Gavin Mackay

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• History of British Rail

• Gavin Mackay
• March 8, 2007
• Korean Railroad Research Institute Academy

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The Beginning

• 1550 German rail use for wagon train
• 1674 Britain (Northumberland)
• 1776 Iron rails (L shaped)
• 1789 Flanged wheels

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Steam Power

• 300 BC Hero temple doors

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Steam Power (continued)

• 1698 Thomas Savery of the UK for pumping water
  out of mines ( 1 efficiency)

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Steam Power (continued)

• James Watt more efficient engine using condenser

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Steam Power (continued)

• 1804 Richard Trevithick created first steam
  locomotive
• - Pulled 10 tons of iron 70 people and 5
  empty wagons
• 9 mile journey (2 hours)

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Steam Power (continued)

• 1813 George Stephenson built his first steam
  locomotive
• 1829 George Stephenson his son built the
  Rocket which won a speed pulling and endurance
  test of Liverpool and Manchester railway

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Early Public Railway

• Owner operated, public subscription, unrealistic
  and fraudulent schemes had to be protected by
  Acts of parliament
• 1758 First act of Middleton to Leeds (private
  coal owners wagon way)
• 1799 First act for public use
• Wandsworth to Croydon in South London (horse
  drawn for freight only and lasted until 1845)
• 1807 Oystermouth railway horse drawn passenger
  train

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Railway Company Expansion

• 1805 Stockton and Darlington railway
• 1830 Liverpool and Manchester (great
  experimental)
• 1837 Canterbury and Whitstable (6 miles in
  lengthclosed in 1952)
• Leeds and Selby railway
• 1837 London and Birmingham
• 1837 Grand junction and other branch lines
  followed, such as Liverpool London growing into
  the London Birmingham and North Western Railway
  (within 50 years the L NWR (London North West
  Railway) was to become the biggest stock Company
  in the world).

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Railway Mania

• 1837 1845 Financial success
• Also spread of companies
• Over 1,000 projected schemes put forward
• 1845 Government announces closure for
  depositing schemes

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Battle of Gauges

• Stephenson (1,435 mm) vs. Brunel (2,140)
• Stephenson Brunel

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Mergers Acquisitions

• 1845 1923 100s of companies gradually became
  these 16 companies
• Great Central Railway South Eastern Chatham
  Railway
• Great Eastern Railway Glasgow South Western
  Railway
• Great Northern Railway London North Western
  Railways
• Great Western Railway London South Western
  Railways
• North Eastern Railway Lancashire Yorkshire
  Railways
• Highland Railway London Brighton South Coast
  Railway
• Midland Railway Great North of Scotland Railway
• Caledonian Railway North British Railway

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The Grouping Era

• 1923 1947 Effect of Government takeover
  during World War I
• Common Carrier Problem
• London Midlands and Scottish Railway (LMS)
• Great Western Railway (GWR)
• London North Eastern Railway (LNER)
• Southern Railway (SR)

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The Grouping Era (continued)

• LMSR took over 10,316 locomotives of 393
  different classes
• 1923 track miles 31,336 km
• Rationalization and Restock with new locomotives
  (Flying Scotsman)

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• The Flying Scotsman

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The Grouping Era (continued)

• Closures of dozens of little used branch lines
• 1938 1953 Net disinvestment of about 20
  billion dollars (2005 prices)

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Nationalisation 1947

• British railways created with six regions
• 1. Eastern Region
• 2. North Eastern Region
• 3. London Midland Region
• 4. Scottish Region
• 5. Southern Region
• 6. Western Region

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Nationalisation (continued)

• 50s Modernisation Marshalling yards,
  Dieselisation, electrification
• Cost about 20 billion dollars (2005 rates)
• ?60s Beeching calls for closure of 5,000 miles
  of track, 2,363 small stations
• - Very unpopular and did not improve
  profitability

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Nationalisation (continued)

• 70s Introduction of high speed diesel train with
  Intercity 125 High Speed Train (increase in
  passengers and finances)
• Tilting train development
• Advanced Passenger train fails

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Nationalisation (continued)

• 80s More re-organisation into new sectors
• Intercity (express services)
• Network Southeast (London commuter services)
• Regional Railways (regional services)
• Trainload freight took over trainload freight

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Nationalisation (continued)

• Railfreight Distribution took non-trainload
  freight
• Freightliner took internodal traffic
• Rail express systems took parcels traffic
• British rail maintenance and remaining
  engineering works were split off into new company
  British rail maintenance limited

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Nationalisation (continued)

• 90s Report asking for further closers rejected
  by parliament

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Privatisation

• 1993 Privatisation by the conservative
  government and continued by the Labour
  government.
• - Railtrack take over with heavy sponsorship
  from government
• 2000 Hatfield crash financial meltdown
  Railtrack finished in 2001
• 2002 Network rail takeover
• Network rail nominally private not for divided
  company
• Borrowing backed by government

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For the Future

• High speed link London to Chunnel

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For the Future

• Redesign railway station Kings Cross and St.
  Pancras
• West Coast mainline upgrade 200kph to Glasgow
• In Scotland re-introduction of lines
  decommissioned in 1983 and 1965 and 2 more being
  processed through the Scottish Parliament

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Conclusion

• Britain led the world as the pioneer of Railway
  but weak bureaucracy and changes in the world
  economy have resulted in a far from perfect
  service

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• THE END