British Railway Companies

The British railway network was built by a long and entangled succession of independent companies. This section catalogues 70 of the most significant, from the early Victorian pioneers like the Stockton & Darlington and the Liverpool & Manchester, through the great pre-Grouping mainline companies (LNWR, Midland, North Eastern, Caledonian, Great Western and others), the post-1923 "Big Four" (GWR, LMS, LNER and Southern), and the nationalised British Railways and its regional successors.

Each entry covers the company's founding, principal routes, key locomotive policies and chief mechanical engineers, mergers, and either the date of grouping into a successor or the eventual fate under nationalisation. Cross-references connect to the locomotive classes each company designed and operated, the chief mechanical engineers who shaped them, and the workshops where their engines were built.

How to use this index

Use the filters below to narrow by founding period, region, or successor company. To trace a single mainline route through different companies and eras, follow the cross-references in each entry, most major routes were inherited and rebuilt by several companies in turn before reaching their final form.