page_title: Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)
section_title: First World War
hierarchical_section_title: Great Northern Railway (Great Britain) / First World War
caption_attribution_description: Mayflower in LNER green on the Quad Art set
context_page_description: The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company incorporated in 1846 with the object of building a line from London to York. It quickly saw that seizing control of territory was key to development, and it acquired, or took leases of, many local railways, whether actually built or not. In doing so it overextended itself financially.
  Nevertheless, it succeeded in reaching into the coalfields of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire, as well as establishing dominance in Lincolnshire and North London. Bringing coal south to London was dominant, but general agricultural business and short and long distance passenger traffic were important activities. Its fast passenger express trains captured the public imagination, and its Chief Mechanical Engineer Nigel Gresley became a celebrity.
  Anglo-Scottish travel on the East Coast Main Line became commercially important; the GNR controlled the line from London to Doncaster and allied itself with the North Eastern Railway and the North British Railway so as to offer seamless travel facilities.
  The main line railways of Great Britain were "grouped" following the Railways Act 1921 into one or other of four new larger concerns.
context_section_description: During World War I, economies were made, beginning on 22 February 1915 with a general reduction of train services. Passenger trains generally become fewer, but longer. An agreement was reached with the Great Central Railway and the Great Eastern Railway regarding the common use of wagons. Further economies were made in 1916 when the Nottingham to Daybrook and Peterborough to Leicester passenger services were withdrawn; they were never reinstated.
caption: GNR designed stock built under the LNER in 1924
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