The history of railways in Great Britain

Railway Industry

As a pioneer in the introduction of railways, Britain became a world leader in railway industry. Even today, Britain’s railway products have a strong and respected place in the world market.

Locomotives and Rolling Stock

In the early days, locomotives and stock were supplied by private companies such as that founded by Robert Stephenson. However, most of the major railway companies in Great Britain soon had their own locomotive, carriage and wagon works. The private companies survived by supplying to industrial lines and overseas railway companies. This situation prevailed into the 1950s, British Railways having inherited an extensive works capacity from the “Big Four” companies.

The 1955 Modernization Plan called for a huge program of diesel and locomotive manufacture, which was not only beyond the capacity of the British Railways works but also to an extent outside the sphere of expertise of works conceived in the steam age. The works were modified to cope with the new traction, but this could not happen fast enough for the modernization plan and many locomotives were ordered from private manufacturers: Brush, Beyer Peacock, Birmingham RCW, English Electric, Metropolitan Vickers and North British, to name a few. Diesel and electric multiple units came from the British Railways works, and from private manufacturers such as Birmingham RCW, Gloucester Carriage & Wagon and Metropolitan Cammell.

As part of the preparations for privatization, the British Rail works were formed into a new company, British Rail Engineering Limited, later simply Brel Limited. Industry generally was hard hit during the run up to privatization, because there was little or no investment in equipment. Many firms closed down or left the industry altogther, Brel itself was reduced from a dozen or so sites around the country to just a handful.

In the 1990s, things started looking up with inward investment from multinational companies. Brel became part of ABB, a consortium of Swedish ASEA and Swiss Brown Boveri. The famous Metropolitan Cammell works at Washwood Heath near Birmingham were acquired by Alstom, while the York works of Brel were sold to the American freight vehicle manufacturer, Thrall Car, later to become part of Trinity Industries.

Unfortunately, in the early 21st Century a number of events combined to conspire against a proposed rapid development of the UK network, not least the collapse of the privatized infrastructure owner Railtrack. With a shrinking UK market, the multinationals started to pull out, leaving Bombardier Transportation, who had purchased the ailing ABB, as the only major British rolling stock supplier. It has manufacturing facilities in Derby and Wakefield, and maintenance facilities at strategic locations throughout the country.