95-473: The British Rail Research Division was a division of the state-owned railway company British Rail (BR). It was charged with conducting research into improving various aspects of Britain's railways, particularly in the areas of reliability and efficiency, including achieving cost reductions and increasing service levels. Its creation was endorsed by the newly created British Rail Board (BRB) in 1963 and incorporated personnel and existing resources from all over
190-461: A " Whites only " recruitment policy for guards at Euston station agreed between the local union branch and station management was dropped after the case of Asquith Xavier , a migrant from Dominica , who had been refused promotion on those grounds, was raised in Parliament and taken up by the then Secretary of State for Transport, Barbara Castle . Passenger levels decreased steadily from 1962 to
285-521: A "network for development"; the fate of the rest of the network was not discussed in the report. The basis for calculating passenger fares changed in 1964. In future, fares on some routes—such as rural, holiday and commuter services—would be set at a higher level than on other routes; previously, fares had been calculated using a simple rate for the distance travelled, which at the time was 3 d per mile second class, and 4½d per mile first class (equivalent to £0.32 and £0.48 respectively, in 2023 ). In 1966,
380-479: A Corporate Identity Manual which established a coherent brand and design standard for the whole organisation, specifying Rail Blue and pearl grey as the standard colour scheme for all rolling stock; Rail Alphabet as the standard corporate typeface, designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert ; and introducing the now-iconic corporate Identity Symbol of the Double Arrow logo. Designed by Gerald Barney (also of
475-411: A committee chaired by Sir David Serpell was published in 1983. The Serpell Report made no recommendations as such but did set out various options for the network, including, at their most extreme, a skeletal system of less than 2,000 route km (1,240 miles). The report was received with hostility within several circles, which included figures within the government, as well as amongst
570-437: A grander logo for the railways. BR's second corporate logo (1956–1965), designed in consultation with Charles Franklyn and inspired by the much more detailed BTC crest, depicted a rampant lion emerging from a heraldic crown and holding a spoked wheel, all enclosed in a roundel with the "British Railways" name displayed across a bar on either side. This emblem soon acquired the nickname of the "Ferret and Dartboard". A variant of
665-533: A high-speed tilting train intended to accelerate Britain's Intercity services. This work, begun during the mid-1960s, was in part motivated, and influenced, by the recent success of the Japanese Shinkansen line between Tokyo and Osaka . The use of tilting permitted the alignment of the lateral forces with the floor, in turning higher top speeds to be attained before passenger comfort was adversely impacted. An active tilting system, using hydraulic actuation,
760-449: A hot summer, caused many problems with rail buckling; although there were no injuries, there were a number of derailments. Evaluations were conducted into the methods, costs, and benefits of tamping the ballast over the sleeper ends. There were extended studies into metal fatigue , and pioneering work in ultrasound crack detection at a time when it was being investigated elsewhere for medical diagnostics. Major signalling breakthroughs made by
855-550: A lack of political support, work on the APT was ceased in the mid-1980s in favour of the more conventional InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 trainsets. The Research Division was reorganised in the runup to the privatisation of British Rail during the 1990s; the bulk having become "BR Research Limited". This unit was acquired by the private company AEA Technology in 1996, which has since become Resonate Group . Several elements of its work have continued under various organisations, such as
950-414: A lack of standardisation. At the same time, containerised freight was being developed. The marshalling yard building programme was a failure, being based on a belief in the continued viability of wagon-load traffic in the face of increasingly effective road competition, and lacking effective forward planning or realistic assessments of future freight. A 2002 documentary broadcast on BBC Radio 4 blamed
1045-630: A modified High-Speed Freight Vehicle chassis. Testing commenced in 1978. A more capable two-car prototype railbus, the Class 140 , was built between 1979 and 1981. Following its early use as a testbed, during which the Class 140 toured several different regions across the UK, it later served as a demonstrator for the subsequent production units based on the type, the Class 141 , introduced in 1984, and Class 142 , introduced in 1985. These subsequent production classes diverge from
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#17328483788291140-470: A platform of revising many of the cuts, Tom Fraser instead authorised the closure 1,071 mi of railway lines, following the recommendations from the Beeching Report even lines not considered closing. After he resigned in 1967, his replacement Barbara Castle continued the line and station closures but introduced the first Government rail subsidies for socially necessary but unprofitable railways in
1235-722: A private heritage railway. Other preserved lines, or heritage railways , have reopened lines previously closed by British Rail. These range from picturesque rural branch lines like the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway to sections of mainline such as the Great Central Railway . Many have links to the National Rail network, both at station interchanges, for example, the Severn Valley Railway between Kidderminster and Kidderminster Town , and physical rail connections like
1330-525: A programme of closures began almost immediately after nationalisation. However, the general financial position of BR became gradually poorer until an operating loss was recorded in 1955. The Executive itself had been abolished in 1953 by the Conservative government, and control of BR transferred to the parent Commission. Other changes to the British Transport Commission at the same time included
1425-464: A rail-mounted trolley was developed and tested as part of this research. It was concluded that, largely due to the cost of the aluminium reaction rail necessary, linear motors were not economically practical at that time. The division has also collaborated with English Electric to produce a heavily modified demonstrator, converted from a redundant early diesel electric locomotive, to evaluate the rotary induction motor. Other advances made by researchers in
1520-468: A working railway, in 1948 the line was principally a tourist attraction . British Rail operated the line using steam locomotives long after the withdrawal of standard-gauge steam. The line's three steam locomotives were the only ones to receive TOPS serial numbers and be painted in BR Rail Blue livery with the double arrow logo. The Vale of Rheidol Railway was privatised in 1989 and continues to operate as
1615-533: A year later when the BTC was abolished the name of the force was amended to the British Transport Police. This name and its role within policing on the rail network was continued post-1994. Despite its nationalisation in 1947 "as one of the 'commanding heights' of the economy", according to some sources British Rail was not profitable for most (if not all) of its history. Newspapers reported that as recently as
1710-502: Is now based at the NRM's Locomotion museum in Shildon . When further APT Class 370 units were built, they were powered by 25 kV AC electrification . The APT-POP (Power-0-Power) set was a rake of three skeletal unpowered carriages used as a test bed for the suspension, tilting and braking systems used by APT units. The 'Power pumps' were only mock-ups, though similar externally to PC1 and PC2 in
1805-665: The Beeching cuts . Trunk routes were considered to be the most important, and so electrification of the Great Eastern Main Line from London to Norwich was completed between 1976 and 1986 and on the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh between 1985 and 1990. Train manufacturer British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) produced the capable InterCity 125 and Sprinter sets, the introduction of which improved intercity and regional railways, respectively, as well as
1900-526: The Big Four British railway companies along with some other (but not all) smaller railways. Profitability of the railways became a pressing concern during the 1950s, leading to multiple efforts to bolster performance, including some line closures. The 1955 Modernisation Plan formally directed a process of dieselisation and electrification to take place; accordingly, steam locomotives had been entirely replaced by diesel and electric traction (except for
1995-588: The General Area Time-based Train Simulator (GATTS). By the end of the 1960s, the division has made progress in the area of rail adhesion; influenced by French experiments with spark discharges, development of what became the plasma torch proceeded based on promising test results gathered in 1967. Subsequent testing provided even better results; however, progress was badly impacted by the departure of Dr Alston in 1971. The division also provided support in troubleshooting issues encountered with
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#17328483788292090-595: The High Speed Freight Vehicle , which started work during the late 1960s and reaching a high point during the mid-1970s. Various tests of the High Speed Freight Vehicle were carried out between 1975 and 1979. An even more radical freight vehicle, the Autowagon , was also worked on during the early 1970s; the concept of individual self-powered container-carrying wagons automatically loading, traversing
2185-664: The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and the Southern Railway (SR). During World War I , the railways were under state control, which continued until 1921. Complete nationalisation had been considered, and the Railways Act 1921 is sometimes considered as a precursor to that, but the concept was rejected. Nationalisation was subsequently carried out after World War II , under the Transport Act 1947 . This Act made provision for
2280-719: The Old Dalby Test Track ), which was acquired specifically to test this train. The Mickleover test track was closed and lifted in the early 1990s, however Old Dalby remained in use into the twenty-first century. Early benefits of the Research Division's work were already being felt by the late 1960s in the field of signalling , specifically in block systems . While practical demonstrations were being performed as early as 1964, some of these efforts, such as an early use of radar -based obstacle detection, proved to be not mature enough for deployment. One project of this nature that
2375-564: The Old Dalby Test Track , where in January 1976 it attained a speed of 143.6 mph (231.1 km/h). The unit was only intended for testing and was never used in ordinary public service, although it did carry office staff and the occasional dignitary on trial runs. When its period of testing was complete, in June 1976, it was sent to the National Railway Museum , York for preservation. It
2470-598: The Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway . The London Underground also became publicly owned, becoming the London Transport Executive of the British Transport Commission. The Bicester Military Railway was already run by the government. The electric Liverpool Overhead Railway was also excluded from nationalisation . The Railway Executive was conscious that some lines on the (then very dense) network were unprofitable and hard to justify socially, and
2565-503: The Railway Executive . The Executive attempted to introduce a modern Art Deco -style curved logo, which could also serve as the standard for station signage totems. BR eventually adopted the common branding of the BTC as its first corporate logo, a lion astride a spoked wheel, designed for the BTC by Cecil Thomas ; on the bar overlaid across the wheel, the BTC's name was replaced with the words "British Railways". This logo, nicknamed
2660-618: The Secretary of State for Transport , and is now employed as a generic symbol on street signs in Great Britain denoting railway stations. The rail transport system in Great Britain developed during the 19th century. After the grouping of 1923 under the Railways Act 1921 , there were four large railway companies, each dominating its own geographic area: the Great Western Railway (GWR), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS),
2755-417: The Transport Act 1968 . Part of these provisions was the creation of a passenger transport executive or PTE within larger metropolitan areas. Prior to this, public transport was run by individual local authorities and private companies, with little co-ordination. The PTEs took over the responsibility (but not ownership) of managing local rail networks. The 1968 Act created five new bodies. These were: This
2850-463: The Watercress Line at Alton . Although most are operated solely as leisure amenities, some also provide educational resources, and a few have ambitions to restore commercial services over routes abandoned by the nationalised industry. British Rail APT-E The APT-E , for A dvanced P assenger T rain E xperimental, was the prototype Advanced Passenger Train tilting train unit. It
2945-466: The narrow-gauge Vale of Rheidol Railway tourist line) by 1968. On 1 January 1963, the British Railways Board was created to manage the railways as a successor to the British Transport Commission. It was during the 1960s that perhaps the most substantial changes were made. Seeking to reduce rail subsidies , one-third of the network and over half of all stations were permanently closed under
British Rail Research Division - Misplaced Pages Continue
3040-620: The patents filed during the APT's development being harnessed in the development of the Pendolino , a modern high speed tilting train. During the mid-1950s, it became increasingly apparent to senior figures within the British Transport Commission (BTC) that, in light of mixed results from using external contractors, there was value in British Rail performing some research projects in-house instead. In August 1958, Dr F. T. Barnwell
3135-484: The privatisation of British Rail . Following completion of the privatisation process in 1997, responsibility for track, signalling and stations was transferred to Railtrack (later brought under public control as Network Rail ) while services were run by a variety of train operating companies . At the end of the process, any remaining obligations of British Rail were transferred to BRB (Residuary) Limited . The British Rail Double Arrow logo remains in place, now owned by
3230-590: The "Cycling Lion", was applied from 1948 to 1956 to the sides of locomotives, while the ‘hot dog’ design was adopted for smaller station name signs, known officially as ‘lamp tablets’ and coloured for the appropriate BR region, using Gill Sans lettering first adopted by the LNER from 1929. In 1956, the BTC was granted a heraldic achievement by the College of Arms and the Lord Lyon , and then BTC chairman Brian Robertson wanted
3325-401: The 1950s decisions for the "beleaguered" condition of the railway system at that time. During the late 1950s, railway finances continued to worsen; whilst passenger numbers grew after restoring many services reduced during the war, and in 1959 the government stepped in, limiting the amount the BTC could spend without ministerial authority. A White Paper proposing reorganisation was published in
3420-534: The 1955 programme (costing £1.2 billion), but did so largely for political reasons. This included the withdrawal of steam traction and its replacement by diesel (and some electric) locomotives. Not all modernisations would be effective at reducing costs. The dieselisation programme gave contracts primarily to British suppliers, who had limited experience of diesel locomotive manufacture, and rushed commissioning based on an expectation of rapid electrification; this resulted in numbers of locomotives with poor designs and
3515-510: The 1960s at a cost of £4 million. Nearby, the Research Division developed its first test track on the old Great Northern Railway line between Egginton Junction and Derby Friargate (later used only as far as Mickleover ) and was used by the Train Control Group. Later on, when the revolutionary Advanced Passenger Train (APT) was being developed, a second test track was created on the line between Melton Junction and Edwalton (known as
3610-588: The 1990s, public rail subsidy was counted as profit; as early as 1961, British Railways were losing £300,000 a day. Although the company was considered the sole public-transport option in many rural areas, the Beeching cuts made buses the only public transport available in some rural areas. Despite increases in traffic congestion and road fuel prices beginning to rise in the 1990s, British Rail remained unprofitable. Following sectorisation, InterCity became profitable. InterCity became one of Britain's top 150 companies, providing city centre to city centre travel across
3705-424: The 7,000 stations would close. Beeching, who is thought to have been the author of most of the report, set out some dire figures. One third of the network was carrying just 1% of the traffic. Of the 18,000 passenger coaches, 6,000 were said to be used only 18 times a year or less. Although maintaining them cost between £3 million and £4 million a year, they earned only about £0.5 million. Most of
3800-756: The Beeching cuts a generation earlier but which had seen passenger services withdrawn. This included the bulk of the Chester and Connah's Quay Railway in 1992, the Brierley Hill to Walsall section of the South Staffordshire line in 1993, while the Birmingham to Wolverhampton section of the Great Western Railway was closed in three phases between 1972 and 1992. Following the election of Labour in 1964, on
3895-491: The Class 140's design in numerous places; one example is the separation between the underframe and the body above by a flexible mounting, a reduction in the depth of the underframe for maintenance accessibility, and the use of road bus-standard electrical equipment, passenger fittings, and general cab layout. Likely the most prominent project undertaken by the Research Division was the Advanced Passenger Train (APT),
British Rail Research Division - Misplaced Pages Continue
3990-455: The DRU), this arrow device was formed of two interlocked arrows across two parallel lines, symbolising a double-track railway. It was likened to a bolt of lightning or barbed wire , and also acquired a nickname: "the arrow of indecision". A mirror image of the double arrow was used on the port side of BR-owned Sealink ferry funnels. The new BR corporate identity and double arrow were displayed at
4085-578: The Design Centre in London in early 1965, and the brand name of the organisation was shortened to "British Rail". It is now employed as a generic symbol on street signs in Great Britain denoting railway stations, and is still printed on railway tickets as part of the Rail Delivery Group 's jointly managed National Rail brand. The uniformity of BR branding continued until the process of sectorisation
4180-550: The Double Arrow symbol, which has survived to this day and serves as a generic trademark to denote railway services across Great Britain. The BR Corporate Identity Manual is noted as a piece of British design history and there are plans for it to be re-published. With its creation in 1948, British Railways was divided into regions which were initially based on the areas the former Big Four operated in; later, several lines were transferred between regions. Notably, these included
4275-595: The London area; Provincial (renamed Regional Railways in 1989) responsible for all other passenger services. In the metropolitan counties local services were managed by the Passenger Transport Executives . Provincial was the most subsidised (per passenger km) of the three sectors; upon formation, its costs were four times its revenue . During the 1980s British Rail ran the Rail Riders membership club aimed at 5- to 15-year-olds. Because British Railways
4370-510: The Research Division included Solid State Interlocking and the Integrated Electronic Control Centre . In 1986, finance for the division was moved from the board to the operating divisions. Thus emphasis shifted from pure research to problem solving. During 1989, BR Research became a self-contained unit working under contract to British Rail and other customers, and the route was open for privatisation. When British Rail
4465-457: The Research Division's activities. Perhaps its most high-profile work was into new forms of rolling stock , such as the High Speed Freight Vehicle and railbuses , which led to the introduction of the Class 140 . One of its projects that gained particularly high-profile coverage was the Advanced Passenger Train (APT), a high-speed tilting train intended for BR's Intercity services. However, due to schedule overruns, negative press coverage, and
4560-466: The Research Division. The hiring of graduates rather than training people up internally also caused tensions. It could be somewhat tactless, or perhaps naive, at times. The APT-E was provided with a single driver position central in the cab, at a time when the unions were resisting the loss of the "second man" (the fireman in steam days). After its first run out to Duffield the APT-E was blacked (boycotted) by
4655-519: The UK using one of the machines was at Upminster station on 21 March 2007. Before the rail network was privatised, British Rail introduced several discount cards through the APTIS that were available to certain demographics, issued either by National or Regional schemes: The narrow-gauge Vale of Rheidol Railway in Ceredigion, Wales, became part of British Railways at nationalisation. Although built as
4750-468: The ad hoc methods that had prevailed previously. Its research led to advances in various sectors, such as in the field of signalling , where progress was made with block systems , remote operation systems, and the Automatic Warning System (AWS). Trackside improvements, such as the standardisation of overhead electrification equipment and refinements to the plasma torch , were also results of
4845-544: The closures were carried out between 1963 and 1970 (including some which were not listed in the report), while other suggested closures were not carried out. The closures were heavily criticised at the time. A small number of stations and lines closed under the Beeching programme have been reopened, with further reopenings proposed. A second Beeching report, "The Development of the Major Trunk Routes", followed in 1965. This did not recommend closures as such but outlined
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#17328483788294940-591: The country, including the LMS Scientific Research Laboratory . It was primarily based at the purpose-built Railway Technical Centre in Derby . In addition to its domestic activities, the Research Division would provide technology and personnel to other countries for varying purposes and periods under the trade name "Transmark". It became recognised as a centre of excellence in its field; the theoretical rigour of its approach to railway engineering superseded
5035-417: The country, including the LMS Scientific Research Laboratory . Its remit was not simply the improvement of existing equipment, or the solution of existing problems, but fundamental research from first principles, into railway operation. The results of its work would go on to inform development by engineers, manufacturers and railways all over the world. For instance, once the initial APT-E experimental project
5130-500: The early 1970s. Tickets issued from British Rail's APTIS system had a considerable amount of information presented in a consistent, standard format. The design for all tickets was created by Colin Goodall . This format has formed the basis for all subsequent ticket issuing systems introduced on the railway network – ticket-office-based, self-service and conductor-operated machines alike. APTIS survived in widespread use for twenty years but, in
5225-431: The early 1980s, the project had been running for over a decade and the trains were still not in service. The APT was quietly abandoned during the mid-1980s in favour of the more conventional InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 trainsets. Other work involved looking at the tamping of ballast, properties of subsoils, and rail prestressing. A large part of the network had been converted to continuous welded rail which, during
5320-487: The early 1990s): In addition, the non-passenger sectors were: The maintenance and remaining engineering works were split off into a new company, British Rail Maintenance Limited . The new sectors were further subdivided into divisions. This ended the BR blue period as new liveries were adopted gradually. Infrastructure remained the responsibility of the regions until the "Organisation for Quality" initiative in 1991 when this too
5415-488: The early 2000s, was largely replaced by more modern PC-based ticketing systems. Some APTIS machines in the Greater London area were modified as APTIS-ANT (with no obvious difference to the ticket issued) to make them Oyster card compatible. The last APTIS machines were removed at the end of 2006 as there was no option to upgrade them to accept Chip and PIN credit card payments. The last APTIS-ANT ticket to be issued in
5510-773: The field of overhead electrification, such as hydraulic dampers and flexible contact wire supports, greatly aided the Modernisation of the West Coast Main Line . During the late 1960s, attention was paid to expanding the Research Division's mathematical capabilities. This heavily contributed to the development of Junction Optimisation Technique (JOT), an approach for optimisating traffic flows through complex junctions (such as that outside of Glasgow Central railway station ). The arrival of more powerful computers around this time allowed for time-based, rather than event-based, traffic simulations to be programmed as well, leading to
5605-402: The figures in both this and the original plan were produced for political reasons and not based on detailed analysis. The aim was to increase speed, reliability, safety, and line capacity through a series of measures that would make services more attractive to passengers and freight operators, thus recovering traffic lost to the roads. Important areas included: The government appeared to endorse
5700-466: The following year, and a new structure was brought into effect by the Transport Act 1962. This abolished the commission and replaced it by several separate boards. These included a British Railways Board, which took over on 1 January 1963. Following semi-secret discussions on railway finances by the government-appointed Stedeford Committee in 1961, one of its members, Dr Richard Beeching , was offered
5795-709: The former Great Central lines from the Eastern Region to the London Midland Region, and the West of England Main Line from the Southern Region to Western Region The North Eastern Region was merged with the Eastern Region in 1967. In 1982, the regions were abolished as the service provider (but retained for administration) and replaced by "business sectors", a process known as sectorisation . The passenger sectors were (by
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#17328483788295890-616: The four old railway police forces, the London Transport Police, canal police and several minor dock forces. In 1957 the Maxwell-Johnson enquiry found that policing requirements for the railway could not be met by civil forces and that it was essential that a specialist police force be retained. On 1 January 1962, the British Transport Commission Police ceased to cover British Waterways property and exactly
5985-568: The go-ahead, including the East Coast Main Line , the spur from Doncaster to Leeds , and the lines in East Anglia out of London Liverpool Street to Norwich and King's Lynn . The list with approximate completion dates includes: In the Southwest, the South West Main Line from Bournemouth to Weymouth was electrified along with other infill 750 V DC third rail electrification in
6080-515: The late 1970s, and reached a low in 1982. Network improvements included completing electrification of the Great Eastern Main Line from London to Norwich between 1976 and 1986 and the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh between 1985 and 1990. A mainline route closure during this period of relative network stability was the 1,500 V DC -electrified Woodhead line between Manchester and Sheffield : passenger service ceased in 1970 and goods in 1981. A further British Rail report from
6175-474: The logo with the name in a circle was also used on locomotives. The zeal for modernisation in the Beeching era drove the next rebranding exercise, and BR management wished to divest the organisation of anachronistic, heraldic motifs and develop a corporate identity to rival that of London Transport . BR's design panel set up a working party led by Milner Gray of the Design Research Unit . They drew up
6270-402: The nation from Aberdeen and Inverness in the north to Poole and Penzance in the south. In 1979, the incoming Conservative Government led by Margaret Thatcher was viewed as anti-railway, and did not want to commit public money to the railways. However, British Rail was allowed to spend its own money with government approval. This led to a number of electrification projects being given
6365-577: The nationalisation of the network as part of a policy of nationalising public services by Clement Attlee 's Labour Government. British Railways came into existence as the business name of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission (BTC) on 1 January 1948 when it took over the assets of the Big Four. There were also joint railways between the Big Four and a few light railways to consider (see list of constituents of British Railways ). Excluded from nationalisation were industrial lines like
6460-755: The new section's remit; in June 1960, the Rugby Locomotive Testing Senter was also transferred to the Chief Electrical Engineer's responsibility and became a key site for the section. During 1963, the newly created British Rail Board (BRB) agreed to transfer the Electrical Research Section to the British Rail Research Department , with the purpose of forming a completed new division. The Research Division brought together personnel and expertise from all over
6555-675: The post of chairing the BTC while it lasted and then became the first Chairman of the British Railways Board. A major traffic census in April 1961, which lasted one week, was used in the compilation of a report on the future of the network. This report – The Reshaping of British Railways – was published by the BRB in March 1963. The proposals, which became known as the Beeching cuts , were dramatic. A third of all passenger services and more than 4,000 of
6650-419: The public. The reaction was so strong that Margaret Thatcher , Prime Minister at that time, stated that decisions on the report would not immediately be taken. The Serpell report was quietly shelved, although the British Government was periodically accused by its opponents of implementing the report via stealth for some years thereafter. The 1980s and 1990s saw the closure of some railways which had survived
6745-518: The rail network, and unloading as required. This project never proceeded beyond demonstrations and studies into the control systems required. During the mid-1970s, British Rail became interested in introducing a new generation of railbuses ; thus, the Research Division collaborated with British Leyland to jointly develop and evaluate several prototype four-wheel vehicles, commonly referred to as LEV s (Leyland Experimental Vehicle). These prototypes were essentially Leyland National bus bodies mounted on
6840-478: The recently deployed overhead electrification apparatus; the development of simpler and standardised equipment and further research into digitally simulating the dynamic behavior of overhead equipment proceeded. The success of these efforts were such that, having been initially authorised for a five-year period, the BRB approved a further 11-year extension in 1973, thus continuing the Research Division's work in these areas through to March 1985. One key research project
6935-403: The return of road haulage to the private sector; however, BR retained its own (smaller) in-house road haulage service. The report, latterly known as the "Modernisation Plan", was published in January 1955. It was intended to bring the railway system into the 20th century. A government White Paper produced in 1956 stated that modernisation would help eliminate BR's financial deficit by 1962, but
7030-432: The rolling stock it had inherited from its predecessor railway companies. Initially, an express blue (followed by GWR -style Brunswick green in 1952) was used on passenger locomotives, and LNWR -style lined black for mixed-traffic locomotives, but later green was more widely adopted. Development of a corporate identity for the organisation was hampered by the competing ambitions of the British Transport Commission and
7125-516: The south. In 1988, the line to Aberdare was reopened. A British Rail advertisement ("Britain's Railway", directed by Hugh Hudson ) featured some of the best-known railway structures in Britain, including the Forth Rail Bridge , Royal Albert Bridge , Glenfinnan Viaduct and London Paddington station . London Liverpool Street station was rebuilt, opened by Queen Elizabeth II , and a new station
7220-427: The traction on the leading bogies. The vehicles were manufactured from aluminium and were approximately 70 ft long (21.34 m), with articulated bogies between them. The APT-E made its first run on 25 July 1972 from Derby to Duffield and was immediately 'blacked' by the drivers' union ASLEF , due to concerns that the single driver's seat pre-empted ongoing negotiations about the single-manning of trains. It
7315-596: The trunk routes of the West Coast Main Line , East Coast Main Line , Great Western Main Line , Great Eastern Main Line and Midland Main Line , and other lines. Policing on (and within) the network was carried out British Transport Police (BTP). In 1947 the Transport Act created the British Transport Commission (BTC), which unified the railway system. On 1 January 1949, the British Transport Commission Police (BTCP) were created, formed from
7410-613: The unions for a year. Nevertheless, its empirical research into vehicle dynamics has produced today's high speed trains, both freight and passenger, including the InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 . The concept of a tilting system for the APT became part of the Pendolino , while the products of its signalling and operations control research are used over a significant amount of the British railway system. British Rail British Railways ( BR ), which from 1965 traded as British Rail ,
7505-484: The unsuccessful Advanced Passenger Train (APT). Gradually, passengers replaced freight as the main source of business. From 1982, under sectorisation , the regions were gradually replaced by "business sectors", which were originally responsible for marketing and other commercial matters when they were first created but had taken over entirely by 1990. During the 1980s and 1990s, the British Government directed
7600-517: The work of the Division was maintained in the Derby Industrial Museum . The Research Division had an uneasy relationship with other parts of BR, and like most of the products of Harold Wilson 's " white heat of technology " speech, were killed off in the early 1980s. The basis of the unease was the traditional approach of most of BR compared with theoretical and aerospace approaches adopted by
7695-449: Was powered by gas turbines , the only multiple unit so powered that was used by British Rail . The APT-E consisted of two driving power cars (PC1 and 2) and two trailer cars (TC1 and 2). Each power car was equipped with four Rover-built Leyland 2S/350 gas turbines (and a fifth for auxiliary power supplies), which initially produced 300 hp each but were progressively uprated to 330 hp. Two GEC 253AY nose suspended traction motors provided
7790-485: 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 . British Railways was formed on 1 January 1948 as a result of the Transport Act 1947 , which nationalised
7885-518: Was appointed by the BTC to prepare and present specific electrical research proposals; the creation of an initially small Electrical Research Section employing 31 staff was also authorised by the BTC in July 1960. Many of these early proposals were related to traction and power equipment, such as motor control, signalling, digital computers, and 25 kV AC railway electrification . Several existing research efforts, such as into rail adhesion, were also folded into
7980-450: Was complete, it passed to the mechanical engineering department to build the APT-P prototype. In time, engineers would be seconded to other countries for varying periods under the trade name "Transmark". One early matter for this new division was the choice for a long term location, Rugby being passed over in favour of Derby , where the purpose-built Railway Technical Centre was built during
8075-565: Was constructed at Stansted Airport in 1991. The following year, the Maesteg line was reopened. In 1988, the Windsor Link Line, Manchester was constructed and has proven to be an important piece of infrastructure. Before the introduction of APTIS (Accountancy and Passenger Ticket Issuing System), British Rail used the Edmondson railway ticket , first introduced in the 1840s and phased out in
8170-420: Was examining the tendency of new wheels to hunt , which was counteracted by deliberately profiling, or pre-wearing, wheels. During the 1960s, an extensive study was performed by the aeronautical engineer Alan Wickens, which identified dynamic instability as the cause. Concluding that a properly damped suspension system, both horizontally as well as vertically, additional research led to additional projects, such as
8265-463: Was highly impactful on future railway operations was the creation of automated simulations of traffic flow through a network. In response to concerns by managers of the British Rail's Southern Region , the Research Team developed improvements for the Automatic Warning System (AWS), sometimes referred to as Signal Repeating AWS, which would be deployed extensively in that region. Another early advance
8360-473: Was introduced in the 1980s. Certain BR operations such as Inter-City , Network SouthEast , Regional Railways or Rail Express Systems began to adopt their own identities, introducing logos and colour schemes which were essentially variants of the British Rail brand. Eventually, as sectorisation developed into a prelude to privatisation, the unified British Rail brand disappeared, with the notable exception of
8455-654: Was over twelve months before it ran again on the main line in August 1973. The prototype was eventually tried out on the Great Western Main Line , and achieved a new British railway speed record when on 10 August 1975 it hit 152.3 mph (245.1 km/h) whilst on test with the Western Region between Swindon and Reading. It was also tested extensively on the Midland Main Line out of London St. Pancras and on
8550-423: Was sold into private ownership during the 1990s, the Research Division (which had become "BR Research Limited") was bought by AEA Technology in 1996. The resulting business, "AEA Technology Rail", was subsequently sold in 2006 to a venture capital company and became DeltaRail Group . Transmark, the consultancy arm, was sold to Halcrow to become Halcrow Transmark. A somewhat dated display of material relating to
8645-422: Was such a large operation, running not just railways but also ferries, steamships and hotels, it has been considered difficult to analyse the effects of nationalisation. Prices rose quickly in this period, rising 108% in real terms from 1979 to 1994, as prices rose by 262% but RPI only increased by 154% in the same time. Following nationalisation in 1948, British Railways began to adapt the corporate liveries on
8740-539: Was the first real subdivision of BR since its inception in 1949, and likely saved many lines earmarked for closure, notably the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway , which now forms part of the Merseyrail network. Upon sectorisation in 1982, three passenger sectors were created: InterCity , operating principal express services; London & South East (renamed Network SouthEast in 1986) operating commuter services in
8835-417: Was the remote control of freight locomotives at low speed, such as when coal trains were delivering their materials to power stations. By the mid-1960s, the Research Division had multiple traction-related projects underway, however, they were negatively impacted by the sudden death of senior engineer James Brown. Work into the use of induction drives , for both rotary and linear motors , was one such project;
8930-449: Was to enable the APT to round corners 40% faster than conventional counterparts. The prototype APT-E , powered by gas turbines , conducted its first run on 25 July 1972. Due to trade union opposition, it did not run again on the main line until August 1973. During testing on the Great Western Main Line , the prototype achieved a new British railway speed record on 10 August 1975, having reached 152.3 mph (245.1 km/h). However, by
9025-451: Was transferred to the sectors. The Anglia Region was created in late 1987, its first General Manager being John Edmonds, who began his appointment on 19 October 1987. Full separation from the Eastern Region – apart from engineering design needs – occurred on 29 April 1988. It handled the services from Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street , its western boundary being Hertford East , Meldreth and Whittlesea . The former BR network, with
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