transport: List of Yorkshire railways

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Evidence: 57 • authority: 72

British Railways, which after 1965 traded as British Rail, was the state-owned company responsible for rail transport in Great Britain from its inception in 1948 to its privatisation in the 1990s, with the organisation officially becoming defunct in 1997. From its creation until 1952, it was the trade name of the Railway Executive, the subsidiary of the British Transport Commission (BTC) responsible for railway operations. The Railway Executive was then abolished in order for British Railways to fall directly under the BTC. After the Transport Act 1962, it became an independent statutory corporation when the BTC was replaced by a new organisation whose official name was the British Railways…

Evidence: 49 • authority: 72

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. The entire…

Evidence: 28 • authority: 72

The steam locomotives of British Railways were used by British Railways over the period 1948–1968. The vast majority of these were inherited from its four constituent companies, the "Big Four". In addition, BR built 2,537 steam locomotives in the period 1948–1960, 1,538 to pre-nationalisation designs and 999 to its own standard designs. These locomotives had short working lives, some as little as five years, because of the decision to end the use of steam traction by 1968, against a design life of over 30 years and a theoretical final withdrawal date of between 1990 and 2000.