List of constituents of the London and North Eastern Railway explained

The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was formed out of a number of constituent railway companies at the grouping in 1923.

Main companies

The main companies, showing their route mileage, were:

• Great Eastern Railway (GER) miles (1,906 km)^[1]
• Great Central Railway (GCR)^[2] miles (1,364 km)^[1]
• Great Northern Railway (GNR) miles (1,680 km)^[1]
• Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR) miles (535 km)^[1]
• Hull and Barnsley Railway^[2] miles (170 km) (H&BR) (which had amalgamated with the NER on 1 April 1922)^[1]
• North British Railway^[2] 1378miles (NBR)^[1]
• North Eastern Railway^[2] miles (2,812 km) (NER)^[1]

Subsidiary companies

Independently operated lines

• Colne Valley and Halstead Railway 19miles^[1]
• East and West Yorkshire Union Railway miles (15 km)^[1]
• Mid-Suffolk Light Railway miles (31 km)^[1]

Leased or worked railways

Many of these "railways" existed only in name; they were included on the list at the time of the Railways Act in order to legally qualify each line's position.

• Originally leased to or worked by the NER
  • Brackenhill Light Railway (West Yorkshire)
  • Fawcett Depot line (County Durham) miles (9 km)
  • Great North of England, Clarence and Hartlepool Junction line miles (10 km)
• Originally leased to or worked by the GCR
  • • • Humber Commercial Railway and Dock Mansfield Railway 10miles
  • North Lindsey Light Railway 12miles
    • • Seaforth and Sefton Junction Railway Sheffield District Railway miles (7 km)
• Originally leased to or worked by the GER
  • London and Blackwall Railway 6miles
• Originally leased to or worked by the GNR
  • East Lincolnshire Railway miles (76 km)
  • Horncastle Railway miles (12 km)
  • Nottingham and Grantham Railway and Canal 23miles
  • Nottingham Suburban line 4miles
  • Stamford and Essendine Railway miles (20 km)
• Originally leased to or worked by the NBR
  • Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway miles (16 km)
  • Edinburgh and Northern Railway
  • Forth and Clyde Junction Railway miles (49 km)
  • Gifford & Garvald Railway miles (15 km)
  • Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Railway miles (5 km)
  • Kilsyth and Bonnybridge railway miles (14 km) (worked jointly with CalR)
  • Lauder Light Railway miles (16 km)
  • Newburgh and North Fife Railway miles (21 km)
• Originally leased to or worked by H&BR
  • South Yorkshire Junction Railway miles (18 km)
• Originally leased to or worked by several constituent companies
  • Nottingham Joint Station Committee
  • West Riding and Grimsby Railway miles (52 km)

Independently operated joint companies

• East London Railway: jointly leased by the LNER, Southern Railway, Metropolitan Railway (MetR) and District Railway. Traffic operated by MetR (passenger); LNER (goods)
• Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC): operated jointly by LNER/London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). LNER supplies locomotive power; CLC own rolling stock
• Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway: trains worked by both LNER/LMSR^[3]

Joint railways

Now totally LNER

• Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway 123miles
• Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway NaNmiles

Joint with LMS

• Axholme Joint Railway NaNmiles
• Cheshire Lines Committee (share) 142miles
• Caledonian and Dunbartonshire Junction Railway (including Loch Lomond steamers) 7miles
• Dundee and Arbroath Railway (including Carmyllie Light Railway) 23miles
• Great Central and Midland Joint Railway NaNmiles
• Great Central & North Staffordshire Joint Railway 11miles
• Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway 45miles
• Halifax and Ovenden Junction Railway NaNmiles
• Methley Railway (share) 6miles
• Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway NaNmiles
• Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway (share) NaNmiles
• Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge Railway NaNmiles
• Otley & Ilkley Railway NaNmiles
• Perth General Station (share)
• Prince's Dock, Glasgow (share) NaNmiles
• South Yorkshire Joint Railway (share) NaNmiles
• Swinton and Knottingley Joint Railway NaNmiles
• Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway NaNmiles

Joint with GWR

• Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway 41miles

References

Sources

• Book: Hay . Peter . Pre-grouping trains on British railways: the LNER companies . 1984 . Oxford Publishing Company . Poole, Dorset . 0-8609-3315-6.

Notes and References

1. Kennedy . Andrew . The Grouping 100 years on . Steam Days . December 2022 . 400 . 16 . Mortons Media . Horncastle . 0269-0020.
2. Book: Larkin . Edgar J. . An illustrated history of British railways' workshops: locomotive, carriage and wagon building and maintenance, from 1825 to the present day . 1992 . Oxford Publishing Company . Sparkford . 0-8609-3503-5 . Appendix II: railway companies amalgamated to form the four main-line companies in 1923. 175.
3. Book: Blakemore . Michael . LNER in transition . 2004 . Pendragon Publishing . York . 9781899816118 . 54.