British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British railway companies, and was privatised in stages between 1994 and 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in January 1963, when it was formally renamed the British Railways Board.
National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by the British Railways Board, from 1965 using the brand name British Rail. Northern Ireland, which is bordered by the Republic of Ireland, has a different system. National Rail services share a ticketing structure and inter-availability that generally do not extend to services which were not part of British Rail.
The railway system of Great Britain started with the building of local isolated wooden wagonways starting in the 1560s. A patchwork of local rail links operated by small private railway companies developed in the late 18th century. These isolated links expanded during the railway boom of the 1840s into a national network, although still run by dozens of competing companies. Over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, these amalgamated or were bought by competitors until only a handful of larger companies remained. The entire network was brought under government control during the First World War and a number of advantages of amalgamation and planning were demonstrated. However, the government resisted calls for the nationalisation of the network. In 1923, almost all the remaining companies were grouped into the "Big Four": the Great Western Railway, the London and North Eastern Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the Southern Railway. The "Big Four" were joint-stock public companies and they continued to run the railway system until 31 December 1947.
Rail Alphabet is a neo-grotesque sans-serif typeface designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert for signage on the British Rail network. First used at Liverpool Street station, it was then adopted by the Design Research Unit (DRU) as part of their comprehensive 1965 rebranding of the company.
Ansdell and Fairhaven railway station is on the Blackpool South to Preston railway line in Lancashire, England. In the past, it has also been known as Ansdell Station, Ansdell's Gate station, and Ansdell's Halt.
Shrewsbury railway station is in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. Built in 1848, it was designated a grade II listed building in 1969.
Helsby railway station serves the village of Helsby in Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II listed building.
Abergele & Pensarn railway station is a railway station on the North Wales Coast Line which serves both the town of Abergele and suburb of Pensarn in Conwy County Borough, Wales.
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.
Garth (Powys) railway station serves the village of Garth, Powys, Wales. The railway station is located at street level at the end of the Llais yr Afon lane near the village centre. The station is known as Garth (Powys) in order to differentiate it from Garth (Bridgend).
Aintree railway station is a railway station that serves the village of Aintree, Merseyside, England. It is on the Ormskirk branch of the Merseyrail network's Northern Line. Until 1968 it was known as Aintree Sefton Arms after a nearby public house. The station's design reflects that it is the closest station to Aintree Racecourse, where the annual Grand National horse race takes place.
Ruabon railway station is a combined rail and bus interchange serving Ruabon, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is the second busiest station in Wrexham County Borough in terms of passenger journeys, after the mainline station, Wrexham General. It is on the Shrewsbury to Chester Line, which is part of the former Great Western Railway mainline route from London Paddington to Birkenhead Woodside which lasted until 1967.
Chirk railway station serves the town of Chirk, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The station is on the Shrewsbury to Chester Line 21 miles (34 km) north of Shrewsbury, which is part of the former Great Western Railway mainline route from London Paddington to Birkenhead Woodside. The original 19th-century Chirk / Y Waun station building was demolished in 1987, without consultation, by the local council.
A public transport timetable is a document setting out information on public transport service times, to assist passengers with planning a trip. Typically, the timetable will list the times when a service is scheduled to arrive at and depart from specified locations. It may show all movements at a particular location or all movements on a particular route or for a particular stop. Traditionally this information was provided in printed form, for example as a leaflet or poster. It is now also often available in a variety of electronic formats.
The railway network of Great Britain is operated with the aid of a number of documents, which have been sometimes termed "technical manuals", because they are more detailed than the pocket-timetables which the public encounters every day. Historically, they were classified PRIVATE and not for publication, however since rail privatisation they are now more widely available, mostly in digital form, because they are produced centrally and not by the regional rail operators.
Bradshaw's was a series of railway timetables and travel guide books published by W.J. Adams and later Henry Blacklock, both of London. They are named after founder George Bradshaw, who produced his first timetable in October 1839. Although Bradshaw died in 1853, the range of titles bearing his name continued to expand for the remainder of the 19th and early part of the 20th century, covering at various times Continental Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand, as well as parts of the Middle-East. They survived until May 1961, when the final monthly edition of the British guide was produced. The British and Continental guides were referred to extensively by presenter Michael Portillo in his multiple television series.
The European Rail Timetable, more commonly known by its former names, the Thomas Cook European Timetable, the Thomas Cook Continental Timetable or simply Cook's Timetable, is an international timetable of selected passenger rail schedules for every country in Europe, along with a small amount of such content from areas outside Europe. It also includes regularly scheduled passenger shipping services and a few coach services on routes where rail services are not operated. Except during World War II and a six-month period in 2013–14, it has been in continuous publication since 1873. Until 2013 it was published by Thomas Cook Publishing, in the United Kingdom, and since 1883 has been issued monthly. The longstanding inclusion of "Continental" in the title reflected the fact that coverage was, for many years, mostly limited to continental Europe. Information on rail services in Great Britain was limited to only about 30 pages until 1954 and then omitted entirely until 1970. June 2011 marked the 1500th edition.
The Southbury Loop is a line linking Edmonton Green, in north-east London, to Cheshunt. It was opened by the Great Eastern Railway in 1891 although initially it was not very successful and was closed to passenger traffic in 1909. Goods trains continued to use the line although in World War I passenger services were reinstated for munitions workers. Once the war finished the line returned to its goods-only role although was occasionally used for diversionary purposes when the West Anglia Main Line was closed south of Cheshunt. Electrification of the line and the reintroduction of passenger services in 1960 saw the line become busy with regular suburban services as part of the Lea Valley Lines network. Since May 2015 passenger services on the line are part of London Overground.
Lowton railway station served the village named Town of Lowton to the east of Newton-le-Willows and south of Golborne.
Great British Railways (GBR) is a planned state-owned public body that will oversee rail transport in Great Britain, with the exception of Transport for London services, Merseytravel services, and light rail and trams elsewhere in England. It will replace Network Rail as the operator of rail infrastructure across all of Great Britain. With the exception of services wholly within Scotland and Wales, it will also control the contracting of passenger train services, the setting of fares and timetables, and the collection of fare revenue.
