By privatization in the 1990s, British Rail was operating a successful nationalized industry that was sensitive to both service quality and profit, and the process of privatization was ultimately forced upon British Rail without reason or sense. Decisions both good and bad have influenced operations, pressure from both political parties and lobbying groups have steered it in odd directions and public perception has constantly shifted. The railway system of Great Britain, as it was in the steam age, now no longer exists and very little of what is shown in these pictures still remains. I found it all quite fascinating, so I would rate it 4 star out of 5, and recommend it to anyone who are passionate about British Rail and Railway Fans and what to know even more about it.

Even on those lines still open, almost all of the intermediate stations have disappeared from the railway map. I particularly liked the challenges to the misguided belief that BR was exclusively and permanently inefficient. Choose from vintage Underground posters, personalised t-shirts and mugs and models of classic London buses and trains. This is a very readable history of a much loved and maligned organisation which was, and to a degree still is, deeply entwined with the lives and culture of Britain. Its awkward name – part throwback to BR, part patriotic boosterism in the Boris Johnson mould, part aspiration – speaks to the uncertainty facing Britain’s railways.His books include The Great British Railway Disaster (1997), Stagecoach (1999), Down the Tube (2002), The Subterranean Railway (2004), Broken Rails (2001, updated 2005), On the Wrong Line (2005), Fire and Steam (2009), Blood, Iron and Gold (2009), Engines of War (2010), The Great Railway Revolution (2013), and Railways and The Raj (2017). Excellent book providing a comprehensive, fairly high-level but fascinating and compelling account of BR’s history. Still it was out of this post-Beeching period that the popular support for the railways grew and closure proposals became a lot more difficult and faced greater challenges. In British Rail: A New History, Wolmar argues that, despite its many imperfections, Britain’s railway in the postwar period was a responsive and forward-thinking organization, maintaining that it was a “victim of its history and of the whim of politicians who had little understanding about its achievements and, indeed, its real failings” (xv). From the disappointment of rail closures all the way to the peak of operating efficiency it’s a very comprehensive chronicle that explains all the major events, key players and societal shifts across the decades.

Your personal information will be properly safeguarded and processed in accordance with the requirements of privacy and data protection legislation. Stale sandwiches, inefficiency, and violent yellow carriages- we haven't looked kindly on the last of our state-owned organizations to be privatized. The rushed sell-off that ensued dismantled an organisation that had, after half a century of existence, created a workable structure that had delivered a much improved service. However, we are now able to offer limited "DDP" (Delivered Duty Paid) services to certain EU destinations. The author covers the early years and the phasing out of steam, the notorious and ill conceived Beeching cuts and the later Serpell report and shows how BR was developed from a disparate and still largely 19th Century organisation with its old fashioned hierarchy and procedures to a highly effective, integrated transport system.Nationalisation came at a time when the system was on its knees, the former owners wanted compensation, and the concept of railways was under serious challenge from the roads lobby. Some of the tales are more interesting than others but the infuriating thing is that some of the good ones do not go far enough.