Remembering the Big Four (History Press)

£25.00
1 In Stock

The railways of Britain were battered and bruised after the First World War. Over 20,000 miles of track were owned and operated by 120 companies and the government decided the country could no longer support so many inefficient, diverse and, in some cases, overlapping operations.

To stem the mounting losses and regulate the system, the 1921 Railways Act, also known as the Grouping Act, became law on 1 January 1923. Just four large companies remained, nicknamed the ‘Big Four’: the LMS (London, Midland and Scottish Railway); the LNER (London and North Eastern Railway); the SR (Southern Railway); and the GWR (Great Western Railway).

This book devotes a chapter to each of the 'Big Four' companies and illustrates some of the locomotives inherited by each company, as well as locomotives designed and built following 1923. Photographs cover the period between the Grouping of 1923 and the formation of British Railways in 1948. Each black & white archive photograph is accompanied by a caption and a short introduction to this part of Britain's railway history is also included. 168 pages.

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