Records of the pre-nationalisation railway companies, pre-nationalisation canal and related companies, the London Passenger Transport Board, and successors

RAIL

The records in RAIL are those of all private railway companies and private canal companies taken into public ownership by the Transport Act of 1947, together with records which relate to the railway network, and those of associated bodies.

They are as follows:

• the records of the Great Western Railway Company (GWR), the London Midland and Scottish Railway Company (LMS), the London and North Eastern Railway Company (LNER), and the Southern Railway Company (SR), together with their associated undertakings;
• the records of private canal companies;
• the records of the London Passenger Transport Board, 1933-1947;
• and other railway records, from both private and public sources, relating mainly to the pre-nationalisation period.

These records relate to all administrative and operational aspects of private railway and private canal companies, to the railway network, and to their associated functions.

1634-1982

Records of the British Transport Commission can be found in AN
Correspondence concerning the British Transport Historical Records is in AN 104
Additional material concerning individual railway companies is in MT 6

The National Archives, Kew

Public Record

English

1203 series

, from 1977 British Railways Board, British Railways Board Record Centre

Following nationalisation, the records of the 'big four' railway companies and their associated undertakings, together with the records of all canal companies, and other transport records relating to these companies and their functions, came under the aegis of the British Transport Commission (BTC). Between the years 1951 and 1962, the records of these companies, and of associated operations, under the aegis of the BTC were transferred to the British Transport Historical Records Office (BTHR) at Porchester Road London W2. In 1962, these records became the responsibility of British Railways Board, and in 1972, of the Public Record Office. In 1977, the BTHR Office was closed, and the British Railways Board Records Centre opened on the same site. The transfer of holdings of BTHR to the PRO began in the same year.

BTHR card index in the reading rooms at The National Archives, Kew.