Time Line of UK Railways

Station Buffet | Historical

Time Line of UK Railways

1712 Industrial stationary steam engine developed by Thomas Newcomen, worked by condensing steam within a vacuum, rather inefficient

1758 Middleton Colliery in leeds builds the first railway to carry coal to the river Aire

1765 Newccomen's steam engine improved upon by James Watt by using a 'seperate condenser'

1776 John Curr lays cast-iron L shaped plate rails at a Sheffield colliery

1789 Loughborough - Nanpantan railway laid by William Jessop using cast-iron edge rails

1801 Croydon - Wandsworth opened by The Surrey Iron Railway, horse-powered first public freight service

1803 Henri Mottray unveils his designs for a Channel Tunnel

1804 Trevithick locomotive runs in Wales on the Penydarren Tramway hauling 10 tonnes at a speed of 5m.p.h. for 8 miles

1807 Oystermouth Railway, Wales becomes the first horse-powered railway to carry passengers

1812 Murray & Blenkinsop steam locomotives are the first commercially used at the Middleton Colliery railway at Leeds

1813 Puffing Billy built by Blackett & Hedley is used at Wylam Colliery railway with better adhesion between rail and wheel

1814 George Stephenson build his first locomotive the Blucher for Killingworth Colliery railway

1821 Parliament passes Bill for Stockton & Darlington railway, George Stephenson appointed as chief engineer

1824 George Stephenson appointed as chief engineer for the Liverpool Manchester railway

1825 Stockton & Darlington steam railway opens to the public

1829 George and Robert Stephensons Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials for the Liverpool Manchester railway

1830 The Liverpool Manchester railway is opened by The Duke of Wellington and becomes the worlds first "inter-city"

1836 The first public narrow gauge railway is opened at Ffestiniog Railway with a 1' 111/2" gauge

1837 The Grand Junction Midland railway opens

1838 Paddington to Maidenhead opened by Great Western Railway (Chief engineer I K Brunel)

1842 Glasgow - Edinburgh railway opened

1844 George Hudson from York organizes the first large scale amalgamation of the railways and becomes Chairman

1846 Railway mania hits the country with 272 acts of parliament passed for new railways

1850 London to Aberdeen through railway is completed

1863 The U.K.'s higest mainline railway opens at Druimuachdar 1485' above sea level - The Metropolitan railway opens the worlds first underground railway in London

1876 Kings Cross to Edinbugh journey time cut to 9 hours by the Special Scotch Express later to become the Flying Scotsman - Midland Railways open the Settle to Carlisle

1878 The first Tay Bridge completed

1879 London - Leeds trains open first restaurant car service - The Tay Bridge disaster occurs when it collapsed in the great storm

1880 Excavation on both sides of the channel began with the Beaumont & English tunnel boring machine.

1886 Severn Tunnel opens

1887 New Tay Bridge near Dundee Scotland opens

1888 Competion between the West and East coast lines is staged to see who is the fastest

1890 The Forth Railway Bridge is opened - The first electric underground railway is opened in South London

1892 The 4' 81/2" gauge is made standard

1895 Races are again held between London and Aberdeen

1899 The Great Central Railway opens the Manchester Sheffield to Marylebone line

1904 The Plymouth to London Mail train is the first to exceed 100mph (The City of Truro GWR 4-4-0 No.3440)

1909 The first section of the Southern London Line is electrified by L B & S C railway

1911 The First National Rail Strike takes place

1912 Bridlington Station extensions open - The Station Buffet Bridlington opens on May 19th One of only three original buffets left in the U.K.

1914 First World War breaks out and the Government take over the Railways

1923 GWR, SR, LNER and LMSR are created.

1935 The U.K.'s first streamlined train the Silver Jubilee on a trial run from Kings Cross to Newcastle travels at 100mph for over 40 miles

1937 The London to Glasgow streamliner the Coronation Scot becomes operational

1938 The Mallard A4 No. 4468 sets the all time steam traction speed record of 126mph

1939 World War II outbreaks see the Government take control again, the railways suffer considerable damage during this period

1945 After the war the Labour Government re-establishes the Big 4 and promise Nationalisation

1947 Royal Assent given to the Transport Act making nationalisation of the railways and canals possible

1948 Nationalisation comes into force and the railway split into six regions London Midland, North Eastern, Southern, Western, Eastern and Scotish

1951 The first BR standard design Locomotive enters service. Britannia was the first of 999 steam locomotives built in 12 classes

1954 Electrifacation of the Sheffield - Manchester Line

1955 £12,000,000 investment anounced for electrifacation and the introduction of diesel locomotives to replace steam

1957 Modernisation plan introduced with the introduction of the first diesel-electric locomotives

1960 The Evening Star No. 9220 the last BR steam locomotive is built at Swindon Works

1961 Dr Richard Beeching is made Chairman of British Transpot Commision, (I hope he was a better Doctor than Chaiman)

1963 Beeching starts using his axe

1965 British Railways becomes British Rail with new livery and logo

1966 Electrification is in full swing, completion of London to Liverpool and Manchester Electrification

1968 End of an era when steam traction is removed from service.

1973 The high speed era arrives with trial of the APT (advanced passenger train) and Inter-city 125 begin

1975 National Railway Musem opens in York and BR allows steam train specials on certain lines

1976 High speed Inter-city 125 enters service betweeen Euston Bristol and South Wales

1978 Inter-city 125's introduced on the East Coast Main Line.

1982 British Rail structure is split into various section including Inter City and Railfreight

1984 Government gives go nahead for electrifaction of East Coast Main Line (Kings Cross - Edinburgh) - APT train dropped due to passengers feling "ill" in all trials

1985 Pacers and Sprinters enter service

1987 The Fixed Link Treaty is signed between the English and French Governments

1994 The Channel Tunnel opened by Eurostar.

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