseits die von Joseph Locke geplante Grand Junction Railway zwischen Birmingham und Warrington (eröffnet 1837), die den Anschluss an die L&MR herstellte, andererseits die von Robert Stephenson geplante London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) über Rugby und Coventry (eröffnet 1838).

Die vom Parlament für die einzelnen Bahnlinien erlassenen Gesetze erlaubten grundsätzlich die Zwangsenteignung von Grundstücken. Doch mächtige Grundbesitzer wehrten sich gegen Eisenbahnlinien über ihren Besitz und legten im Parlament Beschwerde ein, um die Verabschiedung einzelner Gesetzesvorlagen zu verhindern. Andere verlangten übertrieben hohe Entschädigungszahlungen, so dass die frühen Eisenbahnstrecken nicht immer entlang der optimalen Route gebaut werden konnten. Aus diesem Grund war beispielsweise British Rail über 140 Jahre später dazu gezwungen, Neigezüge auf der kurvenreichen Hauptstrecke West Coast Main Line einzusetzen, um eine markante Erhöhung der Geschwindigkeit erzielen zu können.

Eisenbahnfieber

Die Regierung begrüßte den Bau von Eisenbahnstrecken, weil dadurch die Wirtschaft angekurbelt wurde und im Falle möglicher Unruhen Truppen rasch bewegt werden konnten. Aus rechtlichen Gründen war aber für jede einzelne Strecke ein separater Parlamentsbeschluss nötig. Es gab durchaus Unternehmer mit Visionen für ein weitverzweigtes, städteverbindendes Streckennetz. Allerdings war es viel einfacher, Investoren für kurze Streckenabschnitte zu finden, die einem klar definierten Zweck dienten und kurzfristigen Profit versprachen.

Bis 1845 gab es über 1000 verschiedene Projekte für den Bau von Eisenbahnstrecken. Dies führte zu einer Spekulationsblase: Der Wert von Eisenbahnaktien stieg immer weiter an und Spekulanten investierten noch mehr Geld, bis zum unvermeidlichen Kurszerfall. Der Höhepunkt wurde 1846 erreicht, als das Parlament nicht weniger als 272 neue Projekte bewilligte. Im Gegensatz zu den den meisten Spekulationsblasen gab es am Ende jedoch einen reellen Gegenwert in Form eines markant gewachsenen Streckennetzes, wenngleich zu weit überhöhten Kosten. Als die Regierung einschritt und einen vorläufigen Stopp für neue Eisenbahnprojekte verfügte, ging die Zeit der „Railway Mania“ zu Ende. Der Schriftsteller Lewis Carroll nahm in The Hunting of the Snark Bezug auf dieses Eisenbahnfieber: „They threatened its life with a railway share“(„Sie bedrohten dessen Leben mit einer Eisenbahnaktie“)

Die wirtschaftlichen Interessen, die zum Streckenbau führten, waren oft nur lokaler Bedeutung und es gab - im Gegensatz etwa zu Belgien - nie einen landesweiten Plan zum Aufbau eines gut durchdachten Streckennetzes. Erst aus einem Flickwerk vieler Einzelstrecken heraus entwickelte sich allmählich ein zusammenhängendes Netz. Einzelne Gesellschaften wuchsen rascher als andere und vergrößerten ihr eigenes Streckennetz hauptsächlich durch die Übernahme kleinerer Unternehmen. In anderen Fällen schlossen sich mehrere Unternehmen zusammen. So entstand zum Beispiel 1846 aus der Fusion von drei verschiedenen Gesellschaften die London and North Western Railway, die sich in den folgenden fünf Jahrzehnten zur größten Aktiengesellschaft Großbritanniens entwickelte.

Einfluss der Politik

Zwar musste für jede neue Bahnstrecke ein Parlamentsbeschluss erwirkt werden, doch beim eigentlichen Streckenbau und beim Betrieb nahm die Politik zu Beginn eine Laissez-faire-Haltung ein und mischte sich nicht in die Belange der Bahngesellschaften ein. Erst ab 1840 erließ sie Sicherheitsbestimmungen. Mit dem Regulation of Railways Act ermächtigte sie den Board of Trade, Eisenbahninspektoren zu ernennen. Im selben Jahr wurde das Railway Inspectorate gegründet, um die Ursachen von Unfällen zu untersuchen und um Maßnahmen vorzuschlagen, mit denen diese zukünftig verhindert werden sollten. Die erste Untersuchung führte Colonel Frederic Smith nach einem Unfall am 7. August 1840 durch, bei dem in der Nähe von Howden in Yorkshire fünf Menschen ums Leben gekommen waren (es handelte sich dabei um den bislang größten Unfall der britischen Eisenbahngeschichte).

1844 wurde im Parlament eine Gesetzesvorlage eingebracht, welche die Verstaatlichung der Eisenbahnen vorschlug; das Gesetz kam jeoch in dieser Form nicht durch. Das Parlament beschloss aber die Festlegung minimaler Standards für den Bau von Drittklasswagen, die zuvor in den meisten Fällen gewöhnliche offene Güterwagen ohne jeglichen Komfort gewesen waren. Die Bahngesellschaften wurden dazu verpflichtet, jeden Tag auf jeder Strecke und in beiden Richtungen mindestens einen Parlamentszug (parliamentary train) verkehren zu lassen. Diese Züge mussten an jeder Station anhalten und durften nicht langsamer als 12 mph (19 km/h) fahren. Außerdem mussten die Wagen mit Sitzen ausgestattet und mit einem Dach versehen sein.

„Krieg der Spurweiten“

George Stephenson hatte die Liverpool and Manchester Railway in der gleichen Spurweite erbaut wie die tramroads zu den Kohleminen in Nordostengland, nämlich 4 Fuß und 8½ Zoll (1435 mm). Sämtliche Bahnstrecken, die er und seine Assistenten errichteten, wiesen die gleiche Spurweite auf (die Spurweite der zuvor gebauten Stockton and Darlington Railway war ursprünglich 13 mm schmaler und wurde später angepasst).

Als die Great Western Railway (GWR) den Bau einer Eisenbahnstrecke zwischen Bristol und London plante, ernannte sie Isambard Kingdom Brunel zum Chefingenieur, der eine weitaus breitere Spurweite von 7 Fuß (2140 mm) bevorzugte. Seiner Meinung nach bot die Breitspur größere Stabilität und Kapazität bei hoher Geschwindigkeit. Auch war er davon überzeugt, dass die einzelnen Bahnstrecken sich nicht berühren würden, womit sich eine Standardspurweite in ganz Großbritannien erübrige. Zumindest beim letzten Punkt erwiesen sich seine Überlegungen als falsch, denn schon nach wenigen Jahren trafen Bahnstrecken mit verschiedenen Spurweiten aufeinander, was vor allem beim Güterverkehr über längere Distanzen zu zeitraubenden und kostspieligen Behinderungen wegen des Umladens führte.

Wegen dieses Problems wurde eine parlamentarische Kommission eingesetzt, um die Angelegenheit zu untersuchen. Sie kam zum Schluss, Stephensons „Schmalspur“ solle als britische Normalspurweite eingeführt werden. Das Parlament erließ 1846 das Eisenbahnspurweitengesetz (Gauge of Railways Act), das die Spurweite von 4 Fuß und 8½ Zoll verbindlich festlegte. Schon zwei Jahre zuvor hatte die Eastern Counties Railway ihre ursprünglich fünf Fuß (1524 mm) breiten Strecken angepasst.

Die GWR zeigte sich davon unbeeindruckt und drang in die West Midlands vor, wo sie sich einen harten Konkurrenzkampf mit der London and North Western Railway lieferte. 1852 erreichte sie Birmingham und 1854 Wolverhampton, den nördlichsten Breitspurbahnhof. 1846 war die Bristol and Gloucester Railway von der Midland Railway aufgekauft und 1854 auf Normalspur umgebaut worden. Auf der Strecken nach Bristol wurden Dreischienengleise verlegt, auf denen Züge beider Spurweiten verkehren konnten. In den 1860er Jahren sah die GWR ein, dass sie den „Krieg der Spurweiten“ nicht gewinnen konnte und die Breitspur sich nicht durchsetzen würde. Schritt für Schritt baute die GWR das Breitspurnetz auf Normalspur um, wobei auf einzelnen Strecken als Zwischenlösung Dreischienengleise verlegt wurden. Der letzte Breitspurabschnitt existierte bis Mai 1892.

Premieren in London

Die am 8. Februar 1836 eröffnete London and Greenwich Railway gilt als älteste Vorortseisenbahn der Welt. Sie führte zunächst vom Londoner Stadtteil Bermondsey nach Deptford und wurde im Dezember desselben Jahres am westlichen Ende weiter in die Innenstadt nach London Bridge verlängert, dem ältesten noch bestehenden Kopfbahnhof der Stadt, am östlichen Ende nach Greenwich.

Bis zu Beginn der 1850er Jahre wurden mehrere Eisenbahnstrecken bis an den Rand des überbauten Gebiets der Hauptstadt gebaut. Doch konnten sie nicht weiter in die City oder ins West End vordringen, da dies den Abriss unzähliger Gebäude bedeutet hätte. Aus diesem Grund mussten die Fahrgäste in den verschiedenen Kopfbahnhöfen aussteigen und ihren Weg in die Innenstadt zu Fuß oder per Droschke fortsetzen, was im Laufe der Zeit immer größere Staus verursachte. Es bestand somit eine große Nachfrage nach einem städtischen Massenverkehrsmittel.

Die Metropolitan Railway eröffnete am 10. Januar 1863 das erste Teilstück einer unterirdisch verlaufenden Eisenbahnstrecke, welche die einzelnen Kopfbahnhöfe miteinander verband. Dabei handelt es sich um den ersten Abschnitt der ältesten U-Bahn der Welt, der London Underground. Die City & South London Railway (heute ein Teil der Northern Line), die am 18. Dezember 1890 ihren Betrieb aufnahm, ist die älteste elektrisch angetriebene U-Bahn der Welt.

Allgemeine Entwicklung

Der finanzielle Erfolg der frühen Eisenbahnen übertraf alle Erwartungen, da sie keine richtige Konkurrenz hatten. Die Straßen waren noch immer sehr langsam und in schlechtem Zustand, der Bau neuer Kanäle lohnte sich nicht mehr. In den Städten, die an das Eisenbahnnetz angeschlossen wurden, sanken die Preise für Brennstoff und Nahrungsmittel, da die hohen Transportkosten massiv gesenkt werden konnten. Die schwachen Motoren und Bremsen der frühen Lokomotiven bedingten eine Streckenführung mit geringen Steigungen und weiten Kurven. Als die durchschnittlichen Geschwindigkeiten im Laufe der Jahren immer weiter anstiegen, erwies sich dies im Nachhinein als Segen, da in den meisten Fällen keine teuren Neutrassierungen nötig wurden. Weniger als zwanzig Jahre nach Eröffnung der Strecke zwischen Liverpool und Manchester war es möglich, per Zug von London nach Schottland zu reisen, dies zu einem Bruchteil der früher benötigten Zeit.

Zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts hatten sich nach zahllosen Fusionen und Übernahmen 16 Unternehmen gebildet, die den größten Teil des britischen Schienenverkehrs unter sich aufteilten. In England und Wales waren dies elf Gesellschaften, in Schottland fünf. Darüber hinaus gab es eine Reihe von kleineren Gesellschaften wie die Cambrian Railways und die Furness Railway, die jedoch nur von lokaler Bedeutung waren. Im nachfolgenden Kapitel werden die 16 wichtigsten Unternehmen, die vor der Neuordnung des Schienenverkehrswesens im Jahr 1923 bestanden, kurz vorgestellt.

Bedeutende Bahngesellschaften vor 1923

England und Wales

Great Central Railway (GCR)

Vor 1897 hieß die GCR noch Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, als sie mit einer Ost-West-Linie diese Region in Zentralengland erschloss. Die Gesellschaft baute dann eine Strecke nach London und nannte sich fortan Great Central Railway, um die geänderte Bedeutung zu verdeutlichen. Die Londoner Endstation der Great Central Main Line war Marylebone. In den 1960er Jahren wurden mehrere Abschnitte der ehemaligen GCR-Hauptstrecke stillgelegt.

Great Eastern Railway (GER)

Die GER entstand 1862 aus der Fusion der Eastern Counties Railway mit zahlreichen kleineren Unternehmen; 1902 stieß auch die Northern and Eastern Railway hinzu. Der Firmenname deutet darauf hin, dass die Gesellschaft hauptsächlich in den östlichen Grafschaften Englands tätig war, namentlich Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk und Norfolk. Der GER-Hauptbahnhof in London war Liverpool Street.

Great Northern Railway (GNR)

Die GNR enstand 1846, als sich zwei konkurriende Gesellschaften zusammenschlossen, die London and York Railway und die Direct Northern Railway (Baubeginn jeweils 1844). Die Hauptstrecke der GNR führte von King’s Cross in London nordwärts nach Doncaster. Andere Strecken erschlossen Lincolnshire und Derbyshire. Die GNR war auch am Cheshire Lines Committee beteiligt und verfügte dadurch über einen Zugang nach Liverpool; auf Strecken anderer Gemeinschaftsunternehmen konnten GNR-Züge Leeds und Halifax erreichen. Zusammen mit der NER und der NBR führte die GNR den Fernreiseverkehr auf der East Coast Main Line zwischen London und Edinburgh durch.

Great Western Railway (GWR)

Die im Jahr 1833 gegründete GWR betrieb ein weit verzweigtes Schienennetz mit einer Spurweite von 7 Fuß (2140 mm). Im Laufe der Jahre übernahm sie weitere Gesellschaften, darunter South Wales Railway (1863), West Midland Railway (1863), Bristol and Exeter Railway (1876), South Devon Railway (1878) und Cornwall Railway (1889). Die GWR-Hauptstrecke war die Great Western Main Line von London Paddington nach Bristol. Weitere Strecken führten unter anderem nach Weymouth, Plymouth und Penzance im Westen, Fishguard und Aberystwyth in Wales sowie Birmingham and Chester im Nordwesten. Als sich die GWR mit ihren Breitspurstrecken nicht durchsetzen konnte, baute sie diese bis 1892 auf Normalspur um.

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR)

Die L&YR entstand 1847 durch die Fusion mehrerer Gesellschaften, von denen die Manchester and Leeds Railway die größte war. Das Streckennetz erschloss die nordenglischen Grafschaften Lancashire und Yorkshire mit den Städten Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Preston, Doncaster and Goole. 1922, ein Jahr vor der grundlegenden Neuordnung des britischen Eisenbahnwesens, fusionierte die L&YR mit der LNWR.

London and North Western Railway (LNWR)

1846 fusionierten die London and Birmingham Railway, die Liverpool and Manchester Railway, die Grand Junction Railway und die Manchester and Birmingham Railway zur LNWR, die sich in der Folge zum größten britischen Bahnunternehmen entwickelte. Die Hauptstrecke der LNWR, die West Coast Main Line, führte von London Euston nach Carlisle, mit Zweigstrecken nach Oxford, Cambridge und Peterborough sowie von Crewe nach Nordwales und West Yorkshire. Auf Gleisen anderer Gesellschaften verkehrten LNWR-Züge nach Swansea und in Teilen von Südwales. Die LNWR besaß auch einzelne Strecken in Irland.

London and South Western Railway (LSWR)

Die Hauptstrecke der 1838 gegründeten LSWR führte von London Waterloo über Salisbury und Exeter nach Plymouth. Weitere Strecken führten unter anderem nach Portsmouth und Bournemouth sowie zu zahlreichen Touristendestinationen im Süden und Südwesten Englands. Die LSWR besaß auch ein vielbefahrenes Netz von Vorortsbahnen in den südwestlichen Vororten Londons. Zusammen mit der Midland Railway war sie im Besitz der Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR)

Aus der Fusion der London and Croydon Railway (eröffnet 1839) und der London and Brighton Railway (eröffnet 1840) entstand 1846 die LB&SCR. Deren Streckennetz erschloss zahlreiche Vororte im Süden Londons, fast die ganze Grafschaft Sussex und einen großen Teil von Surrey. Einzelne Strecken führten nach Kent und Hampshire. Zahlreiche Seebäder an der englischen Südküste verdanken ihre Existenz der Eisenbahn. Die LB&SCR begann 1909 als erste Hauptbahngesellschaft mit der Elektrifizierung ihrer Strecken.

Midland Railway (MidR)

Die MidR entstand 1844, als sich die North Midland Railway, die Midland Counties Railway und die Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway zusammenschlossen. Zu Beginn besaß die Gesellschaft keinen eigenen Zugang nach London und ihre Züge benutzte auf dem Weg in die Hauptstadt Strecken der LNWR und der GNR, bis 1862 der Bahnhof St Pancras eröffnet wurde. Von London aus konnten mit der MidR unter anderem Carlisle, Derby, Manchester, Nottingham und Sheffield erreicht werden. Eine zweite Hauptstrecke führte von Derby über Birmingham nach Bristol. Die MidR war Mitbesitzerin der Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway und der Somerset and Dorset Railway.

North Eastern Railway (NER)

Aus der Fusion der York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway, der York and North Midland Railway und der Leeds Northern Railway entstand 1854 die NER. Ihre Hauptstrecke führte von Doncaster über York und Newcastle upon Tyne nach Berwick-upon-Tweed an der schottischen Grenze, umfasste also den mittleren Teil der East Coast Main Line. Zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts beförderte sie mehr Erz und Kohle als jede andere Bahngesellschaft in Großbritannien.

South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR)

Die SE&CR war eine gemeinsame Betriebsgesellschaft der South Eastern Railway und der London, Chatham and Dover Railway, die 1902 gebildet wurde. Wie die LB&SCR und die LSWR hatte sie einen großen Anteil am Vorortsverkehr im Süden Londons und erschloss außerdem mehrere Seebäder an der Südostküste. Die Hauptstrecke führte von London über Tonbridge und Dover nach Folkestone.

Schottland

Caledonian Railway (CalR)

Die CalR wurde 1845 gegründet, um Carlisle mit Edinburgh und Glasgow zu verbinden. Nach der Eröffnung im Jahr 1849 verkehrten erstmals direkte Schnellzüge auf der West Coast Main Line zwischen London und Glasgow, deren Betrieb erfolgte gemeinsam mit der LNWR. 1847 ging die Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway in der CalR auf, 1893 die Greenock and Wemyss Bay Railway.

Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR)

Erschloss die Region südwestlich von Glasgow und entstand im Jahr 1850 durch die Fusion der Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway und der Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway. 1854 kam die Ardrossan Railway hinzu, 1899 die Kilmarnock and Troon Railway. Mehrere von der G&SWR übernommene Strecken waren in der schottischen Spurweite von 4 Fuß errichtet worden und wurden auf Normalspur umgebaut.

Great North of Scotland Railway (GNoSR)

Die 1845 gegründete GNSR erschloss von Aberdeen aus den Nordosten Schottlands. Nachdem sie ihr Hauptvorhaben, den Bau einer Strecke nach Inverness, wegen zu starker Konkurrenz nicht verwirklichen konnte, konzentrierte sich die Gesellschaft auf den Bau von Nebenbahnen.

Highland Railway (HR)

Die HR war für die Erschließung der dünn besiedelten Regionen Nordschottlands zuständig. Sie enstand aus der 1854 gegründeten Inverness and Nairn Railway heraus, die in der Folge weitere kleine Gesellschaften übernahm. Die Hauptstrecke führte von Perth über Inverness nach Wick und Thurso.

North British Railway (NBR)

Im Jahr 1844 wurde die NBR gegründet, die ein Jahr später ihre erste Strecke von Edinburgh nach Berwick-upon-Tweed eröffnete und damit die East Coast Main Line vervollständigte. Die NBR wuchs hauptsächlich durch Übernahme anderer Gesellschaften, die wichtigste war die Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway.

Siehe auch: Liste von ehemaligen Eisenbahngesellschaften im Vereinigten Königreich

„Die Großen Vier“ (1923 bis 1947)

Neuordnung des britischen Eisenbahnwesens

Während des Ersten Weltkriegs stellte die Regierung den Schienenverkehr unter staatliche Verwaltung und die Bahnbetriebsabteilung des Verteidigungsministeriums übernahm den Betrieb. Damit sollte der ungehinderte Nachschub an Material und Soldaten sichergestellt werden. Es zeigte sich, dass ein rationalisierter Betrieb mit wenigen Gesellschaften einige Vorteile mit sich brächte.

Nach Kriegsende waren sich die verschiedenen politischen Parteien weitgehend einig, dass die erforderliche Weiterentwicklung des Schienennetzes unter den vor dem Krieg herrschenden Bedingungen nicht möglich sei. Die Regierung und die Besitzer der Bahngesellschaften lehnten die Verstaatlichung, die William Gladstone bereits in den 1830er Jahren gefordert hatte, jedoch ab. Der Railways Act 1921 schuf einen Kompromiss: Mit diesem Gesetz wurden die vielen Gesellschaften zu vier neuen Unternehmen zusammengefasst:

• London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS)
• Great Western Railway (GWR)
• London and North Eastern Railway (LNER)
• Southern Railway (SR)

Das Gesetz trat am 1. Januar 1923 in Kraft. Schon bald wurden die vier neuen Gesellschaften als The Big Four („die Großen Vier“) bezeichnet. Nur wenige Strecken gehörten nicht zu den Großen Vier, zahlreiche wurden gemeinsam betrieben. Die größten dieser Gemeinschaftsunternehmen waren die Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (LMS und LNER) und die Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (LMS und SR).

Obwohl sie wegen der weitgehenden Eliminierung von Parallelverkehren nicht in direkter Konkurrenz zueinander standen, strebte jede der Großen Vier trotzdem danach, schneller, moderner und komfortabler zu sein als die drei Mitbewerber.

The companies were spurred on even more by the increased road competition. Products of this competition were the LMS and LNER races to Scotland, with the infamous Flying Scotsman service and Mallard's world speed record of 126 mph, the LMS's production of diesel railcars, electrification of lines by the LNER, the GWR's ingenious marketing and the SR's mass electrification scheme, which led to nearly the whole of the south east's trains being almost entirely electric. Many claimed Britain had the best railways in the world at this period, and it could certainly be justified.

Konkurrenz des Straßenverkehrs

Road transport grew rapidly during the 1920s, stimulated by the cheap sale of thousands of war-surplus vans and lorries and the subsidised construction of new roads. The revenues of the railway companies suffered in particular because of the loss of freight to road haulage. This was largely because the Government would not release the railways from their obligations as 'common carriers'. The common carrier requirement had been brought in the 19th century. It obliged railway companies to carry any cargo offered to it at a nationally agreed charge, which was usually well below a rate necessary to make the operation profitable for the railways. The intention had been to stop railway companies "cherry picking" the most profitable freight whilst refusing to carry less profitable freight. This had been a necessary measure when railways had had an effective monopoly over land transport. But with road competition encroaching, it put the railways at a disadvantage, because they had to subsidise unprofitable freight operations with profitable ones, which drove up charges.

The road haulage operators, who had no such restrictions, could therefore undercut the railways and take away their business. It was then thought that no large railway could operate at a profit unless more than half its traffic is freight, and the freight was being siphoned off by the road companies. The railway companies responded to this with a national campaign in the late 1930s for a 'square deal' to allow them the same commercial freedom as road operators. However just as the campaign looked like being successful, World War II started. The common carrier requirement was not lifted until 1957.

Veränderung und Entwicklung

With the transport policy pursued by the government, and more general changes in lifestyle favouring travel by road, the Big Four railways never ran a healthy profit. Indeed, the LNER never made a profit at all. However, they were still able to produce the world-leading services on the East Coast Main Line, running trains at speeds of up to 110 mph, a remarkable achievement. Also the SR invested heavily in electrification of all its lines, and this electrification was done at a far faster rate than at any time under BR.

In the 16 years before the outbreak of WWII the new companies set about the tremendous task of rebuilding railways which had had little or no work done since the end of WWI hostilities in 1918. Priority was new rolling stock: locomotives, coaches and wagons. As an example of the need for rationalisation, the LMSR took over 10,316 steam locomotives at the grouping: these comprised no fewer than 393 different classes.

In the 1920s the companies produced some exceptional locomotives:

• LMSR: Royal Scot class 4-6-0 (1927); Sir Henry Fowler was Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME)
• LNER: A4 Pacific 4-6-2 (1935) (world steam speed record holder); A3 Pacific class 4-6-2 (1927); B17 Sandringham class 4-6-0 (1928); Sir Nigel Gresley CME
• GWR: Castle class 4-6-0 (1923); King class 4-6-0 (1927); Hallclass 4-6-0 (1928): Charles B. Collett CME
• SR: King Arthur class 4-6-0 (1925); Lord Nelson class 4-6-0 (1926); R.E.L. Maunsell CME

In addition to those mainly passenger locomotives, many new classes of freight engines were produced: the pannier tank locomotives of the GWR and the Garratt heavy freight 2-6-0+0-6-2 locomotive of the LNER (although the latter were not a huge success and only a few were built) being two examples.

Total length of the British railways at 1 January 1923 was 19,585 route miles (31,336 km). From the end of the 1920s, when it was obvious that the motor vehicle was in the ascendancy, dozens of little-used branch lines began to close: some to passenger traffic, many completely.

Although few railways were constructed, some new works were undertaken. Among them were:

• Station redevelopments (notably those at Manchester and Paddington)
• Lines to allow easier running - one example being those on the Isle of Thanet
• The Southern Railway began a programme of main-line electrification, which was to bring fast services to many of the south coast resorts, and to extend the London suburban routes.

Zweiter Weltkrieg und dessen Folgen

During World War II the railway companies' managements joined together, effectively becoming one company. The railways were used more heavily than at any time in their history during this period.

The railway system suffered heavy damage in some areas due to German Luftwaffe bombing, especially in cities such as London and Coventry. However this damage was not as extensive as it was in many other European countries such as France and Germany. This unwittingly worked to the railways' disadvantage, because in other European countries the damage to their railway systems had been so bad that it gave them an opportunity to essentially re-build their railway systems from scratch, and dramatically modernise them.

During the war very little was invested in the railways and they became increasingly run-down. With only essential maintenance work being carried out during the war, the maintenance backlog increased even further. Rolling stock also began to deteriorate. After the war, it was clear that the rail network could not be maintained in the private sector. According to a calculation by the Central Statistical Office during the period 1938-1953 the railways suffered a net disinvestment of £440 million (around £11 billion in 2005 prices)

Die vier großen Bahngesellschaften („The Big Four“)

London, Midland and Scottish Railway

The LMS claimed to be the world's largest joint stock organisation, the largest transport organisation, and the largest commercial undertaking in Europe (although they did not say on what basis), including the largest chain of hotels. In 1938, the LMS operated 6,870 route miles (11,056 km) of railway (excluding its lines in Northern Ireland). However, it was not very profitable, with a rate of return of only 2.7%.

The principal LMS trunk routes were the West Coast Main Line and the Midland Main Line, which linked London, the industrial Midlands and North-West of England, and Scotland. The railway's main business was the transport of freight between these major industrial centres, rather than passengers.

The early history of the LMS was dominated by infighting between its two largest constituents, the Midland and the North Western, previously two fierce rivals. Generally, the Midland way prevailed, with the adoption of many Midland practices, such as the livery of crimson lake for passenger locomotives and rolling stock as well as the continuation of the Midland Railway's small engine policy. The arrival of the new Chief Mechanical Engineer William Stanier heralded a change in the LMS, introducing new ideas rather than continuing with the company's internal conflict.

London and North Eastern Railway

The LNER, covered the arc of the country between north and east of London. This included the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh via York and Newcastle upon Tyne, as well as the routes from Edinburgh to Aberdeen and Inverness. It also included most of the country east of the Pennines was the LNER's, plus East Anglia. The total route mileage was 6590 miles (10,605 km). The LNER's main workshops were in Doncaster.

The LNER hauled more than one-third of Britain's coal, and derived two thirds of its income from freight services. Despite this, the main image that the LNER presented of itself was one of glamour, of fast trains and sophisticated destinations. The LNER's advertising campaign was highly sophisticated and advanced compared to those of its rivals. Top graphic designers and poster artists such as Tom Purvis were employed to promote its services and encourage the public to visit the holiday destinations of the east coast during the summer.

The first chief mechanical engineer of the LNER was Sir Nigel Gresley, who held the post for most of the LNER's life. He was noted for his "Big Engine" policy, and is best remembered for his large express passenger locomotives, many times the holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives. LNER Class A4 4-6-2 Pacific locomotive Mallard holds the land speed record for a steam locomotive to this day. Gresley died in office in 1941.

Great Western Railway

5034 Corfe Castle fresh from the Swindon works

The GWR was the only one of the big four to take its name from a predecessor. Its total route length was 3800 miles (6116 km), much of which had been built to handle the coal traffic from south Wales. Though this appeared to be a great coup for the GWR, the coal traffic declined significantly as the use of coal as a naval fuel declined, and within a decade the GWR was itself the largest single user of Welsh coal. The 1920s also saw the introduction of the GWR's most famous locomotives - the Castle and King classes developed by C. B. Collett. The 1930s brought hard times, and the records set by the Castles and Kings were surpassed by other companies, but the company remained in relatively good financial health despite the Depression.

In 1933, the Great Western Railway introduced the first of what was to become a successful series of railcars, which survived in regular until they were replaced by British Railways 1960s. The original design featured 'air-smoothed' bodywork, which was very much the fashion at the time. The rounded lines of the first examples built lead to their nickname of "flying banana". Later examples had much more angular (and practical) bodywork, yet the nickname persisted for these too.

Southern Railway

An SREMU that ended up as a BR Class 404

The Southern Railway was geographically the smallest of the Big Four, and had 2,186 route miles (3518 km). Confined to the south of England, it owned no track north of London. Unlike the rest of the Big Four, the Southern Railway was predominantly a passenger railway. Despite its small size it carried more than a quarter of the UK's total passenger traffic. This is because the area covered by the railway included many of the dense commuter lines around London, as well as serving some of the most densely populated parts of the country.

The Southern railway was particularly successful at promoting itself to the public. "Sunny South Sam" became a character fixed firmly in the public mind as embodying the service of the railway, whilst slogans such as "live in Kent and be content" encouraged commuters to move out from London, and thus further patronise the services offered by the railway.

The Southern Railway has a strong commitment to electrification. The intensively used commuter system in a relatively small geographical area made the Southern a natural candidate for electrification. After the Grouping, the LSWR's 660V DC third rail system was adopted for the whole region. LSWR metro area was initially electrified, soon followed by conversion LBSCR's 6.6kV AC Overhead electrified London Metro lines and then the SECR's metro lines around London in the 1920s. The 1930s saw mainline electrification of the Brighton Main Line and the Portsmouth Direct Line with associated several surround lines (such as the East and West Coastways). Outer suburban electrification was also extensive (eg to Gillignham, Maidstone, etc). Proposal existed for further to the Kent Coast but the war halted these plans. Originally, only electric multiple unit trains were used, but later electric locomotives and electro-diesel hybrids were developed.

During World War II, the Southern found itself at the front line. Before hostilities, 75% of SR traffic was passenger with just 25% being freight. During the War, roughly the same number of passengers was carried, but only made up 40% of total traffic - freight traffic had increased 4.5-fold. A shortage of freight locomotives was remedied by Chief Engineer Oliver Bulleid, who designed a 0-6-0 locomotive, the SR Class Q1. This was the largest 0-6-0 to operate in Britain, and forty of these transformed the Southern's ability to haul heavy freight.

Staatsbahn British Rail (1948 bis 1994)

The History of rail transport in Great Britain 1948 - 1994 covers the period when the British railway system was nationalised under British Rail (initially known as "British Railways").

Verstaatlichung

The Transport Act 1947 nationalised nearly all forms of mass transport in Great Britain, and came into effect on January 1 1948. The British Transport Commission (BTC) was formed to oversee the working of the Act. To manage the railways, the British Transport Commission Railway Executive, known as British Railways, was created.

Under the BTC's Railway Executive, the railways were organised into six regions:

• Eastern Region (ER) — southern LNER lines (region later amalgamated with the North Eastern Region)
• North Eastern Region (NER) — northern LNER lines in England and LMS lines east of Skipton (region later amalgamated with the Eastern Region)
• London Midland Region (LMR) — LMS lines in England and Wales excluding lines east of Skipton
• Scottish Region (ScR) — LMS and LNER lines in Scotland
• Southern Region (SR) — Southern Railway lines
• Western Region (WR) — Great Western Railway lines

Situation in den 1950er Jahren

In the post-war world, lifestyles underwent radical changes, cars became affordable to the masses, new roads and motorways were built. The railways on the other hand entered the post-war world with technologies and operating practices which had changed little since the Victorian era.

Before the war, the railway companies had formed a powerful political lobby group, but one effect of nationalisation was to effectively destroy this political influence (as they were owned by the government, they could hardly criticise its policies). Conversely the newly-privatised road haulage industry and motor interests were becoming increasingly powerful and influential over government transport policy, a trend which has dictated transport policies of every British government since.

In the immediate post-war period, most of the money spent on the railways went on clearing the enormous maintenance backlog inherited from the war effort. After that there was little left over for modernisation. At the start of the 1950s, British Railways were making a working profit, albeit a small one. However, Britain had fallen well behind the rest of Europe in terms of dieselisation and electrification of its railways. Further, under the Labour government there was a political incentive to avoid dieselisation because this would have meant a reduced demand for coal, which would have put miners out of work. The bureaucratic committee structure of the BTC and British Railways did not help matters: it slowed progress towards modernisation to a crawl.

Modernisierung

The modernisation plan was introduced in 1954, and intended to bring the railway system into the 20th century. The plan involved major projects of electrification and dieselisation of the existing network. However most railway historians now regard it as a costly failure and a missed opportunity. It failed to define what the railways were actually for; failed to take into account the impact that the motor car, road transport and a changing society would have upon the railway system; and attempted to perpetuate the railway system as it had been since the Victorian era, as if nothing had changed.

For example, massive investment was made in marshalling yards at a time when the small wagonload traffic which they dealt with was in steep decline and being lost rapidly to the roads. £85 million pounds (£1.6 billion in 2005 money) was spent on upgrading marshalling yards, many of which were closed only a few years later. The decline of wagonload traffic was exacerbated by the removal of some of BR's legal liabilities as a common carrier - 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. However, this did have associated cost savings in staff and infrastructure, as well as causing a significant reduction in the numbers of slow stopping freight trains, which increased network capacity.

Another element of the modernisation plan was the replacement of steam haulage with diesel and electric traction. However the dieselisation plans were rushed, and many classes of diesel locomotive were hurried into full-scale production before their prototypes had been fully tested. Predictably enough it turned out to be an expensive fiasco. Many of the new diesels were chronically unreliable, some so much so that they had to be withdrawn from service after just a few months of use, at enormous cost. This affair did little to bolster British Railways' reputation with the public or the government.

Theoretically, dieselisation would produce efficiency savings, because diesel locomotives were less labour-intensive than steam. However, the unreliability of many of the new diesels wiped out much of the potential savings.

The modernisation plan was hugely expensive, costing more than one billion pounds (over £10 billion in 2005 money), and failed to produce the hoped-for revival in rail traffic.

The Modernisation Plan called for extensive suburban electrification. In the Eastern region it called for electrification of many routes to the new standard of 25 kV AC OLE. These included the London, Tilbury and Southend (LTS) line; lines around Liverpool Street; extension of the Shenfield Metro (Great Eastern Main Line) electrification (recently installed at 1500v DC OLE) to Chelmsford and Southend Victoria (via Shenfield to Southend Line); the the Lea Valley Lines; and Kings Cross / Moorgate to Hitchin and Letchworth.

In the Scottish region electrification of large parts of the Glasgow Suburban was called for (again at 25 kV AC OLE), especially from Glasgow Central along the Cathcart Circle Lines and the Inverclyde Line; and from Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) along the North Clyde Line.

In the Southern Region the extensive third rail system was called to be extended. Initially through "Kent Coast" electrification building upon the outer suburban electrification that had reached Mid Kent in the inter-war years. Two stages were proposed, initially electrify the Chatham Main Line to Dover and Ramsgate, and secondly the lines to and around Ashford based upon the SER's main line.

In addition to the suburban electrification, main line electrification was called for, starting with the West Coast Main Line in the London Midland Region. This was done in stages from 1959. Initial electrification was between Crewe, Manchesterand Liverpool, with the line south to London Euston following in stages to 1967. The line from Weaver Junction (where the route to Liverpool diverges) to Glasgow was electrified in 1974.

Two serious crashes, the Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash in 1952 (in which 112 people died), and the Lewisham rail crash in 1957 (in which 90 people died) lead to the introduction of the Automatic Warning System across the network.

Die Beeching-Ära

The overgrown remains of Lilbourne station in Northamptonshire, one of thousands of rural stations which were closed by the Beeching Axe.

Datei:Beeching2.png

This is what the BR network would have looked like if the Beeching Axe II plans had been implemented (all lines except those bolded would have been closed

By 1960, the railway's performance was low, with a deficit of £68m. This increased to £87m in 1961, and still further to £104m in 1962 (over £1 billion in 2005 money). Under the Transport Act, 1962 , Harold Macmillan's Conservative government dissolved the British Transport Commission, and created the British Railways Board to take over its railway duties from 1 January 1963.

The railway's huge deficit meant that the government's patience with them ran out. In 1962 the transport minister Ernest Marples appointed Richard Beeching as head of British Railways with a brief to cut the spiralling losses. His report The Reshaping of British Railways issued in 1963, concluded that much of the railway network carried little traffic and should be closed down. His report proposed a massive closures programme which would involve 5,000 miles of track, and 2,363 small stations being closed, which came to be known as the Beeching axe. The report also proposed that British Rail electrify some major main lines and adopt containerized freight traffic instead of outdated and uneconomic wagon-load traffic. However, only some of those plans were adopted, such as the electrification of the West Coast Main Line.

The closures recommended by the report were mostly implemented. They peaked in the mid 1960s and continued until the early 1970s. By 1975, the system had shrunk to 12,000 miles (19 000 km) of track and 2000 stations. The closures failed to produce the hoped for savings, or to restore the railways to profitability.

In 1965, Dr. Beeching issued a second, less well-known, report The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes, widely known as "Beeching II", which singled out lines that were believed to be worthy of continued large-scale investment. . It proposed that all railway lines other than major inter-city routes and important commuter lines around big cities had little future and would eventually close. If the report had been implemented, the railway system would have been cut to just 7,000 miles (11,250 km), leaving Britain with little more than a skeletal railway system, with large parts of the country entirely devoid of railways.

As the last steam locomotives were withdrawn, the corporation's public name was re-branded in 1965 as British Rail (see British Rail brand names for a full history). This re-branding introduced the double-arrow logo to represent the industry as a whole; the standardised typeface (known as "Rail Alphabet") used for all communications and signs; and the "BR blue" livery, which was applied to nearly all locomotives and rolling stock.

1970er Jahre: HST und APT

The 1970s saw British Rail successfully introduced high speed diesel train services in 1976 with the InterCity 125 High Speed Train (HST), on some services, and adoption of the InterCity brand. This created an increase in passengers using the railways and improved British Rail's finances. British Rail also started development of the world's first tilting train - the Advanced Passenger Train (APT). However, lack of money, political pressure, and the launch of the prototype into passenger service before technical problems were fully overcome lead to the project being cancelled in the early 1980s.

The major engineering works of BR were split-off into a separate company, British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL), in 1970. This was subsequently split further, becoming British Rail Maintenance Limited (BRML), whose ownership was retained by British Rail; and British Rail Engineering (1988) Limited, which was prepared for privatisation. The latter went through a series of owners, mergers and take-overs, and now resides with Canadian transport company Bombardier.

In 1973, the TOPS computer system for managing locomotives and rolling stock owned by a rail system, was introduced. Hauled rolling stock continued to carry numbers in a separate series. The adoption of the TOPS system made for some changes in the way the railway system in Britain worked. Hitherto, locomotives were numbered in three different series. Steam locomotives carried unadorned numbers up to five digits long. Diesel locomotives carried four-digit numbers prefixed with a letter 'D', and electric locomotives with a letter 'E'. Thus, up to three locomotives could carry the same number. TOPS could not handle this, and it also required similar locomotives to be numbered in a consecutive series in terms of classification, in order that they might be treated together as a group.

Intercity 125 HST

Prototype High Speed Train

The InterCity 125 was planned as a stop gap measure, meant to fill until electrification was spread across all main lines, and the Advanced Passenger Train (APT) was in service. Research had begun for the tilting but it was not possible to predict when the APT would enter service. The HST applied what had been learned so far to traditional technology - a parallel project to the APT development, based on conventional principles but incorporating the newly discovered knowledge of wheel/rail interaction and suspension design. The class holds the world record for diesel traction, achieving 148.4 mph (238 km/h) with a shortened set running speed trials between Darlington and York. Unlike the APT, the InterCity 125 was an outstanding success, and is still in widespread use in 2007.

The HST was introduced from 1976 on the Great Western Main Line between London and Bristol/South Wales, at a time when the maximum speed of British trains was 100 mph (160 km/h). A radical update of the standard BR livery was complemented by the 'InterCity 125' branding which also appeared on timetables and promotional literature. By May 1977 the full complement was in service on the GWML and they completely replaced locomotive hauled trains on the Bristol / South Wales routes.

Production continued, allowing the Intercity 125s to take over routes on the East Coast Main Line from 1977. They soon displaced the Deltics to lesser workings and reduced the journey time to Edinburgh by up to an hour. The HSTs also took over routes on other West of England services from 1979, Cross-Country express trains from 1981 and finally the Midland Main Line services.

The increased speed and rapid acceleration and deceleration slashed journey times around the country. BR enjoyed a boom in patronage on the routes operated by the HSTs, and InterCity's profits jumped accordingly - with cross-subsidisation in turn safeguarding the future of rural routes which had been under threat of closure since the Beeching Axe of the 1960s.

Advanced Passenger Train

Prototype Advanced Passenger Train

British Rail developed the world's first tilting train - The Advanced Passenger Train (APT). The object of the tilt was to minimise the discomfort to passengers caused by taking the curves of the West Coast Main Line at high speed. The APT also included hydrokinetic brakes, which enabled the train to stop from 150mph within existing signal spacings.

The introduction into service of the Advanced Passenger Train was to be a three-stage project. Phase 1, the development of an experimental APT (APT-E), was completed. The APT-E used a gas turbine-electric locomotive, the only multiple unit so powered that was used by British Rail. It was formed of two power cars (numbers PC1 and PC2), initially with nothing between them, and later two trailer cars (TC1 and TC2). . The cars were made of aluminium to reduce the weight of the unit, and were articulated. The use of a gas turbine was dropped from development, due to excessive noise of the turbine and the high fuel costs of the late 1970s. . The APT-E first ran on 25 July 1971. The train drivers' union, ASLEF black-listed the train due to the use of a single driver. The train was moved to the works at Derby (with the aid of a locomotive inspector). This triggered a one day strike by ASLEF that cost BR more than the research budget for the entire year. .

Phase 2, the introduction of three prototype trains (APT-P) into revenue service on the Glasgow - London route, did occur. Originally, there were to have been eight APT-P sets running, with minimal differences between them and the main fleet. However, financial constraints lead to only three being authorised, after two years of discussion by the British Railways Board. The cost was split equally between the Board and the Ministry of Transport. After these delays, considerable pressure grew to put the APT-P into revenue-service before they were fully ready. This inevitably lead to high-profile failures as a result of technical problems.

These failures lead to the trains being withdrawn from service while the problems were ironed out. However, by this time, managerial and political support has evaporated. Consequently, phase 3, the introduction of the Squadron fleet (APT-S), did not occur, and the project was ended in 1982.

Although the APT never properly entered service, the experience gained enabled the construction of other high speed trains. The APT powercar technology was imported without the tilt into the design of the Class 91 locomotives, and the tilting technology was incorporated into Italian State Railway's Pendolino trains, which first entered service in 1987.

1980er Jahre: Aufteilung in Sektoren

In the 1980s the regions of BR were abolished and the system sectorised into five sectors. The passenger sectors were InterCity (express services), Network SouthEast (London commuter services) and Regional Railways (regional services). Trainload Freight took trainload freight, Railfreight Distribution took non-trainload freight, Freightliner took intermodal traffic and Rail Express Systems took parcels traffic. The maintenance and remaining engineering works were split off into a new company, BRML (British Rail Maintenance Limited). The new sectors were further subdivided into divisions. This ended the "BR blue" 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.

"Networker" in Network SouthEast livery.

In the early 1980s, under the government of Margaret Thatcher, the possibility of more Beeching-style cuts was raised again briefly. In 1983 Sir David Serpell, a civil servant who had worked with Dr Beeching, compiled what became known as the Serpell Report which called for more rail closures. The report was met with fierce resistance from many quarters, and it was quickly abandoned.

"Super sprinter" in Regional Railways livery

The rolling stock of BR was becoming increasingly obsolete and near the end of its life. An attempt at a cheap DMU replacement was made with the "Pacers" - essentially modified bus bodies placed upon a fixed wheel freight wagon wheelbase, which met with customer dissatisfaction. However more successful stock such as the 'Sprinters' DMU and Networkers (DMUs and EMUs) were introduced.

To considerable surprise the Thatcher government, which had been perceived as anti-rail, carried out the electrification of the East Coast Main Line from 1985, with the work completed in 1990. At a regional level, the New Network SouthEast introduced extensive new stock, in the form of Networkers (DMUs and EMUs). It also conducted numerous electrification projects; including the Midland Main Line to Bedford ("Bedpan"), and the Southern 750 V DC system reached Hastings and Weymouth. Thameslink, a service that connected the northern and southern halves of London's suburban network, was introduced via the re-opened Snow Hill tunnel in 1988. The Chiltern Main Line was extensively modernised to open up an additional link between London (Marylebone) and Birmingham Snow Hill Station. The service was successfully launched in 1987.

Der Unfall von Clapham Junction und dessen Folgen

Datei:Clapham Junction Railway Accident - Hidden Report cover - HMSO.jpg

Clapham Junction Accident report cover

In 1988, the Clapham Junction rail crash killed 35 people when three commuter trains collided, the worst railway accident in Britain in 30 years. The recommendations of the subsequent inquiry had far-reaching effects.

The inquiry was chaired by QC Anthony Hidden, and published a report in September 1989. It found that the direct cause of the disaster was sloppy work practices in which an old wire, incorrectly left in place after rewiring work and still connected at the supply end, created a false feed to a signal relay, thereby causing its signal to show green when it should have shown red. A contributing technical factor was the lack of double switching in the signal relay circuits, which would have prevented a single false feed causing an accident.

The inquiry recommended the introduction of the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, although it is not certain this would have prevented accident. (ATP guards against driver error, not installation error). Following the Clapham Junction accident and two other fatal accidents in early 1989, British Rail was keen to implement the ATP system across the entire British railway network. However, the cost (estimated at over £1bn) was baulked at by the Conservative government, who were preparing the company for privatisation. In the end, two different proprietary systems were trialled, TBL on the Great Western Main Line and SELCAB on the Chiltern Main Line, but neither system was rolled-out across the network. Today, all First Great Western's HSTs are fitted with ATP, and are not permitted to carry passengers unless the system is functioning.

The accident also highlighted the relatively poor crashworthiness of the rolling stock, which was all of BR's Mark 1 design, dating from 1950. The carriages' superstructures detached from their underframes on impact and disintegrated in the collision. Following the inquiry's recommendations, the use of Mark 1 stock ended on the main line, and their use on low-speed commuter lines was gradually phased out. (Although some Mark 1 -based multiple units were still around as late as 2005, some 17 years later.)

1990 bis 1994: Das Ende von British Rail

The first half of the 1990s were dominated by the privatisation of British Rail by the government of John Major. The privatisation was the result of the Railways Act 1993, and the operations of the British Railways Board (BRB) were broken up and sold off. (Some "non-core" parts of the BRB's operations, such as its hotels, had already been disposed of by the administration of Margaret Thatcher as early as the first years of the 1980s.)

In 1990 Margaret Thatcher was replaced by John Major as Prime Minister. The Thatcher administration had already sold off nearly all the former state-owned industries, apart from the national rail network. In its manifesto for the 1992 General Election the Conservatives included a commitment to privatise the railways, but were not specific about details. They unexpectedly won the election on 9 April 1992, and consequently had to develop a plan to carry out the privatisation before the Railways Bill was published the next year. The management of British Rail strongly advocated privatisation as one entity, a British Rail Plc in effect. John Major favoured the resurrection of something like the "Big Four" companies that had existed before 1948. The Treasury advocated the creation of seven, later 25, passenger railway franchises as a way of maximising revenue. The Treasury view prevailed.

The Railways Bill established a complex structure for the rail industry. British Rail was broken up into over 100 separate companies. There were some regulatory mechanisms: contracts for the use of railway facilities must be approved or directed by the Office of Rail Regulation, although some facilities are exempt from this requirement. Contracts between the principal passenger train operators and the state are called "franchise agreements", which specify minimum service levels, and the amount of subsidy / premium to be paid over the course of the franchise. Franchises were first the responsibility of the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF), then its successor the Strategic Rail Authority and now with the Secretary of State for Transport. Initially, British Rail was broken up into various units frequently based on its own organisational sectors, still controlled by the British Railways Board, but which were sold off over the next few years.

The passage of the Railways Bill was controversial. The public was unconvinced of the virtues of rail privatisation and there was much lobbying against the Bill. The Labour Party was implacably opposed to it and promised to renationalise the railways when they got back into office as and when resources allowed (which in effect meant never).

The Railways Bill became the Railways Act 1993 on 5 November 1993, and the organisational structure dictated by it came into effect on 1 April 1994.

Reprivatisierung (nach 1995)

Privatisierung unter der Labour-Regierung

The Labour government (elected in 1997 after the majority of the privatisation process had been completed) reneged on its earlier commitment to keep the railways in the public sector. Instead, it left the new structure in place, even completing the privatisation process with the last remaining sales. Its one innovation in the early years was the creation of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), initially in shadow form until the Transport Act 2000 received Royal Assent.

In the wake of the Hatfield rail crash in 2000, Railtrack entered into financial meltdown and the industry was in deep crisis. Railtrack was put into Railway Administration in 2001 and a new company, Network Rail emerged to replace Railtrack in 2002. Network Rail is a nominally private "not for dividend" company. However, its borrowing is backed by the government (which allowed better interest rates on loans), so its status is a confusing one.

The Strategic Rail Authority lasted just five years. Following the passing of the Railways Act 2005 its business was wound up and its functions transferred to the Department for Transport Rail Group and the Office for Rail Regulation. [1] Further changes have followed, which has seen the government take back a greater degree of control, but the early demise of the SRA, which was its creation, suggests that the situation is still in flux and the right formula for the long-term health of the rail industry has not yet been found.

Another important development occurred in the aftermath of the Potters Bar accident in May 2002 when a commuter train derailed (ironically on the same stretch of the East Coast Main Line as Hatfield) due to poorly maintained points. This resulted in Network Rail taking all track maintenance back in house, and the industry went on to enjoy the longest period in modern times without a fatal accident due to industry error. This came to an end in February 2007 when a Virgin Pendolino derailed near Grayrigg in Cumbria, killing one person. The cause of the accident was identical to that in Potters Bar nearly five years earlier - once again calling into question Network Rail's maintenance procedures.

Aktuelle Entwicklungen

The British railway system continues to be developed. Contemporary projects include:

• The Channel Tunnel Rail Link, a project to construct a 108-km high-speed rail line from London to the British end of the Channel Tunnel, and involving a great deal of complex civil engineering including a 1.2-km bridge over the River Medway, a 3 km tunnel under the Thames near Dartford, a 3.2-km tunnel through the North Downs, 19-km twin tunnels running into central London, a major new railway station extension to St Pancras Station in London, and a complex redesign and rebuild of the King's Cross St Pancras tube station. The southern phase 1 of the project opened in September 2003, and phase 2 is due to be completed in 2007.
• The West Coast Main Line upgrade is a long-term project covering a series of technical aspects. Improvements include the four-tracking (from three) of the Trent Valley (a bypass of the West Midlands), redesigning the layout of several junction/station eg Rugby and other associated work to increase line speed. This culminated in tilting trains at 125 mph being extended to Glasgow in 2005. Work continues and the cost overruns of the programme are infamous - attributed to wide scope of programme (the promise to Virgin to build a 140 mph railway which would require moving bloc signalling) and poor project management by the defunct Railtrack.
• Scotland
  • The Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway, a rare 21-km extension to the network, to the north of the Firth of Forth in Scotland. A Bill for the railway was passed by the Scottish Parliament and received Royal Assent in August 2004. Work is expected to commence in September 2005, with services running by Spring 2007. The line re-establishes a railway decommissioned in 1983; the new line will provide passenger connections to Glasgow, and freight links between the site of Kincardine power station, now used as a loading point for coal from open-cast sites, to avoid heavy traffic through Kincardine, and Longannet power station, and the coal terminals at Hunterston Deep Water Port. There has been recent doubt about the project as Longannet power station was due to close in 2015, and would have been operating for reduced hours before then, to meet emissions targets. However the present shortage of generating capacity has caused this to be reviewed, and full operation of the power station will continue. The passenger part of the scheme, from Stirling to Alloa was in any case secure, and the Scottish Parliament appear to be in favour of passenger services being extended to Rosyth, which is an important ferry terminal. This could possibly result in passenger stations serving the communities of Clackmannan, Kincardine, and Culross or Valleyfield, and through trains once more from Stirling to Dunfermline.
  • A short extension of the Glasgow-Hamilton-Motherwell, which once again links Larkhall to the railway network after 40 years. Larkhall has for some time been the largest town in Scotland without a railway station. The new £35m line follows an existing formation, and services to Larkhall railway station resumed on 12 December 2005. [2]. The new section of route is electrified and is served with trains from Dalmuir, via Glasgow Central Low Level, with connections from other northern suburbs of Glasgow such as Milngavie.
  • Plans for re-opening of the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link are currently with the Scottish Parliament for consideration, initial indications are that it will succeed. The Airdrie-Bathgate proposal is quite extensive insofar as it proposes double track electrification, the present remnant of the line from just outside Edinburgh to Bathgate having been largely singled some time ago.
  • A proposal for re-opening of the Waverley Route from Edinburgh to the Borders has been passed by the Scottish Parliament. This plan falls slightly short of what some people want, such as certain intermediate stations and longer passing loops, to allow more communities to be served while maintaining or improving the end to end timings.
  • The Glasgow Airport Rail Link was given the final go ahead by the Scottish Parliament in December 2006. A new 1.5 mile spur will be built onto the existing Inverclyde route, and the Glasgow Central - Paisley line will be upgraded to triple track, with the additional benefit of increasing capacity on the Ayrshire and Inverclyde routes. It is expected to be open by the end of 2009.
  • Progress on the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link remains stalled. The proposed route involves tunnelling under Ingilston Park and the airport campus, with politicians baulking at the high costs involved, and technical concerns of running diesel trains through such a long tunnel.

Literatur

• Hadfield, Charles. and Skempton, A. W.: William Jessop, Engineer. M.& M.Baldwin, Newton Abbot 1979, ISBN 0-7153-7603-9. 
• R.B. Schofield: Benjamin Outram, 1764-1805: An Engineering Biography. Merton Priory Press, Cardiff 2000, ISBN 1-898937-42-7. 
• P.J.G. Ransom: The Victorian Railway and How It Evolved. William Heinemann, London 1989, ISBN 0-434-98083-8. 
• G. Stansfield: Ayrshire & Renfrewshire's Lost Railways. Stenlake Publishing, Catrine 1999, ISBN 1-84033-077-5. 
• The History of the Railway in Britain. In: Historic Herefordshire Online. Abgerufen am 24. November 2006. 
• The Old Times - History of the Locomotive. Abgerufen am 24. November 2006. 
• C.F. Dendy Marshall: The Rainhill Locomotive Trials of 1829. In: Transactions of the Newcomen Society. 9. Jahrgang, 1929. 
• Steven Dowd: The Liverpool & Manchester Railway. In: Journal of the International Bond & Share Society. Mai 1999 (n-le-w.co.uk [abgerufen am 24. November 2006]). 
• The Broad Gauge Story. In: Journal of the Monmouthshire Railway Society. (orpheusweb.co.uk [abgerufen am 24. November 2006]). 

General

• Francis Whishaw: The Railways of Great Britain and Ireland. David and Charles, Newton Abbott 1842, (1969 Reprint): ISBN 0-7153-4786-1. 
• Stanley Hall: Railway Detectives: The 150-year Saga of the Railway Inspectorate. Ian Allen Ltd, 28. September 1990, ISBN 0-7110-1929-0. 
• Science Museum: The Pre-grouping Railways: Their Development and Individual Characters: Part 1. The Stationery Office Books, London 1972, ISBN 0-11-290153-0. 
• Christine Heap and John Van Riemsdijk: The Pre-grouping Railways: Their Development and Individual Characters: Part 2. The Stationery Office Books, London 1980, ISBN 0-11-290309-6. 
• Christine Heap and John Van Riemsdijk: The Pre-grouping Railways: Their Development and Individual Characters: Part 3. The Stationery Office Books, London 1985, ISBN 0-11-290432-7. 
• P.J.G. Ransom: The Victorian Railway and How It Evolved. William Heinemann, London 1989, ISBN 0-434-98083-8. 
• (No Author): British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer. 5th Edition Auflage. Ian Allan, Shepperton 1980, ISBN 0-7110-0320-3. 

English Railways

• C.R. Clinker: The Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway. Dugdale Society, 1956, ISBN 0-85220-009-9. 
• W. Rayner Thrower: The Great Northern Main Line. Oakwood Press, 1984, ISBN 0-85361-297-8. 
• E.T. MacDermot: History of the Great Western Railway Volume One 1833-1863. Hrsg.: ed. C.R. Clinker. Ian Allen, 1972, ISBN 0-7110-0411-0. 
• E.T. MacDermot: History of the Great Western Railway Volume Two 1863-1921. Hrsg.: ed. C.R. Clinker. Ian Allen, 1973, ISBN 0-7110-0412-9. 
• Michael Blakemore: The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. Ian Allan, 1984, ISBN 0-7110-1401-9. 
• Noel Coates: 150 Years of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway. Hawkshill Publishing, 1997. 
• David Gould: The London & Birmingham Railway 150 Years on. David & C, 20. Juli 1987, ISBN 0-7153-8968-8. 
• London and North Western Railway Society: History of the LNWR. Abgerufen am 24. November 2006. 
• The Midland Counties Railway: 1839-1989. Midland Railway Trust, 1989. 
• Ellis, C. Hamilton: The Midland Railway. Ian Allan Ltd, 1953. 
• Peter Truman and David Hunt: Midland Railway Portrait. Platform 5 Publishing, 1989, ISBN 0-906579-72-4. 
• Derbyshire Record Society: The Nottingham and Derby Railway Companion (1839). R. Allen, 1979, ISBN 0-9505940-4-0. 
• Robin Atthill: Somerset & Dorset Railway. David & Charles, 1967, ISBN 0-7153-4312-2. 
• O.S. Nock: The South Eastern & Chatham Railway. Ian Allen, 1961, ASIN B0000CL61F. 
• South Eastern & Chatham Railway Society: A Potted history of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway. Abgerufen am 24. November 2006. 

Scottish Railways

• Nock, O.S.: The Caledonian Railway. Ian Allan, London 1963. 
• Nock, O.S. and Cross, Derek: Main Lines Across the Border. Revised in 1982 Auflage. Ian Allan, Shepperton 1960, ISBN 0-7110-1118-4. 
• C.J.A. Robertson: The Origins of the Scottish Railway System: 1722 - 1844. John Donald Publishers, Edinburgh 1983, ISBN 0-85976-088-X. 
• Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey: A History of the Great North of Scotland Railway. (reprint of 1950 edition published by Locomotive Publishing) Auflage. Ian Allan, 1998, ISBN 0-7110-2592-4. 
• H.A.Vallance: History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands: Highland Railway. House of Lochar, 1996, ISBN 1-899863-07-9. 
• John Thomas: The North British Railway Vol 1 (1844-1879). David & Charles, 1969, ISBN 0-7153-4697-0. 
• John Thomas: The North British Railway Vol 1 (1879-1922). David & Charles, 1975, ISBN 0-7153-6699-8. 
• Great North of Scotland Railway Association. Abgerufen am 24. November 2006. 

• R. Tourret: GWR Engineering Work, 1928-1938. Tourret Publishing,, 2003, ISBN 0-905878-08-6. 
• O.S. Nock: History of the Great Western Railway Volume Three 1923-48. Ian Allen, 1967, ISBN 0-7110-0304-1. 
• O.S. Nock: A History of the LMS. Vol. 1: The First Years, 1923-1930. George Allen & Unwin, 1982, ISBN 0-04-385087-1. 
• O.S. Nock: A History of the LMS. Vol. 2: The Record Breaking 'Thirties, 1931-1939. George Allen & Unwin, 1982, ISBN 0-04-385093-6. 

• David Henshaw: The Great Railway Conspiracy: The Fall and Rise of Britain's Railways Since the 1950s. 2nd ed. Leading Edge Press, Hawes, North Yorkshire 1994, ISBN 0-9481-3530-1. 
• Terry Gourvish: British Rail: 1974-97: From Integration to Privatisation. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2002, ISBN 0-19-926909-2. 
• Geoffrey Body: Advanced Passenger Train: The official illustrated account of British Rail's revolutionary new 155mph train. Avon-Anglia Publications & Services, Weston-super-Mare 1981, ISBN 0-905466-37-3. 
• Hugh Williams: APT: A Promise Unfulfilled. Ian Allan, London 1985, ISBN 0-7110-1474-4. 
• Stephen Potter: On the Right Lines?: The limits of technological innovation. Frances Pinter, London 1987, ISBN 0-86187-580-X. 
• British Railways Board history. The National Archives, abgerufen am 25. November 2006. 

• Christian Wolmar: On the Wrong Line: How Ideology and Incompetence Wrecked Britain's Railways. rev. ed. Aurum Press, London 2005, ISBN 1-85410-998-7. 

Siehe auch

• Schienenverkehr in Großbritannien