British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 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 initially being run by over one hundred competing companies. Over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, many of these were amalgamated or were bought by competitors until only a handful of larger companies remained. The period also saw a steady increase in government involvement, especially in safety matters, such as the Railway Inspectorate.
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. It was later used by other public bodies in the United Kingdom.
Wigan Wallgate railway station is one of two railway stations serving the town centre of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. The station serves two routes, the Manchester-Southport Line and the Manchester-Kirkby Line. It is 16 miles north-west of Manchester Victoria. The station is managed by Northern Trains, who operate all trains serving it.
Shrewsbury railway station serves the town of Shrewsbury, in Shropshire, England. Built in 1848, it was designated a grade II listed building in 1969.
Congleton railway station is a mainline station serving the Cheshire market town of Congleton. It lies on the Stafford-Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom.
Flint railway station serves the town of Flint in Flintshire, North Wales. It is located on the North Wales Coast Line and is managed by Transport for Wales, who provide most of the passenger trains that call here. There are certain Avanti West Coast services that serve the station.
Abergavenny railway station is situated south-east of the town centre of Abergavenny, Wales. It is part of the British railway system owned by Network Rail and is operated by Transport for Wales. It lies on the Welsh Marches Line between Newport and Hereford.
Abergele & Pensarn railway station is a stop on the North Wales Coast Line, which serves both the town of Abergele and suburb of Pensarn in Conwy County Borough, Wales.
Ardwick railway station serves the industrial area of Ardwick, in east Manchester, England; it is located about one mile (1.5 km) south-east of Manchester Piccadilly, on both the Glossop line and Hope Valley line. Plans to close the station permanently were shelved in 2006, due to increasing activity in the area. From the December 2023 timetable, the station has just one train calling per day on Mondays-Saturdays.
Garth railway station (Powys) 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).
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.
The history of rail transport in Great Britain 1948–1994 covers the period when the British railway system was nationalised under the name of 'British Railways', latterly known as British Rail until its eventual privatisation in 1994.
A public transport timetable is a document setting out information on public transport service times. Both public timetables to assist passengers with planning a trip and internal timetables to inform employees exist. 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.
Great British Railways (GBR) is a planned state-owned company that is to oversee rail transport in Great Britain except for Transport for London, Merseytravel, light rail and tram services.
