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The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History

RAILWAYS

BRITISH RAILWAYS

Following the Royal Assent of the Transport Act 1947 on August 6th 1947, the four major railway companies, together with the canal system, were nationalised from Thursday January 1st 1948 under the management of the British Transport Commission (BTC). 

What had been the Southern Railway became British Railways (Southern Region) and the former Great Western Railway became British Railways (Western Region).

On the Southern Region the Southern Railway's malachite green was chosen as the "corporate" colour and similarly the Great Western Railway's chocolate brown became the "corporate colour" of the Western Region.  This presumably saved both Regions the bother of repainting all the station name boards although they had to produce the new lozenge-shaped totems that also carried the station names.  However, in the case of the Southern Region, the malachite green was replaced at repainting stage by a darker, more pleasant, green.  [1]

Because in the Plymouth area both Regions became rather entwined, with Western locomotives and even trains running over the Southern main line on occasions, both have been combined into one chronological sequence.

• 1948 and 1949
  The first years of nationalisation

• 1950 to 1954
  The heyday of British Railways in Plymouth

• The Southern Region main line in 1955
  Summary of stations, halts, signal boxes, junctions, tunnels and viaducts

• The Western Region main line in 1955
  Summary of stations, halts, signal boxes, junctions, tunnels and viaducts

• 1955 to 1959
  The start of the decline of Plymouth's railway network

• 1960 to 1964
  Steam in the Plymouth area comes to an end

• Stations, Halts, Signal Boxes, Junctions, Tunnels, and Viaducts
  These are currently only accessible from the other webpages.

The British Railways Board adopted British Rail as a brand name as from Friday January 1st 1965.

Sources:

[1]  Haresnape, Brian (revised by Colin Boocock), "Railway Liveries: BR Steam 1948-1968", Ian Allan Ltd, Shepperton, Surrey, 1989, ISBN 0 7110 1856 1.

©  Brian Moseley, Plymouth, UK

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