| Postcards of the Past |
| Some Notes on Former British Railway Companies |
| On 1st January 1948, Britain's railways were taken into public ownership under the auspices of British Railways. Nationalisation lasted until the late 1990s when the railways were once again privatised. In 1947, there were four major rail companies, the "Big Four", viz the Great Western Railway (GWR) : the Southern Railway (SR) : the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) : and the London and North-Eastern Railway (LNER). These companies had been formed as a result of the Railways Act 1921, in a process known as "The Grouping", which came into effect on 1 January 1923. In turn, each of the "Big Four" was built by amalgamating many smaller companies. As well as the British Rail regions, our train postcards bear the names of the Big Four and of many of the smaller companies. We have listed below the companies which were amalgamated into the Big Four in 1923, whilst you will find that our postcards are on four pages, one for each of the Big Four. |
| London and North Eastern Railway Great Eastern Railway Great Central Railway Great Northern Railway Great North of Scotland Railway Hull and Barnsley Railway North British Railway North Eastern Railway |
| London, Midland and Scottish Railway London and North Western Railway Midland Railway Caledonian Railway Highland Railway Glasgow & South Western Railway North Staffordshire Railway Furness Railway There were also a couple of dozen smaller companies which were absorbed into the LMS. |
| Southern Railway London and South Western Railway (LSWR) London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) South Eastern Railway London, Chatham and Dover Railway In addition there were about 20 smaller companies - for example, the Isle of Wight Railway - included in the amalgamation |
| Great Western Railway Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway Shrewsbury and Chester Railway South Wales Railway West Midlands Railway Bristol and Exeter Railway South Devon Railway Cornwall Railway Rhymney Railway Taff Vale Railway Cambrian Railway Midland & S W Junction Rwy |
| We would like to recommend the books below which you may purchase by clicking on the relevant advertisement. |
| Search the internet for more about Britain's Railways. |
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| I have to thank an old school friend with whom I used to collect engine numbers in the 1940s and 50s (and who wishes not to be named here !) for scanning a large number of his train postcards collection and emailing them to me for inclusion in these pages. Cheers J, it brought back a lot of happy memories ! |
