list of early british railway companies

The following list sets out to show all the railway companies set up by Acts of Parliament in the 19th century until the late 1850s. Most of them became constituent parts of the emerging main-line railway companies, often immediately after being built. Some continued as independent companies until the 1923 Grouping; a few retained that independence until 1947. They have been listed under Scottish; and English and Welsh early railways 1; and under the later main line company which absorbed them. The list is by no means complete: in 1846 alone there were 272 railways agreed by Act of Parliament, although not all of those were built, since it was the time of the Railway Mania.

1 All the information contained in this article is taken from The Railway Year Book, 1912 (The Railway Publishing Company Limited), which set out the railways in that order. At the time the term Scotch was in use.

Scottish early railways

Caledonian Railway (incorporated 1845)

Wishaw & Coltness Railway
Glasgow, Garnkirk and Coatbridge Railway opened 1831
Dundee & Newtyle Railway opened 1831 (incorporated in Scottish Central Railway)
Scottish Central Railway (to Perth and Dundee)
Scottish North Eastern Railway (to Aberdeen
Callander & Oban Railway opened 1 Jul 1880
Lanarkshire & Ayrshire Railway
Cathcart District Railway
Brechin & Edzell District Railway
Killin Railway

Glasgow and South Western Railway(title assumed 1850)

Kilmarnock & Troon Railway: First railway in Scotland, opened in 1811; originally worked by horses, converted to steam operation in 1817
Glasgow & Ayr Railway opened 12 August 1840
Ardrossan Railway

Great North of Scotland Railway (incorporated 1846)

Alford Valley Railway
Formartine & Buchan Railway
Inverurie & Old Meldrum Railway
Aberdeen & Turriff Railway
Banff, Macduff & Turriff Extension Railway
Keith & Dufftown Railway
Strathspey Railway
Deeside Railway

Highland Railway (title assumed 1865)

Inverness & Nairn Railway (INR) opened 5 November 1855
Nairn and Keith Railway opened 1858 amalgamated with INR 1861

North British Railway (incorporated 1844)

Monkland & Kirkintilloch Railway first publich steam railway in Scotland opened 1826
Edinburgh & Dalkeith Railway opened 1831
and fifty formerly independent companies, including the following:
Invergarry & Fort Augustus Railway
Newburgh & North Fife Railway
Dundee & Arbroath Railway
Edinburgh Suburban & Southside Junction Railway

English and Welsh early railways

Cambrian - Isle of Wight

Cambrian Railways incorporated between 1864-1904

Oswestry and Newtown Railway 30 miles: incorporated June 6 1855; opened 1860-61
Llanidloes and Newtown Railway 12.25 miles: August 4 1853; 1859. Until 1861 this section of the line was completely isolated
Newtown and Machynlleth Railway 23 miles: July 27 1857; 1863
Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway 18 miles: August 1 1861; 1863-64
Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway 86 miles: July 26 1861; 1863-69
Mid-Wales Railway 45.5 miles: August 1 1859; September 1 1864. This Railway maintained complete independence from the Cambrian until 1 January 1888, when the latter took over working the line; and on 1 July 1904 when the two Railways amalgamated.
and several railways opened in the 1860s

Furness Railway (first section) opened 11 August 1846
Great Central Railway incorporated 1897

Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Wigan Junction Railway
Wrexham, Mold & Connah's Quay Railway
North Wales and Liverpool Railway
Wigan Junction Railway
Liverpool, St Helens & South Lancashire Railway

Great Eastern Railway

Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) opened 20 June 1839; original 5ft gauge coverted to standard in 1845
Northern & Eastern Railway incorporated 1836 gauge conversion as with ECR
Norfolk Railway
Harwich Railway
East Anglian Railway
East Suffolk Railway

Great Northern Railway incorporated 1846

London & York Railway
Direct Northern Railway

Great Western Railway incorporated 1835

Bristol & Exeter Railway openeed 1 May 1844
South Wales Railway opened c1846
West Midland Railway opened 1845-6
South Devon Railway opened 1 May 1848
Cornwall Railway opened 1859

Isle of Wight Central Railway amagamation of three railways including:

Cowes & Newport Railway incorporated 1859

Lancashire - Midland

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway incorporated 1847. In 1846 the Liverpool & Bury Railway was amalgamated with the Manchester and Leeds Railway, which became known as The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1847

Manchester & Leeds Railway incorporated 1836
Manchester & Bolton Railway opened 1838
Ashton, Stalybridge & Liverpool Junction Railway 1844
Liverpool & Bury Railway 1845
East Lancashire Railway opened 1846: a section of this line is now a heritage railway
Wakefield, Pontefract & Goole Railway opened 1848

London and North Western Railway (LNWR) formed by amalgamation in 1846, there were 45 formerly independent railways within the LNWR, including:

Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened 15 September 1830
London and Birmingham Railway (first section) opened 20 Jul 1837; opened throughout 17 September 1838
Grand Junction Railway opened 1837
Manchester and Birmingham Railway
Preston & Wyre Railway opened 1840
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
Cromford and High Peak Railway
Kendal and Windermere Railway

London and South Western Railway (LSWR)

London & Southampton Railway opened (first section) 21 May 1838; renamed LSWR 1839
Richmond Railway opened 27 July 1846
Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway opened 1848/1849
Southampton and Dorchester Railway opened 1 Jun 1847; extended to Weymouth 20 Jun 1857
Lymington Railway opened 12 July 1858, closed 1967

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway:

Surrey Iron Railway opened 1804 (4ft gauge)
London & Croydon Railway incorporated 1835 opened 1839
London & Brighton Railway opened throughout 21 September 1841

London, Chatham and Dover Railway

East Kent Railway incorporated 1853

London, Tilbury and Southend Railway incorporated 1862 amalgamated with Midland Railway 1912

London & Blackwall Railway

Maryport & Carlisle Railway (first section) opened 1845. Remained indepedent until the 1923 Grouping
Metropolitan Railway (MetR)

North Metropolitan Railway incorporated 1853; became MetrR 1854. Other sections followed in 1860-70

Midland Railway: formed 1844 by amalgamation:

North Midland Railway
Midland Counties Railway
Birmingham & Derby Railway
Leicester and Swannington Railway opened 14 July 1832
Sheffield & Rotherham Railway 1838
Birmingham & Gloucester Railway opened 17 December 1840
"Little" North Western Railway (Skipton - Lancaster) opened 1 June 1850
Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Goole Railway Company

North Eastern - Taff Vale

North Eastern Railway incorporated 1854

Stockton & Darlington Railway incorporated 1821
Newcastle & Carlisle Railway incorporated 1829
York, Newcastle & Berwick Railway
York & North Midland Railway

North London Railway incorporated 1846 original name:

East & West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway

'''North Staffordshire Railway amalgamation in 1847 of the following three lines, and later of five other lines (most after 1860):

Potteries Railway
Churnet Valley Railway
Harecastle & Sandbach Railway
Potteries, Biddulph and Congleton Railway incorporated 1854

'''Rhymney Railway incorporated 1854
South Eastern Railway incorporated 1836

London and Greenwich Railway
Canterbury and Whitstable Railway

Taff Vale Railway (TVR) incorporated 1836. Among the eight railways amalgamated with the TVR is one early railway:

Aberdare Railway opened 1846