A Step Forward - Revision of Regional Boundaries

Resource Type: Image | Posted on 7th November 2011 by Liam Physick

This pamphlet, issued by British Railways, deals with the revision of its regional boundaries in 1958. When the railways in Great Britain were nationalised in 1948, BR was divided into six regions, roughly corresponding to the “Big Four” railway companies which preceded it: the Eastern Region (incorporating the lines of the former London and North Eastern Railway south of the Shaftholme Junction in Doncaster), the North Eastern Region (LNER lines in England north of the Shaftholme Junction), the London Midland Region (London, Midland and Scottish Railway lines in England), the Scottish Region (previously services in Scotland had been run either by the LMS or the LNER), the Southern Region (the former Southern Railway) and the Western Region (the former Great Western Railway). Meanwhile, the LMS’s Northern Counties Committee services in Northern Ireland were sold to the devolved government at Stormont, and became part of the Ulster Transport Authority in 1949. In 1958, the boundaries were drawn to reflect geography rather than the pre-nationalisation state of affairs. Thus, London Midland lost Yorkshire lines to the Eastern and North Eastern Regions, and lines in the South East to the Western Region, while gaining Eastern Region lines outside Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. In 1967, the North Eastern Region was absorbed into the Eastern Region (thus creating a region that approximated to the former LNER in England). In the 1980s, the regions were abolished altogether and replaced by sectors which were based on business operations (e.g. InterCity for express passenger services) rather than geography: this remained the case up until privatisation

Tagged under: british rail, london midland and scottish railway, great western railway, privatisation, london and north eastern railway, southern railway, northern counties committee, big four

Categorised under: Work & Industry