Years in rail transport |
Timeline of railway history |
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1966.
The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest mixed-traffic railway routes in Europe, carrying a mixture of intercity rail, regional rail, commuter rail and rail freight traffic. The core route of the WCML runs from London to Glasgow for 399 miles (642 km) and was opened from 1837 to 1869. With additional lines deviating to Northampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh, this totals a route mileage of 700 miles (1,127 km). The Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line connects the WCML to Edinburgh. However, the main London–Edinburgh route is the East Coast Main Line. Several sections of the WCML form part of the suburban railway systems in London, Coventry, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow, with many more smaller commuter stations, as well as providing links to more rural towns.
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railways into four. The companies merged into the LMS included the London and North Western Railway, the Midland Railway, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, several Scottish railway companies, and numerous other, smaller ventures.
InterCity was introduced by British Rail in 1966 as a brand-name for its long-haul express passenger services.
The InterCity 225 is an electric high speed train in the United Kingdom, comprising a Class 91 electric locomotive, nine Mark 4 coaches and a Driving Van Trailer (DVT). The Class 91 locomotives were built by British Rail Engineering Limited's Crewe Works as a spin-off from the Advanced Passenger Train project, which was abandoned during the 1980s, whilst the coaches and DVT were constructed by Metro-Cammell in Birmingham and Breda in Italy, again borrowing heavily from the Advanced Passenger Train. The trains were designed to operate at up to 140 mph (225 km/h) in regular service, but are limited to 125 mph (200 km/h) principally due to a lack of cab signalling and the limitations of the current overhead line equipment. They were introduced into service between 1989 and 1991 for intercity services on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) from London King's Cross to Leeds, York and Edinburgh.
Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson, it traded from 1854 until 1966. The company exported locomotives, and machine tools to service them, throughout the world.
The Derby Works comprised a number of British manufacturing facilities designing and building locomotives and rolling stock in Derby, England. The first of these was a group of three maintenance sheds opened around 1840 behind Derby station. This developed into a manufacturing facility called the Midland Railway Locomotive Works, known locally as "the loco" and in 1873 manufacturing was split into locomotive and rolling stock manufacture, with rolling stock work transferred to a new facility, Derby Carriage & Wagon Works.
The Windermere branch line, also called the Lakes line, is a branch railway line which runs from Oxenholme on the West Coast Main Line to Windermere via Kendal in the county of Cumbria, North West England.
Dieselisation is the process of equipping vehicles with a diesel engine or diesel engines. It can involve replacing an internal combustion engine powered by petrol fuel with an engine powered by diesel fuel, as occurred on a large scale with trucks, buses, farm tractors, and building construction machinery after the Second World War. Alternatively it can involve replacing the entire plant or vehicle with one that is diesel-powered; the term commonly describes the generational replacement between the 1930s and the 1970s of railway steam locomotives with diesel locomotives, and associated facilities.
The Royal Scot was a named passenger express train that ran between London Euston and Glasgow Central on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), with previously a portion also going to Edinburgh.
Ashburys railway station is in Openshaw, Manchester, England, on the Manchester-Glossop Line at its junction with the Hope Valley line and the freight line to Phillips Park Junction. It has been open since 1855 and is the nearest railway station to the City of Manchester Stadium.
The Midland Pullman was the name given to a former express passenger train service operating on British Railways' old Midland Main Line between London St Pancras and Manchester Central via Leicester and Millers Dale. The train completed the journey in 3 hours 15 minutes.
The MGWR Class D were 2-4-0 steam locomotives built in batches from 1873 to 1887 for the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) of Ireland to a Martin Atock design. Numbering 39 at their peak they were the standard MGWR passenger locomotive of their era. Six of the class were rebuilt as 4-4-0.