British Railways (LM Region)

The London Midland Region of British Railways was a territorial operating region from nationalisation on 1 January 1948 until 1992, inheriting the London, Midland and Scottish Railway's English mileage — principally the West Coast Main Line from Euston to Carlisle, the Midland Main Line from St Pancras to Sheffield and Leeds, and the network through North Wales to Holyhead. As the direct successor of the LMS, the London Midland Region was the largest of the BR regions by route mileage and revenue.

The Region's most transformative project was the 25 kV AC electrification of the West Coast Main Line, energised progressively from Styal to Manchester in 1959 and extended south to Euston by 1966 and north to Glasgow by 1974. This brought successive generations of AC electric locomotives — the pilot-scheme Classes 81 through 85 and then the production Class 86 and Class 87 — to the WCML, transforming journey times between London and the major cities of the north-west and Scotland. The engineering work was based at Crewe Works, which maintained its position as Britain's principal locomotive maintenance centre throughout the BR era.

The London Midland Region's services were sectorised in the 1980s into InterCity West Coast, Network SouthEast (for the outer-suburban London services), and Regional Railways. At privatisation the WCML passed to Virgin West Coast, the Midland Main Line to Midland Mainline, and the suburban services to Silverlink and Central Trains.