Title: British Rail Content: British Rail (BR) was the national railway company of Great Britain, from 1948 to 1997. It was created by nationalization under the Transport Act 1947. Britain's railways were returned to private ownership by privatization in 1997. ==History== ===Great Britain=== After the smaller firms were merged in 1923 under the Railways Act 1921, there were four large regional railway companies. The Big Four were the Great Western Railway (GWR), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and the Southern Railway (SR). The Transport Act 1947 made provision for the nationalisation of the network. The Second World War had caused damage to all the railways. They had lost a large part of their trains, buildings and equipment. The Transport Act 1947 set out the nationalisation of the rail network, as part of a plan by Clement Attlee's Labour Government to nationalise public transport. The London Underground, some industrial lines and some remaining light railways like Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway were again excluded. For a short time, during World War II, the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway line was taken over by the military. After the war the line re-opened to public use in 1946. The Bicester Military Railway had been built by the government in 1941. The Transport Act 1947 took effect on 1 January 1923. By that date most of the mergers had taken place, some from the previous year. The Railway Magazine in its issue of February 1923 dubbed the new companies as "The Big Four of the New Railway Era". These "Big Four" were: * London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) * Great Western Railway (GWR) * London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) * Southern Railway (SR) See also a list of railway companies involved in the 1923 grouping. ===Northern Ireland=== The nationalised Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) ran the railways in Northern Ireland from 1948 until 1966. They were then taken over by Translink and called NI Railways, also known as Northern Ireland Railways .Ag Taisteal le Translink . Translink The government of Northern Ireland and Ireland ran the former Great Northern Railway jointly under a Great Northern Railway Board until 1958. Most of the lines in the west of Northern Ireland were closed in the 1960s. ==List of railway companies==  \---- Six sub-brands also occurred in the early 2000s: *Wales and Borders, now part of Arriva Trains Wales. *Wessex Trains, now part of First Great Western. ** Silverlink Metro, now London Overground. ** Silverlink County, now part of London Midland. *** West Anglia, now part of National Express East Anglia. *** Great Northern Electrics, now part of National Express East Anglia. ==The company logo== The British Rail "double arrow" logo was said to show direction of travel on a double track railway on a railway map and was nicknamed "the arrow of indecision". It is now employed as a general symbol on street signs in Great Britain, but not in Northern Ireland, denoting railway stations, and as part of the Association of Train Operating Companies (A.T.O.C.)'s joint-managed National Rail brand, still being printed on railway tickets. ==Labour relations== Sometimes strikes happened among British Rail staff, over staff pay, safety, working hours and alike. There were several strikes in the late 1970s, but decreased after privatisation. There were also several other strikes in the late 1970s. Other firms like the UK's coal mines also struck at this time. == Gallery == File:GPO Traveling Pst OffIce train at Carlisle.png|A GPO Travelling Post Office carriage at Carlisle station in 2004. The service was discontinued in the late 2000s. File:Haddenham station 2007..png|Haddenham's demolished old station in 2007. It was closed, along with some other Buckinghamshire stations in the 1960s. Image:55976_at_Bewdley.JPG|Class 127, no. 55976 at Bewdley on 15 October 2004. This rail vehicle is now preserved at the Midland Railway Butterley. File:NSE Mk 2 carrage at Crewe.png|A blue and white Network South East Mk2 and grey and white Intercity Mk1 carriage in Crewe Goods yard during 2001 File:VT at Crewe station 2000.png|A Virgin Trains' MK 3 carriage at Crewe station in the year 2000. It is in its former British Railways (B.R.) Intercity livery. File:BTM wessex-poast.jpg| A Wessex Trains train in Bristol Temple Meads station with British Post Office wagons in the background during 2001 File:Cardiff DMU1.png|A Valley Railways train in Cardiff Central station during 2000 File:Derby GUV van 2004.png|An old Rail Express Systems service General Utility Freight Van at Derby station in the year 2004 File:Romiley 1.jpg|A former Strathclyde Public Transport train passing through Greater Manchester's Romiley Junction during 2003 Image:Class 309 NSE & Jaffa Cake.jpg|Two units, one in Network South East (N.S.E.) livery, while the other unit (an 'Essex Express') in what was nicknamed 'Jaffa Cake' livery Image:1586 at London Victoria.jpg|A south London electric train in modified N.S.E. livery with 'rounded line corners' File:NSE EMU at Farnborough North.jpg|A transitional scene from BR Blue (the train) to NSE (the signage, train sticker) at Farnborough North railway station Image:73201 at Clapham Junction.JPG| A Gatwick Express Class 73 no. 73201 at Clapham Junction Image:86613 and 86610 at Ipswich.JPG| A Freightliner Class 86 nos. 86613 and 86610 at Ipswich Image:Class207DEMU1305.jpg|British Rail Class 207 DEMU (with former Class 411 centre coach in place of the original) preserved at the East Lancashire Railway, Bury Image:Class 303 at Wemyss Bay (April 1984).jpg|TransClyde branded Class 303 unrefurbished unit no. 303 089 at Wemyss Bay railway station