British Rail

Resource Type: Image | Posted on 10th May 2011 by Jenny Porter

Here, a diesel-electric locomotive, with the well-known British Rail emblem, is on a siding, in front of some buffers. British Railways (BR) was created in 1948 when the railways were nationalised, replacing the “Big Four”: as of 1st January 1965, it traded as British Rail. It was originally the business name of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission (BTC), and included all railways in Great Britain except industrial railways, narrow-gauge railways, light railways, the Liverpool Overhead Railway, non-railway-owned tramways, the London Underground (nationalised separately as the BTC’s London Transport Executive), the Glasgow Underground (already owned by Glasgow Corporation) and the Bicester Military Railway (already nationalised). In 1953, the Railway Executive was abolished, and the BTC took direct control of BR: from 1962, BR became an independent company, the British Railways Board. The BR era was notable for the replacement of steam locomotives by diesel and electric ones between 1955 and 1968 - the locomotive in the picture, being diesel-electric, epitomises this change - and for the mass closure of railway lines, known as the Beeching Axe, after Dr. Richard Beeching, the chairman of the BR Board, who proposed them. The company also ran a shipping arm, Sealink, which was privatised in 1984. BR itself was privatised between 1994 and 1997, and now a number of franchises control different parts of the rail network

British Rail

Tagged under: steam locomotives, british rail, diesel locomotives, sidings, beeching axe, electric locomotives, liverpool overhead railway, privatisation, modernisation plan, diesel-electric locomotives

Categorised under: Landmarks, Landscapes & Locomotives

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By Dennis Flood on 2nd June 2015

This is a photograph of an English Electric Type 4 diesel locomotive - also known as a Class 40.
This photograph was taken at Edge Hill Holding Sidings - situated on the site of the former Edge Hill Shed Coaling Stage and `Coal Hole`.

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