How to use this site

This website provides a list of every route operated by British Railways as shown in the Sectional Appendix dated October 1st, 1960 (Some dates different on the Western Region). Don't know what the Sectional Appendix is? Click here.

Where available, I will seek to include information from pre-1960. Lest it be thought that the Beeching era was a new phenomena, the wholesale closure of stations and routes had been going on for many years prior to 1960. WWI economy measures, the great depression and the post WWII rise of road transport all bit deeply into the railway network.

In the National Routes page the country is divided into regions and then sub-divided into sections or, in the case of the Western Region, Traffic Divisions. Clicking on any of the regions/divisions will take you to a list of routes. Then simply click on whichever route interests you.

Once you have found the route that you are looking for, you will see a table containing a list of locations, along with certain other information. At junctions you will see an arrow. These arrows are clickable and will allow you to move from route to route. It will thus be possible to take a 'journey' from Penzance to Thurso, passing every signal box along the way and, hopefully, to get a feel for British Railways as it was during this fascinating period of its history. This is definitely a work in progress, so many areas of the country have little or no information available as yet other than place names..

Without an intimate knowledge of the routes concerned, users will find it difficult to navigate any distance and to keep track of where they are. Maps become an essential tool. In this connection, I get a lot of use out of my Ian Allan Pre-Grouping atlas. If you don't possess such a map then there are excellent online versions available. Some of them are listed on my links page.

Any feedback is always welcome and, indeed, essential. Any mistakes that I have made will remain mistakes without the help of those who know better.

Definite items for inclusion

List of stations, signal boxes, depots and other features in 1960.
Distances between locations.
Number of running lines, loops and refuge sidings
Closing dates of routes and stations.
Links to old OS maps for each station.
Sections of line that have been reopened by preservationists.

Possible items for inclusion

Details of routes closed before 1960.
Private sidings.
Some timetable information for routes.
Features of closed lines that remain traceable and the uses that some have been put to.
Opening dates of routes and stations.