The Edwardian years were the zenith of the independent railway — bigger, faster and more comfortable than ever. Then the First World War placed the whole system under unified state control and left it exhausted, setting the stage for wholesale reorganisation.
The Edwardian peak
Locomotives grew markedly larger and more powerful, and dining and sleeping cars brought new comfort to long-distance travel. On the Great Western, George Jackson Churchward revolutionised design by building a small family of standard classes — among them the Saint 4-6-0 and the Star — that shared boilers and fittings, a decade ahead of his rivals.
The railways at war (1914–1918)
On the outbreak of the First World War the government took the railways under unified control through the Railway Executive Committee. They were worked intensively to move troops, munitions and coal, and standard Railway Operating Division 2-8-0s were built in quantity for service at home and at the front. The railways came through the war worn out, under-maintained and financially strained.
Towards the Grouping
With some 120 companies financially exhausted, returning to the pre-war free-for-all was unthinkable. The Railways Act 1921 set the course for amalgamation into four large groups from 1923 — ending more than ninety years of fragmented private ownership.