From 1923 the railways were grouped into four great companies — and the interwar years became the romantic high noon of British steam, fought out through flagship expresses and record-breaking locomotives.
The Big Four
The Railways Act 1921 amalgamated the old companies, from 1 January 1923, into the “Big Four”: the Great Western Railway, the London, Midland & Scottish, the London & North Eastern Railway, and the Southern Railway.
The race for speed
On the LNER, Sir Nigel Gresley built the celebrated Flying Scotsman and the A3 Pacifics, then the streamlined A4. On 3 July 1938 the A4 Mallard reached 126 mph down Stoke Bank — the world steam speed record, never since beaten.
Rival flagships
The LMS answered with William Stanier's Princess Coronation Pacifics and the handsome Jubilee and Royal Scot classes. The GWR ran its King and Castle classes — developed by Charles Collett — on some of the fastest scheduled trains in the world. The Southern, under Richard Maunsell, poured its money instead into electrifying its dense commuter network. It was an age of named expresses, gleaming liveries and railway glamour — the world steam enthusiasts still look back to.