2020 Anniversaries

400th anniversary

1620 Sep  6   Chartered merchantman Mayflower departs Plymouth for New England (having set out from Rotherhithe on Jul 15).

300th anniversary

1720 Mar 23   River Weaver Navigation Trustees appointed by Act to make river navigable.

1720 Mar 24   Thomas Steers and William Squire appointed as undertakers by Act to make River Douglas navigable; little work is done under this authority.

1720 Apr 12   Ralph Allen of Bath signs his first contract with the General Post Office for operation of cross posts.

1720 Jun 11   Royal Exchange established as marine insurers.

1720 — –         Birth of Henry Berry, canal and dock engineer (St Helens) (d. 1812).

1720 approx   Parnall’s Canal built.

1720 approx   Birth of Thomas Gilbert, canal promoter (Cotton Hall, Staffs.) (d. 1798).

250th anniversary

1770 Mar 31   Trent & Mersey Canal first section opens (Jun 24 Derwent Mouth–Shugborough; Sep Great Heywood–Weston (R. Trent)).

1770 Apr 12   Monkland Canal authorised by Act.

1770 May 19  Leeds & Liverpool Canal authorised by Act.

1770 Sep 17   Limehouse Cut opens.

1770 Nov –     Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrates his second steam-powered tractor in Paris.

1770 —           Kirklees Park iron footbridge opened (Maurice Tobin, builder)

1770 approx   Fordell Rly constructed as wooden wagonway in Fife.

1770 approx   Harbour at Charlestown, Fife, begun by Charles Bruce, Earl of Elgin.

1770 approx   Bridges at Bridge of Weir (Burngill) and Pontardawe constructed; also park bridges at Kedleston Hall and Weston Park.

1770 approx   Smeaton’s Arches at South Muskham, Notts, built to carry Great North Road across island in Trent.

200th anniversary

1820 Jan 21   Birth of Egide Walschaerts, locomotive engineer (Mechelen) (d. 1901).

1820 Apr  9    Birth of Richard Peacock, locomotive engineer (Swaledale) (d. 1889).

1820 Apr 12   Birth of John Addison, railway engineer and M&CR manager (Liverpool) (d. 1903).

1820 Apr 27   Birth of Herbert Spencer, railway engineer and philosopher (Derby) (d. 1903).

1820 Apr 30   Birth of Daniel Adamson, Soho Works manager and Manchester Ship Canal chairman (Shildon) (d. 1890).

1820 May  1   Kington Ry opens Eardisley–Kington, Herefordshire, as a horse-worked plateway. Together with the Hay Railway it forms a continuous system 36 miles (45 km) in length, the longest in UK at this date.

1820 May  8   Birth of J.W. Hackworth, mechanical engineer (Walbottle) (d. 1891).

1820 May 24  Birth of Benjamin Burleigh, civil engineer and NER architect (Oxford) (d. 1876).

1820 May end?  PS Stirling Castle begins regular Fort William–Inverness service through Caledonian Canal.

1820 Jun  2    Birth of Peter J. Margary, GWR civil engineer (Kensington) (d. 1896).

1820 Jun 29   Birth of Patrick Stirling, GNR locomotive engineer (Kilmarnock) (d. 1895).

1820 Jul 26    Union Chain Bridge across River Tweed between England and Scotland opened (Capt. Samuel Brown, engineer; span 449 ft (137 m), longest in Western world at this time), first wrought iron vehicular suspension bridge of its type in Britain.

1820 Aug  1   Regent’s Canal opens Camden–Regent’s Canal Dock (Limehouse Basin).

1820 Aug 13   Birth of George Grove, civil engineer and music and biblical scholar (Clapham) (d. 1900).

1820 Aug –     Plas Kynaston Canal authorised.

1820 Sep 26   Birth of Alfred Belpaire, locomotive engineer (Ostend) (d. 1893).

1820 Sep –     Stratford & Moreton Rly prospectus issued.

1820 Oct 23   John Birkinshaw of Bedlington Ironworks granted patent for rolled rails.

1820 Dec 15   Henry Bell’s PS Comet sinks near Craignish.

1820 Dec 24   Birth of Frederick Saunders, GWR chairman (d. 1901).

1820 Dec –     Lough Allen Canal opens.

1820 — –         Birth of Thomas Higginbotham, civil engineer in Victoria (Dublin) (d. 1880).

1820 — –         First steamship on the Irish Sea crossing from Dublin to Liverpool, the Waterloo, introduced by George Langtry of Belfast.

1820 — –         Birkenhead ferry across the Mersey first runs.

1820 — –         Chaddock navigable level opens in Worsley coalfield.

1820 — –         Turnpike over Snake Pass opened.

1820 — –         First known tied iron arch bridge, road over Chelmer near Chelmsford (Ralph Dodd, engineer).

1820 — –         Replacement stone Tempsford Bridge opened over Bedfordshire Ouse (James Savage, architect).

1820 approx   Elgin Rly at Charlestown, Fife, rebuilt with inclined plane and bridge (Charles Landale, engineer) and relaying with malleable iron edge rails begins.

175th anniversary

1845 Jan  1    SER begins lease of London & Greenwich Rly.

1845 Jan  1    John Tawell, having committed murder, is tracked by a message over the Great Western Rly telegraph Slough–Paddington.

1845 Jan 14   Bristol & Gloucester (broad gauge) and Birmingham & Gloucester Rlys agree to amalgamate as the Bristol & Birmingham Rly.

1845 Jan 16   GWR and L&SWR territorial agreement.

1845 Jan 22   Launch of first clipper ship Rainbow in New York (John W. Griffiths, designer); Feb maiden voyage to Hong Kong.

1845 Jan 30   Midland Rly agrees to lease Bristol & Gloucester (broad gauge) and Birmingham & Gloucester Rlys, the GWR having declined purchase terms (final agreement Feb 8; lease commences May 7).

1845 Jan –      Thomas Grendon completes his first new locomotives in Drogheda.

1845 Feb 10   Gravesend & Rochester Rly & Canal Co. opens railway Gravesend–Strood through Thames & Medway Canal’s Strood Tunnel to regular traffic.

1845 Mar  1    Chester & Holyhead Rly construction begins.

1845 Apr  1    L&SWR introduces Cooke & Wheatstone’s electric telegraph Gosport–Nine Elms, available for public use.

1845 Apr  3    Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society established as the Association for the Protection of Public Rights of Roadway in and around Edinburgh.

1845 Apr 19   Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne & Manchester Rly Ashton viaduct collapses under construction (7 killed).

1845 May  1   Hungerford & Lambeth Suspension Footbridge Co.’s Hungerford Bridge opens (1440 ft (439 m) loa with 676 ft (206 m) main span; I.K. Brunel, engineer).

1845 May  2   Great Yarmouth suspension bridge collapses (79 killed).

1845 May  5   Guildford Junction Rly opens Woking–Guildford.

1845 May  8   Railway Clauses Consolidation Act.

1845 May  8   Ellesmere & Chester and Birmingham & Liverpool Juncn Canals merger authorised by Act.

1845 May 10  Maryport & Carlisle Rly completed throughout to Carlisle (Feb 10 Aspatria–Wigtown).

1845 May 12  Cheltenham & Great Western Union Rly opens Kemble Juncn–Gloucester (B&G station), including Sapperton tunnel (1864 yds/1704 m) and St Mary’s Viaduct, Chalford (longest timber truss at this date at 74 ft (22.5 m),

1845 May 13  London & Birmingham Rly opens Blisworth–Northampton.

1845 May 16  Weardale Extension Rly opens Crook–Waskerley for minerals (Jul 4 to passengers); built by Stockton & Darlington Rly for Derwent Iron Co. S&DR opens Cold Rowley–Crook.

1845 May 19  HMS Erebus and Terror sail from Greenhithe on Sir John Franklin’s expedition to find the Northwest Passage; they have auxiliary engines adapted from former London & Birmingham/London & Greenwich Rly locomotives. The ships will last be seen in August entering Baffin Bay until their wrecks are located in 2014–16 (134 killed).

1845 May 22  Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal completed Withington wharf–Hereford basin.

1845 Jun  2    London & Birmingham Rly opens Northampton–Peterborough for passengers (Dec 15 to goods).

1845 Jun  2    Wilsontown, Morningside & Coltness Rly opens Coltness–Longridge.

1845 Jun  9    Manchester & Birmingham Rly opens Cheadle–Poynton; extended Nov 24 to Macclesfield terminus.

1845 Jun  9    Duke of Norfolk opens Glossop branch railway.

1845 Jun 30   Yarmouth & Norwich and Norwich & Brandon Rlys merge to form Norfolk Rly; York & North Midland Rly takes over Whitby & Pickering Rly.

1845 Jun 30   Railways authorised include: Chester & Holyhead Rly Britannia Bridge, Kendal & Windermere Rly, Syston & Peterborough Rly, Wilts, Somerset & Weymouth Rly (also Reading to Hungerford and Basingstoke branches).

1845 Jul  1     York & North Midland Rly takes over Hull & Selby Rly; Newcastle & Darlington Rly begins working Great North of England Rly.

1845 Jul  8     Bristol & Gloucester Rly opens Westerleigh–Standish.

1845 Jul  8     York & North Midland Rly opens York–Scarborough to public; also Rillington–Pickering, initially horse worked.

1845 Jul  9     Royal Commission on Railway Gauges set up; begins work Aug 6.

1845 Jul 21    An unprecedented number of railway acts receive Royal Assent as the railway mania approaches its peak, Parliament having sanctioned 2,816 miles (4532 km) of new construction. These include: Belfast & Ballymena Rly; Dublin &  Belfast Juncn Rly; Huddersfield & Manchester Rly & Canal (including acquisition of Huddersfield Narrow Canal); Leeds & Thirsk Rly; Middlesbrough & Redcar Rly; Midland Great Western Rly (Ireland; including acquisition of Royal Canal); Richmond Rly (branch from Battersea); and Southampton & Dorchester Rly.

1845 Jul 21    Canal Clauses Act permits canal companies to act as carriers.

1845 Jul 21?   Canal Tolls Act permits canal companies to vary tolls within their maxima.

1845 Jul 26–Aug 10  I.K. Brunel’s SS Great Britain makes her maiden voyage Liverpool–New York, the first screw steamship to make the passage.

1845 Jul 30    Norfolk Rly opens Norwich (Trowse)–Brandon to public (Dec 15 connection to Norwich (Thorpe) via swing bridge); Northern & Eastern Rly opens Bishop’s Stortford–Newport to public, giving a through route from London (Shoreditch) to Norwich.

1845 Jul 31    Newcastle & Berwick Rly (including High Level Bridge, Newcastle), Aberdeen Rly; Edinburgh & Northern Rly; and Wear Valley Rly authorised by Act; Bristol & Exeter Rly Clevedon, Yeovil and Tiverton branches authorised by Act.

1845 Jul –       Bridgwater Quay branch opened.

1845 Jul –       GJR turns out first ‘standard single’ locomotive, no. 49 Columbine, from its Crewe works (Francis Trevithick, locomotive superintendent; Stephenson link motion).

1845 Aug  4   Broad gauge lines authorised: Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton, Oxford & Rugby and South Wales Rlys.

1845 Aug  8   Grand Junction Rly absorbs Liverpool & Manchester, Bolton & Leigh and Kenyon & Leigh Juncn Rlys.

1845 Aug 22   London & Croydon Rly runs its first atmospheric test trains.

1845 Sep 13   L&SWR extended Gosport terminus–Royal Victoria Station (Royal Clarence Victualling Yard).

1845 Sep 19   SER opens Tonbridge–Tunbridge Wells.

1845 Sep –     GWR begins introduction of ironclad 6-wheeled Parliamentary carriages.

1845 Sep c.   Edmondson begins supply of his ticket system to GWR.

1845 Oct 16   Bank of England raises bank rate to 3%.

1845 Oct 27   London & Croydon begins experimental (free) passenger services on atmospheric system.

1845 Oct –      Londonderry & Coleraine Rly “Great Blast” of rocks near Downhill.

1845 Nov  1   Teignmouth Harbour Commissioners’ Teignmouth lighthouse first illuminated.

1845 Nov –     Stockton & Darlington Rly ‘Tory’ class 0-6-0 Derwent delivered by W. & A. Kitching.

1845 Nov 24   London & Brighton Rly opens Shoreham–Worthing.

1845 Dec 11   Birth of Richard Francis Trevithick, locomotive engineer in Japan (Cornwall) (d. 1913).

1845 Dec 16   Broad v. narrow gauge locomotive trials begin.

1845 Dec 23   Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne & Manchester Rly opens to public throughout (Dec 22 officially), including Woodhead Tunnel and Stalybridge station (tunnel 3 miles (4840 m); Charles Vignoles and Joseph Locke, engineers). (Jul 14 Sheffield–Dunford Bridge; Dec 30 Guide Bridge–Stalybridge (Ashton branch).)

1845 prob. –   Birth of Samuel Geoghegan, railway and brewery engineer (Dublin) (d. 1928).

Sesquicentenary

1870 Jan 10   Death of Robert W. Kennard, railway ironwork, contractor (London) (d. 1800).

1870 Jan 28   or Feb 4  GPO takes over private inland telegraph companies under terms of Telegraph Act 1869.

1870 Jan 31   GER ceases to work Tottenham & Hampstead Rly; reopens Oct 1 worked by Midland Rly.

1870 Jan –      Trinity House Wolf Rock lighthouse first illuminated (Douglass family, engineers).

1870 Feb  1    Midland Rly opens Chesterfield–Sheffield.

1870 Feb  1    NSR opens Silverdale–Market Drayton.

1870 Feb  1    William Stroudley takes office as LB&SCR locomotive superintendent; he is replaced on Highland Rly by David Jones.

1870 Feb  1    Humber Agreement: LNWR, L&YR, NER and MS&LR pool transpennine goods receipts to Humber ports.

1870 Feb 14   L&YR opens Blackrod–Horwich to passengers.

1870 Mar  1    Northern Lighthouse Board’s Scurdie Ness lighthouse first illuminated (David and Thomas Stevenson, engineers). Their Stoer Head lighthouse is also built this year.

1870 Mar  5    West India South Dock, converted from City Canal, opened to shipping.

1870 Mar  7    Great Indian Peninsula Railway completes link between Itarsi and Jabalpur where it connects with the East Indian Railway, giving through rail communication from Bombay to Calcutta.

1870 Mar  8    Solway Juncn Rly opens Kirtlebridge–Bowness to passengers.

1870 Mar 14   L&SWR opens Christchurch–Bournemouth via Ringwood.

1870 Mar 26   Birth of Guy Calthrop, L&NWR general manager (Uppngham) (d. 1919).

1870 Apr  5    Bristol & Exeter Rly opens Cheddar–Wells on broad gauge.

1870 Apr 18   Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Rly opens Llanymynech–Llanyblowell to passengers.

1870 Apr 26    Suicide of Zerah Colburn, locomotive designer and engineering journalist (Belmont, Massachusetts) (b. 1832).

1870 Apr –      GNR turns out first class A2 4-2-2 “single” locomotive, no. 1, from its Doncaster works (Patrick Stirling, locomotive superintendent; works no. 50).

1870 May  2   L&SWR opens Pirbright Juncn–Farnham.

1870 May  2   Barnsley Court House station opens, initially to Midland Rly trains.

1870 May  2   Metropolitan Street Tramways begin first permanent London (horse) tram service in Brixton Road.

1870 May 30  District Rly extends Westminster Bridge–Blackfriars to passengers.

1870 Jun  1    Killin Rly opens.

1870 Jun  1    NER opens Newcastle Quayside branch to goods

1870 Jun  1    Merrybent & Darlington Rly opens Merrybent Juncn–Burton to goods, including Tees bridge.

1870 Jun  1–Oct 31 GWR operates Paddington (Bishops Road)–Richmond passenger service via Hammersmith (Grove Road).

1870 Jun 22   Cheshire Lines Committee opens West Cheshire line Northwich–Helsby to passengers.

1870 Jun 29   Death of William T. Blacklock, railway timetable publisher (Manchester) (b. 1815).

1870 Jul  1     Cheshire Lines Committee opens Cuddington–Winsford & Over to passengers (Jun 1 goods, also Hartford Juncn–Winnington).

1870 Jul  1     L&NWR opens Edge Hill (Liverpool)–Canada Dock (Bootle) to passengers throughout.

1870 Jul  2     Composite tea clipper Lothair (825 tg) launched at Lavender Dock by William Walker for his own use, the last large vessel built at Rotherhithe.

1870 Jul  4     Hoylake Rly services suspended east of Leasowe following writ of ejectment secured by local landowner.

1870 Jul  5     L&NWR opens connection to Carnarvon (Town) station from south via tunnel.

1870 Jul  5     District Rly completes Cromwell Curve; Metropolitan immediately severs junction.

1870 Jul 13    Victoria Embankment in London officially opened (Joseph Bazalgette, engineer).

1870 Jul 24    (probable date) NSR opens Alsager Juncn–Honeywall Juncn, Keele to goods, also Bignall Hill and Jamage branches.

1870 Jul 29    Birth of Henry Fowler, CME, Midland and LMS railways (Evesham) (d. 1938).

1870 Aug early c.  Oxford Canal removes last section of Fenny Compton tunnel.

1870 Aug  2   Official opening of Tower Subway beneath the River Thames in London. Although this lasts as a railway operation only until November, it demonstrates the technologically successful first use of the cylindrical wrought iron tunnelling shield devised by Peter W. Barlow and James Henry Greathead and of a permanent tunnel lining of cast iron segments.

1870 Aug  6   James Staats Forbes appointed District Rly’s first general manager (in addition to holding same post on LC&DR).

1870 Aug  8   Solway Juncn Rly opens Bowness–Kirkbridge Juncn and Abbey Juncn–Brayton to passengers.

1870 Aug  9   Tramways Act gives power to local authorities to regulate street tramways (including compulsory purchase after 21 years) and requires tramway companies to maintain road around their tracks.

1870 Aug 10   Act for vesting in the Great Western Railway Company the undertaking of the Company of Proprietors of the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal Navigation.

1870 Aug 11   James Starley of Coventry Machinists’ Co. patents his ‘ribbon’ wire-spoked wheel, used on the Ariel ‘ordinary’ cycle he manufactures with William Hillman.

1870 Aug 19   Dingwall & Skye Rly opens to Stome Ferry to passengers (Aug 5 to goods).

1870 Aug 23   Birth of Stephen D. Holden, GER locomotive superintendent (Saltney) (d. 1918).

1870 Aug 23–Sep 1 GWR converts Wycombe Rly from broad to standard gauge.

1870 Aug 27   White Star’s first ocean liner, RMS Oceanic, is launched by Harland & Wolff in Belfast.

1870 Sep  1   G&SWR opens Mauchline–Ayr.

1870 Sep 16   Death in office of Thomas Stubbs, L&NWR Crewe works manager (b. 1836).

1870 Sep 25   Death of John Braithwaite, mechanical and civil engineer (London) (b. 1797).

1870 Sep –     Henry Oakley succeeds Seymour Clarke as GNR General Manager.

1870 Oct 26   Waterford, New Ross & Wexford Juncn Rly opens/reopens Macmine–Borris (Sep 5 to Bagenalstown).

1870 Nov  1   Northumberland Central Rly opens Scot’s Gap–Pilling.

1870 Nov  1   Duke of Sutherland’s Rly opens Dunrobin–West Helmsdale (authorised Jun 20).

1870 Nov  1   L&YR opens Rochdale–Facit to passengers (Oct 5 to goods).

1870 Nov  1   Caledonian Rly begins negotiations to purchase private traders’ wagons.

1870 Nov  1   Great Northern & Western Rly (Ireland) leased to Midland Great Western Rly.

1870 Nov 14   Caledonian Rly opens Forfar–Broughty Juncn to passengers (Aug 12 to goods).

1870 Nov 23   NBR opens City of Glasgow Union Railway Bellgrove–Coatbridge.

1870 Dec  5   Garstang & Knott End Rly opens Garstang–Pilling.

1870 Dec  8   Death of Thomas Brassey, railway contractor (St Leonards) (b. 1805).

1870 Dec 12   City of Glasgow Union Rly opens Bellgrove–Dunlop Street and Pollock Juncn.

1870 Dec 12   MS&LR Stairfoot accident: stationary passenger train struck in rear by runaway wagons following shunting mishap (15 killed).

1870 Dec 26   GNR Hatfield (Marshmoor) accident: derailment at speed due to defective tyre (8 killed).

1870              Monmouthshire Rly opens Cwmfrwydoer and Cwmnantdu branches during year.

1870 — –         Birth of George Glover, GNR(I) locomotive engineer (London) (d. 1953).

1870 — –         James Deakin of Stevens & Co., railway signalling engineers, invents tappet locking.

1870 — –         Thomas Gooderson of GWR Reading Signal Works patents single twist locking.

1870 — –         Saxby & Farmer, railway signalling engineers, introduce plunger type facing point lock.

1870 — –         Flixton estate replacement Homersfield Bridge, Norfolk, built, the earliest remaining concrete bridge (concrete arch encasing wrought iron; H.M. Eyton, architect; W. & T. Phillips, contractors).

1870 approx   Cassington Cut disused.

125th anniversary

1895 Jan  1    MGWR opens Galway–Oughterard; extended Jul 1 to Clifden.

1895 Jan 30   Norddeutscher Lloyd transatlantic liner SS Elbe (built Govan, 1881) in collision with British coaster Crathie in North Sea sinks (332 killed).

1895 Mar  3    Death of Alfred Giles, railway and dock engineer (b. 1816).

1895 Mar 18–Dec 20  Netphener Omnibus Co. runs motor landau service Siegen–Netphen–Deuz (15 km; Benz).

1895 Apr 23   Death of Francis Thompson, railway architect (Bredfield, Suffolk) (b. 1808).

1895 May  1   Dublin & Blessington Steam Tramway extends services to Poulaphouca.

1895 May 13  MGWR opens Westport–Achill.

1895 Jun  1    Caledonian Rly opens Forfar–Brechin to passengers (Jan 7 to goods).

1895 Jun  1    Wirral Rly opens Seacombe branch.

1895 Jun  3    Donegal Rly opens Glenties branch on 3 ft (0.91 m) gauge.

1895 Jun 20   Kiel Canal opened.

1895 Jun 27   Lynton & Barnstaple Rly authorised.

1895 Jun –      Viscount Emlyn succeeds Frederick Saunders as GWR chairman.

1895 Jul  1–Aug 22  Railway ‘Race to the North’.

1895 Jul  1     GWR opens Llandyssil–Newcastle Emlyn.

1895 Jul  6     Thames & Severn Canal transferred to Trust by Act.

1895 Jul  6     Hon. Evelyn Ellis (with Frederick Simms) drives the first petrol-engined car imported into Britain, a Daimler-engined Panhard-Levassor, from Micheldever L&SWR station to Datchet. On Sep 9 David Salomons imports the second and five more are imported by end Dec.

1895 Jul 13    Rye & Camber Tramway opens officially to passengers on 3 ft (0.91 m) gauge.

1895 Jul 16    PO trunk telephone network opens to public.

1895 Jul –       Light Railways Syndicate formed by Edward Peterson, solicitor, of Staplehurst with Holman F. Stephens as engineer; only Sheppey Light Rly is built under this scheme.

1895 Jul –       British Motor Syndicate formed, acquiring Daimler Motor Syndicate.

1895 Aug 20   LBSCR SS Seaford sinks after collision in Channel.

1895 Aug 21   Snaefell Mountain Rly opens to passengers on Isle of Man (3 ft 6 in. (1067 mm) gauge, Fell centre rail, 500 V DC, overhead, rigid bow collectors).

1895 Sep ?    Trinity House replacement Spurn Point lighthouse first illuminated (Thomas Matthews, engineer).

1895 Sep 16   GWR open Lostwithiel–Fowey.

1895 Oct  1    Waterford & Limerick Rly opens Claremorris–Collooney.

1895 Oct  1    GWR abandons compulsory refreshment stop at Swindon.

1895 Oct  1    Northern Lighthouse Board’s Sule Skerry lighthouse, Orkney, first illuminated (D. Alan Stevenson, engineer).

1895 Oct 15   Horseless Carriage Exhibition at Tunbridge Wells with 5 exhibits.

1895 Oct 17   John Henry Knight is charged (and on Oct 31 convicted) with using a locomotive (his self-built three-wheeled petrol-engined motor car) on the public highway in Fareham without a licence.

1895 Oct 28   First motor car in Scotland delivered, a Panhard for George Johnston, an engineer of Springburn Park, Glasgow.

1895 Nov  1   Last turnpike toll-gates removed, from Llanfairpwllgwyngyll on Anglesey.

1895 Nov  2   The Autocar magazine begins publication.

1895 Nov 10   GNR St Neots accident: down sleeping car train derails following broken rail due to wear (2 killed).

1895 Nov 11   Death of Patrick Stirling, locomotive engineer, GNR, 10 days after resigning in favour of H.A. Ivatt (Doncaster) (b. 1820).

1895 Dec  4   Andrew Dougall tenders resignation as Highland Rly general manager following criticism of his share dealing.

1895 Dec 24   Kingstown (Ireland) life-boat capsizes on service (15 killed).

1895 — –         Vincent Raven of NER patents his train warning system.

1895              During the year Percy Pilcher’s flies in several versions of his glider Bat at Cardross, the first person to make repeated heavier-than-air flights in the British Isles.

Centenary

1920 Jan  1    Walter Chalmers succeeds William P. Reid as NBR locomotive superintendent.

1920 Jan  9    Cargo steamer Treveal wrecked in English Channel (35 killed).

1920 Jan –      Liverpool begins first general introduction of covered-top double-deck buses.

1920 Jan –      Announcement that names will be painted on roofs of selected railway stations in southern England to assist international flights.

1920 Feb 16   Committee on canal improvement chaired by Neville Chamberlain announced.

1920 Feb 18   S. Instone & Co. begin public London (Hounslow Heath)–Paris (Le Bourget) service.

1920 Feb 18   Cricklewood Aerodrome opened for international flights.

1920 Feb 21   Colwill’s (Ilfracombe) Ltd registered with Crosland Taylor interest to take over coaching business of Laura Colwill, abandoning its horse operations.

1920 Mar 12   McKenzie, Holland & Westinghouse tender successfully for Liverpool Overhead Rly track circuit controlled day colour light signalling.

1920 Mar 22   Institute of Transport first presidential address (Sir Eric Geddes, ‘Transport and the State’; Feb 6 first Council meeting).

1920 Mar 25   NSR closes Caldon Low tramway.

1920 Mar 27   Isles of Scilly Steamship Co. incorporated.

1920 Mar 29   Croydon Aerodrome opens as principal London airport, replacing Hounslow Heath.

1920 Apr  1 c.                                    Chapman’s of Bournemouth offer first continental motor coach tours from UK, Eastbourne to battlefields.

1920 Apr  2?  Hardy Central Garage of Minehead and Tom Jones of Lynton introduce motor charabancs on Minehead–Lynton service via Porlock Hill, superseding Jones’s horse-drawn coaches operated in conjunction with the GWR.

1920 Apr  9    Birth of Alex Moulton, vehicle suspension system engineer (d. 2012).

1920 Apr 16   Birth of Alan Pegler, railway preservationist (London) (d. 2012).

1920 Apr 20   Slough Trading Co. established to offer reconditioned army surplus road vehicles for sale.

1920 May 24  GWR Trenance Valley line opened throughout to Lansalson for mineral traffic (May 1 to Bojea Sidings).

1920 May 20  Stirling & Bridge of Allan Tramway (horse and petrol operated) closes.

1920 May 25  Death of Jean Baptiste Flamme, locomotive engineer (Bruxelles) (b. 1847).

1920 Jun 20   Arigna Valley Rly (3 ft gauge (0.91 m), worked by Cavan & Leitrim Rly) opens for mineral traffic.

1920 Jun end Ministry of Transport (minister: Eric Geddes) publishes Outline of Proposals as to the Future Organisation of Transport Undertakings in Great Britain and Their Relation to the State (Cmd. 787) (following Statement as to railways (Cmd. 654)) proposing reorganisation of railways into seven groups – Southern, Western, North Western, Eastern, North Eastern, London and Scotland – with workers’ representatives on boards and surplus revenues used to establish a development fund for construction of light railways.

1920 Jul  5     Salford Corporation begins motor bus services.

1920 Jul 10    (by) MS Fullagar, built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, the first all-welded seagoing cargo ship, completes sea trials before entering service (briefly) with Brocklebank Line.

1920 Jul 10    Thames Valley Traction (bus company) constituted as subsidiary of British Automotive Traction.

1920 Jul 15    Barrington Light Rly Order confirmed for Dreadnought Portland Cement Co., Cambs.

1920 Jul 19    Queen’s Dock at Swansea Docks opened for oil imports.

1920 Jul c.     Death of G.P. Neele, L&NWR Superintendent of the Line 1874–95 (Watford).

1920 Aug  1   (or May?) GWR begins miners’ service Port Talbot–Corrwg Merthyr.

1920 Aug  3   Central London Rly extends electric passenger services over GWR Ealing & Shepherd’s Bush Rly Wood Lane–East Acton–Ealing Broadway, using three-position upper quadrant semaphore signalling.

1920 Aug  6   Rail fares increased by 16⅔%.

1920 Aug  8   Neath Corporation Tramways closes, last gas-powered system in British Isles and first municipal tramway abandonment.

1920 Aug 16   Capt. C.V. Rogers, appointed Cavan & Leitrim Rly locomotive superintendent in succession to Thomas H. Shanks, serves one day in office before being kidnapped and de facto dismissed.

1920 Aug 17   Canadian Pacific Steamships’ transatlantic liner RMS Empress of Canada is launched at Fairfield’s, Govan.

1920 Aug 18   London night bus services introduced.

1920 Aug 31   Government control of railways ceases.

1920 Sep 16   Death of Sir James Ball, GCR and LB&SCR engineer (Forest Row) (b. 1867).

1920 Sep 27   Committee to examine railway agreements (i.e. wartime compensation) appointed (chairman: Lord Colwyn).

1920 Sep –     Bentley delivers its first cars to customers.

1920 Oct 18   Death in office of Charles J. Bowen Cooke, L&NWR CME (Falmouth) (b. 1859). He is succeeded in Nov by H.P.M. Beames.

1920 Oct 19   Government extension Castlecomer–Deerpark Colliery opens for mineral traffic worked by GS&WR.

1920 Nov  3   Bradford introduces first covered-top double-deck trolleybuses.

1920 Nov 11   Death of Thomas Ashbury, railway carriage manufacturer (Manchester) (b. 1836).

1920 Nov 28   (03.50) L&NWR carries mail by contract Holyhead–Kingstown for first time, on RMS Anglia.

1920 Nov –     Leigh Corporation begins motor bus services (authorised Aug 4).

1920 Dec  1   Death in office of Edward Ponsonby, 8th Earl of Bessborough, LB&SCR chairman (b. 1851).

1920 Dec  3   Rhoscolyn life-boat disaster: 5 crew lost off Llanddwyn, Anglesey.

1920 Dec 14   Handley Page Transport Cricklewood accident: 0/400 G-EAMA hits tree on takeoff (4 killed).

1920 Dec 23   (wef 1 Jan 1921)  Roads Act transfers vehicle licensing from Customs to local authorities (under control of Ministry of Transport); establishes Road Fund; requires chassis numbers.

1920 — –         Whitechapel & Bow Rly Joint Committee dissolved and operation of line taken over directly by District Rly.

1920 — –         Westinghouse Brake & Saxby Signal Co. formed by merger.

1920 — –         Manchester Ship Canal closes Bridgewater Lock into Mersey at Runcorn.

1920 — –         Trent Navigation temporarily taken over from Nottingham Corporation by Ministry of Transport.

1920 — –         Post Office buys its first motor mail vehicles for operation on its own account to replace contracted horse-drawn vehicles in provinces, initially GWK 8cwt vans.

1920 — –         Avro move to their purpose-built aircraft factory at Newton Heath.

75th anniversary

1945 Jan  1    Railway staff are conceded 12 days paid holiday.

1945 Jan  1    Córas Iompair Éireann created by amalgamation of Great Southern Railways and Dublin United Transport Co., under terms of Transport Act 1944 (Jun 21). Includes Great Southern Hotels, Royal Canal and 50% share and lease of Fishguard & Rosslare Railway & Harbours Co. 2K miles/3.2K km of railways, 11K road vehicles, 21K+ staff (the largest employer in Ireland) (A.P. (Percy) Reynolds, chairman; E.C. Bredin, general manager until end 1946). All divisions (except road freight) earn an operating profit in the first financial year.

1945 Jan  1    LMS subsidiary Caledonian Steam Packet Co. Ltd takes over operation of Kyleakin ferry from MacBraynes.

1945 Jan  1    Brighton, Hove & District Transport introduces trolleybuses (stored since 1939), the last system to open in England.

1945 Jan 10   Belfast & Co. Down Railway Ballymacarrett Junction accident, 7.50 am: propelled motor train working under ‘stop and proceed’ regulations collides in rear with stationary workmen’s service in fog (23 killed).

1945 Jan 11   LNER introduces prototype new design of passenger coach into service.

1945 Jan 31   Admiralty returns Dover workshops (requisitioned 1 Jul 1940) to SR.

1945 Feb  4    LNER King’s Cross accident: 17-coach train stalls in tunnel and runs back (2 killed, one being automobile engineer Cecil Kimber).

1945 Mar –      Ian Allan Locospotters’ Club set up.

1945 Mar  –     Viscount Portal succeeds Charles J. Hambro as GWR chairman.

1945 Mar  7    Deptford bombing, 03.20: V2 rocket destroys Folkestone Gardens SR railwaymen’s flats, New Cross (51 killed).

1945 Mar 16   Last commercial craft navigates to Driffield, keel Driffield.

1945 Mar 17–18  Landing Craft Carrier HMS Daffodil (former LNER Train Ferry No. 3) mined and sunk off Dieppe.

1945 Apr –      Charles Cock, an Australian electrical engineer working in Australia, succeeds Alfred Raworth as SR chief electrical engineer.

1945 Apr  9    Railway Air Services/Scottish Airways begin Glasgow (Renfrew)–Croydon service, using de Havilland DH89 G-AGLP.

1945 Apr 11    Volkswagen works (badly damaged by bombing) comes under control of Allies.

1945 Apr 23   LMS officially closes North London line between Dalston Junction and Poplar to passengers (service suspended from 15 May 1944).

1945 Apr 24   Coast Lines’ armed tramp SS Monmouth Coast of Liverpool (1731 tg; built at Irvine, 1924) bound for home with barytes is torpedoed by U-1305 80 miles (129 km) out of Sligo and sunk, the last British-owned merchant ship lost to German action (16 killed; one survivor).

1945 Apr 25   Blackout restrictions for transport vehicles lifted (outside coastal areas).

1945 May  4   Snowdon Mountain Railway (2 ft 7½ in./800 mm gauge, Abt rack), closed to regular tourist traffic since 1943, reopens.

1945 May  6   London Underground stations last available as air raid shelters.

1945 May  7   SR rolls out first Bulleid light Pacific locomotive 21C101 Exeter at Brighton Works.

1945 May  7   Canadian Government freighter SS Avondale Park of Montreal (2872 tg; built in Nova Scotia, 1944) on charter to Ministry of War Transport in convoy from Hull to Belfast via Methil is torpedoed by U-2336 (after U-boats had been ordered to surrender) off the Firth of Forth and sunk, the last British-flagged merchant ship lost to German action (2 killed).

1945 May  8   VE Day public holiday, at two days’ notice (no railway freight runs).

1945 May 12  Rev. W.V. Awdry’s first children’s book The Three Railway Engines is published (by Edmund Ward of Leicester).

1945 May 12  SHMD Board runs its last trams.

1945 May 12  Bus services resume in Jersey and (about this date) Guernsey following liberation of the Channel Islands. Those on Alderney do not resume until 1948.

1945 May 12  Churchill Barriers on Orkney (begun Apr 1941, completed Sep 1944; Sir Arthur Whitaker, Admiralty engineer) officially opened.

1945 May 27  Narrow Gauge Railways Ltd reopen Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway (15 in./381 mm gauge), closed to passengers since 1939, to tourist traffic, initially using internal combustion locomotives.

1945 May 30  Contractors (Manchester) Ltd, heavy hauliers, established by Edward Beck.

1945 Jun  1    Cross-country express coach services reinstated.

1945 Jun  1    Private motorists granted basic petrol ration of 5 gall (20 l)/month.

1945 Jun 12   Bus operators permitted to increase their weekly mileage by 10%.

1945 Jun 21   Jersey Airways resumes Croydon–Channel Islands service, using de Havilland DH89s, initially on loan from Railway Air Services.

1945 Jun 25   SR resumes sailings to Channel Islands.

1945 Jun 28   Coach operators permitted to resume excursions and private hire up to 70 miles.

1945 Jun 30   Hull Corporation runs its last trams.

1945 Jul  3     New boiler for Festiniog Railway 0-4-0ST Prince despatched; first operated in service 3 Aug 1955.

1945 Jul  5–26   General Election leading to Labour government with substantial majority. Labour party manifesto Let Us Face the Future commits to public ownership and co-ordination of inland transport (Alfred Barnes (Co-op), Minister of (War) Transport, 3 Aug 1945–26 Oct 1951).

1945 Jul  5     Ure Bridge on A1 at Boroughbridge collapses under Pickfords heavy haulage consist.

1945 Jul  6     CIÉ resumes Friday passenger trains.

1945 Jul 16    Restoration of regular steamers to Waterford (suspended 14 Jan 1944).

1945 Jul 21    LMS Ecclefechan accident: express collides with goods following colour-light signal passed at danger (2 footplatemen killed).

1945 Jul 23    GWR reopens Vale of Rheidol Railway (2 ft/60 cm gauge), closed since 1939, to weekday tourist traffic.

1945 Aug  6    USAAF B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay drops atomic bomb ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima (76K killed on this day).

1945 Aug 12? Robert Aickman and L.T.C. Rolt first meet, on NB Cressy at Tardebigge.

1945 Aug 13      GWR places first County class 4-6-0 into traffic (F.W. Hawksworth).

1945 Aug 15   VJ Day public holiday, at one hour’s notice. Last service on RAF Calshot Spit railway (2 ft/60 cm gauge, steam worked).

1945 Aug 15   CIÉ resumes Wednesday passenger trains, giving a Monday–Saturday service.

1945 Aug 30? Trades Union Congress publishes The Public Operation of Transport proposing a National Transport Authority.

1945 Sep –     Ministry of War Transport grants discretion to regional Commissioners to allow reinstatement of express coach services.

1945 Sep c.   LNER purchases Great Central Hotel, Marylebone, from Frederick Hotels for office use.

1945 Sep  1   Channel Islands Airways take over all Railway Air Services flights to the isles.

1945 Sep  2   SR Haywards Heath accident: buffer-stop collision following colour-light signal passed at danger (2 killed).

1945 Sep  7   Shropshire Union Canal Sun Bank breach, LMS: part of Llangollen branch collapses (driver on adjacent GWR line killed).

1945 Sep 25–Oct  2 c.   Unofficial strike by Leeds Corporation Transport staff arising from shortage of conductors/conductresses; trams and buses operated by volunteers.

1945 Sep 28   LNER Board adopts postwar reconstruction programme. First priorities include new marshalling yards and rebuilding of Peterborough and Sunderland stations and war-damaged locomotive sheds.

1945 Sep 29   Plymouth Corporation runs its last trams.

1945 Sep 30   LMS Bourne End accident: sleeping car express derails taking crossover at speed (43 killed).

1945 Oct –      GWR begins programme to introduce oil firing for selected steam locomotives (Llanelly).

1945 Oct –      Bedford reverts production of OWB to OB petrol-engined coach. 12.7K built until 1950, most with Duple Vista 29-seat bodies.

1945 Oct  1    LMS, LNER and SR begin reinstatement of restaurant cars on principal services and LMS and GWR begin reinstatement of Travelling Post Office. LNER accelerates ‘Flying Scotsman’ express by 50 minutes from wartime schedules and resumes Great Northern suburban service through to Aldersgate. SR reopens Hythe branch, closed since 1943.

1945 Oct  2    LPTB introduces fluorescent lighting of Tube platforms (Piccadilly Circus, westbound Piccadilly Line).

1945 Oct 12   Death in service of Charles Fairburn, LMS Chief Mechanical Engineer (London) (b. 1889).

1945 Oct 23   SR resumes Victoria–Dover boat trains (21C17 Belgian Marine).

1945 Oct 24   First scheduled transatlantic flight to use Shannon Airport, an American Overseas Airlines DC-4.

1945 Oct 27   Death of George Hughes, first LMS CME (Stamford) (b. 1865).

1945 Nov –     WD resumes loaning Austerity 2-8-0 locomotives to British railways, beginning with LNER; engines returning from continent are stored at Stonor etc prior to overhaul.

1945 Nov  1   Ian Allan Ltd registered as a business, railway publishing.

1945 Nov 10   SR Woking accident: rear-end collision following colour-light signal passed at danger.

1945 Nov 14   LNER reinstates ‘Hook Continental’ boat train.

1945 Nov 19   New Labour government’s intention to proceed with Transport Bill, nationalising inland transport, is confirmed by Herbert Morrison (leader of House of Commons).

1945 Nov 26   Film of Brief Encounter, with railway scenes shot on LMS at Carnforth, released.

1945 Nov 28   Road Haulage Association resolves to oppose nationalisation of its industry.

1945 end –      Frank Eyre and Charles Hadfield’s English Rivers and Canals published in Collins’s Britain in pictures series.

1945 Dec  3   Railway Air Services begins Croydon–Belfast (Sydenham) non-stop flights, using Avro XIXs, first postwar internal service with new aircraft.

1945 Dec 10   CIÉ reopens eleven branch lines temporarily closed during Emergency.

1945 Dec 10   London County Council officially opens new Waterloo Bridge (first opened to road traffic 11 Aug 1942).

1945 Dec 21   Wantage Tramway works its last (freight empties) train (locomotive no. 7). GWR buys locomotive no. 5 (1857 – the oldest in ownership of a public railway at this date) for preservation 25 Apr 1946.

1945 Dec 31   LPTB Northwood accident: rear-end collision of Metropolitan trains in fog (3 killed).

1945 Dec 31   GWR begins reinstatement of restaurant cars on principal services.

1945 Dec 31   Standard Motor Co. takes over Triumph.

1945 — –         7 ft gauge locomotive Prince Albert, derelict at Holyhead Breakwater, scrapped.

1945              LNER and LMS begin construction of 16-t all-steel mineral wagons during year.

50th anniversary

1970 Jan  1    BRB takes non-executive status, railways being managed by a Railway Management Group; British Rail Engineering Ltd takes over workshops, with ability to tender for outside contracts; British Rail Property Board takes over property management; Transport Systems & Market Research Ltd (Transmark) begins operation as overseas consultancy. (David Bowick, chief executive, railways; Graham Calder, CM&EE.) This month also, the Sealink brand name is adopted for marketing BR and associated shipping services.

1970 Jan  1    LT passes to control of GLC as LTE without accumulated debt, under terms of London Transport Act 1969; London Country Bus Services to NBC. LTE takes full control of Hammersmith & City lines Westbourne Park–Paddington suburban.

1970 Jan  3    BR runs last passenger services via Woodhead; last passenger use of Sheffield Victoria station.

1970 Jan  5    BMMO S23 single-decker 5941 (UHA 941H), the last bus wholly built at its central works (Carlyle Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham), enters service.

1970 Jan 21   Fraserburgh life-boat disaster: RNLB Duchess of Kent capsizes (5 crew killed).

1970 Jan 21   Pan Am makes first commercial flight of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet airliner, New York–London Heathrow.

1970 Feb –     BR ScR (sic.) withdraws last SR-design general service hauled passenger coaches (Bulleid-design SOs 1466 & 1502).

1970 Feb c.    Yvonne Pope makes first commercial flight as First Officer in Dan-Air de Havilland Comet 4 jet.

1970 Feb 23   BR gains approval for electrification Weaver Junction–Glasgow. Mk IIIA overhead line equipment with aluminium/steel catenary rather than copper.

1970 Feb 27   Anderton Canal Carrying Co. carries last long-distance commercial traffic on Trent & Mersey Canal (Mountbatten).

1970 Mar –      Post Office introduces Datapost overnight courier delivery service.

1970 Mar c.    Furness Withy incease shareholding in Manchester Liners to take control.

1970 Mar  8    BR signal control centre at Bristol controls 114 route miles (182 km), at this time the largest installation in Europe.

1970 Mar 15   BOAC takes delivery of its first Boeing 747 jumbo jet airliner.

1970 Mar 31   NIR runs last regular steam-hauled passenger train on a national network in the British Isles, 17.25 Whitehead–Carrickfergus (hauled by WT class 2-6-4T 4).

1970 Apr –      STG transfers MacBraynes Inverness area bus operations to Highland Omnibuses.

1970 Apr  3    CIÉ opens Ballinacourty factory branch.

1970 Apr 11   First bus delivered to an NBC order, Bristol VRT/ECW OFC 901H ordered for Southern Vectis but delivered as City of Oxford Motor Services 301.

1970 Apr 19   Portscreek reopens to navigation, having been blocked since 1939.

1970 Apr 25   Death of O.V.S. Bulleid, SR and CIÉ CME (Malta) (b. 1882).

1970 Apr 27   Willow Wren Canal Transport goes into receivership.

1970 May –     Caledonian Steam Packet Co. Ltd introduces MV Iona on Gourock–Dunoon passage, the first ro-ro car ferry in the fleet (nominally on charter from MacBraynes).

1970 May  2   NIR runs last regular steam-hauled train on a national network in the British Isles, Magheramorne–Belfast Lough spoil for M2 motorway construction (worked by WT class 2-6-4Ts).

1970 May  2   Ro-ro car ferry MS Apollo enters service with Rederi AB Slite on Kapellskär–Mariehamn–Naantali service, first of the ‘Papenburg sisters’ built by Jos. L. Meyer Werft, Germany (launched 23 Dec 1968).

1970 May  6   Rochdale Committee of Inquiry into Shipping reports.

1970 May 22  Appledore Shipbuilders Ltd (Court Line) float out the first ship built at their new covered yard, dredger Pen Stour.

1970 May 23  BR Britannia Bridge over Menai Straits closed by fire.

1970 May 23  Severn Valley Railway opens for regular tourist traffic as a heritage steam-worked line, south from Bridgnorth (to Hampton Loade). Bridgnorth signal box completely rebuilt.

1970 Jun  1    BR operates first stone train over new connection from Foster Yeoman’s Merehead Quarry (Somerset Mendips) with 1022 Western Sentinel.

1970 Jun  2    Cleddau Bridge collapse, Pembrokeshire: box girder road span collapses during erection (4 killed). Three other box girder collapses worldwide this year; results in Merrison Inquiry and new standards for such structures.

1970 Jun 20   BR WR runs last regular Bridgend–Treherbert passenger services.

1970 Jun 21   Penn Central Transportation Co. files for bankruptcy, the largest in the US up to this date. Penn Central was a 1 Feb 1968 merger between the Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads, with the New Haven & Hartford RR wholly merged 1 Jan 1969. Taken over by Conrail 1 Apr 1976.

1970 Jun –      Highland Omnibuses take over John Morrison, Northton, South Harris.

1970 Jun c.    TIP Trailer Rental opens its first UK depot (West Thurrock).

1970 Jul  1     (wef) John Cockerill’s Tilbury–Ostend shipping service closed.

1970 Jul  3     NIR relaunch ‘Enterprise’ express, Belfast–Dublin, with new dedicated Mk 2b buckeye stock (built by BREL Derby) worked push-pull by new 101 class locomotives (built by BREL Doncaster for Hunslet), NIR’s first mainline diesels.

1970 Jul  3     Dan-Air disaster: Dan-Air de Havilland Comet G-APDN on charter to Clarksons, Manchester–Barcelona, crashes at Sierra Del Montseny, Spain, off route (all 112 killed).

1970 Jul 16–Aug  2 TGWU dockworkers strike (State of Emergency declared).

1970 Jul 19    Brunel’s SS Great Britain (1843) is towed up the Avon to Bristol for preservation.

1970 Jul 28    A40(M) Westway in London opens.

1970 Jul –       BMMO S23 single-decker 5991 (UHA 991H), the last bus built at its central works (panelled and fitted out by Plaxton, Scarborough), enters service.

1970 Jul –       Douglas Corporation sells last Utility double-deck buses out of service.

1970 Aug early  Waterway Recovery Group formed by IWA members to co-ordinate voluntary efforts in physical waterway restoration.

1970 Aug 15   Aer Arann begins operation.

1970 Aug 20   Wey & Arun Canal Society holds first meeting (first working party at Rowner Lock 28 Mar 1971).

1970 Aug 22   Last steam train on a US standard gauge line, Mobile & Gulf, Alabama (97).

1970 Aug 26–Sep  3  Willow Wren makes last delivery of coal loaded by lorry at Gopsall Wharf on Ashby Canal (the last regular load on this waterway, managed by Willow Wren Cruisers under contract to Ashby Canal Association) to John Dickinson & Co’s Croxley paper mill on Grand Union Canal in Redshank and Ara, ceases all canal carrying and goes into liquidation. (Last delivery to Croxley directly operated by Willow Wren Canal Transport Services in Stratford and Bideford 18 Jan 1967.)

1970 Aug 28   Seaton & District Electric Tramway opens, for tourist traffic, 2 ft 9 in. gauge on railway formation.

1970 Sep  6   BR introduces minimum earning level, £6 pw.

1970 Sep  6    Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacks four Europe–New York flights forcing three to land at Dawson’s Field, Jordan. On Sep 9 BOAC VC.10 G-ASGN on Flight 775 Bombay–London is hijacked after leaving Bahrein and added to those held, being the first British airliner hijacked. Leads to intensification of airport security checks.

1970 Sep  7   STG transfers MacBraynes Skye bus operations to Highland Omnibuses and Ardrishaig operations to Western SMT.

1970 Sep  8   First diesel locomotive sold by BR to a heritage line: Dart Valley Light Railway.

1970 Sep 30   BR Old Dalby test track brought into use.

1970 Oct  4    Last day of BR passenger services over East Lincolnshire Railway.

1970 Oct 15   Newly-created Department of the Environment takes over Government responsibility for transport (Peter Walker (Con.), Secretary of State; John Peyton, Minister for Transport Industries (until 4 Mar 1974; Minister of Transport since Jun 23)).

1970 Oct 15   Blue Line narrow boats complete last “jam ’ole run” from Atherstone Colliery to Kearley & Tonge, Southall, Grand Union Canal, the last regular commercial long-distance (240 miles/380 km) carrying on the narrow canals: Renfrew + Lucy (Bill & Rose Whitlock with Laura Carter), Stanton (Jim & Doris Collins) and Nutfield + Raymond (Arthur & Rose Bray with Ernie Kendall), the latter being the last unloaded, on Oct 19.

1970 Oct 15   ‘Thames’ spritsail barge Cambria, the last vessel trading commercially under sail alone in British waters, loads her last cargo (cattle cake), at Tilbury, setting sail on Oct 17 and unloading at Ipswich Oct 20, returning light to Gravesend to lay up Oct 22–23 (Capt. A.W. “Bob” Roberts).

1970 Oct 16   Brecknock & Abergavenny (‘Mon & Brec’) Canal officially reopens, Pontypool–Brecon.

1970 Oct 23   M6 motorway completed through Lune Gorge.

1970 Oct –      Seddon Diesel Vehicles of Oldham takes over fellow truck manufacturer Atkinson of Walton-le-Dale.

1970–71 Wtr   No regular North Atlantic passenger shipping services scheduled, for first time since maiden voyage of SS Great Western Apr 1838.

1970 Nov  1   Stan Robinson (Stafford) Ltd, haulier, commences operation.

1970 Nov  3   BR orders its last vacuum braked wagons (bogie flat conversions).

1970 Nov 23   Eddie Stobart registered as limited company at Hesket Newmarket, Cumb. Haulage side of business separated and transfers to Carlisle 1976 (Edward Stobart jr, manager).

1970 Nov end Caledonian and British United Airways amalgamate (renamed British Caledonian Sep 1971; British United Island Airways renamed British Island Airways).

1970 Dec  1   BR files patent for a saucer-shaped passenger spaceship powered by ‘controlled thermonuclear fusion reaction ignited by pulsed laser beams’ (Charles O. Frederick, designer).

1970 Dec 21   EMI film of The Railway Children, filmed on Keighley & Worth Valley Light Railway, premiered.

1970 Dec 23 c.  Last commercial vessel leaves PLA Surrey Commercial Docks.

1970 — –         Dr Michael J.T. Lewis’s Early Wooden Railways published.

1970 — –         Courier Express set up in UK as parcels delivery service.

1970 — –         Raleigh Chopper Mk I children’s bicycle introduced.

1970 — –         Blue badge parking permits available for disabled people.

1970 — –         Braidley Road Bridge, Bournemouth, completed (post-tensioned reinforced concrete; Gifford, engineers), first with tensioning cables left unencased.

1970              NIR opens Castlerock signal box, the last mechanical installation in Ireland, and inaugurates its first panel interlocking, at Portadown, during year.

25th anniversary

1995 early –    Last locomotives delivered by a Leeds builder, Hunslet 9346–51 to Balfour Beatty for Jubilee Line Extension contract (76 cm gauge diesel-hydraulics).

1995 early –    Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust founded to promote creation of new broad navigable waterway linking Great Ouse and Grand Union Canal (32 km/20 miles; as planned in early 19th century) over 20-year period primarily for leisure uses (Brian Young, chairman, d. 2000).

1995 Jan 10   LBL sells London Central to Cowie Group, last London bus operator privatised.

1995 Jan 17   Announcement that NIR, Ulsterbus and Citybus are to come under common management; Translink brand adopted end 1996.

1995 Jan 22   First section of M3 Cross Harbour Motorway, Belfast, opens, including Lagan Bridge. Bridge officially opened Mar 9 by Queen Elizabeth II using NIR class 450 DEMU on Cross Harbour Rail Link, first royal train in Ireland for 42 years.

1995 Jan 29   A1 Service (Ayrshire Bus Owners co-operative) to Western Scottish (Stagecoach).

1995 Jan –      Ipswich (Kesgrave) ‘Superoute 66’ demonstration guided busway (200 m) operated by Eastern Counties Omnibus. The first section of Leeds Superbus priority corridors with sections of guided busway, operated by Yorkshire Rider, opens later this year.

1995 Feb  1    Traffic Commissioners given increased powers to regulate bus route competition in congested areas.

1995 Mar 17   Go-Ahead purchases OK Travel of Bishop Auckland.

1995 Mar 21   BR RfD launches Connectrail brand for its European wagonload network.

1995 Mar 28   National Express purchases bus operator West Midlands Travel from WMPTE; renamed Travel West Midlands Sep 1996.

1995 Mar 30   BT takes last open-wire junction-pole telephone route working on bare copper wires out of service, Torridon–Diabaig.

1995 Mar 31   Flying Scotsman Railways (Waterman Railways/William McAlpine) takes over InterCity Special Trains Unit assets.

1995 Apr  1    Highlands & Islands Airports Ltd transfers from Civil Aviation Authority to Secretary of State for Scotland.

1995 Apr  6    National Cycle Network proposed by Sustrans.

1995 Apr 13   Maidstone & District sold to British Bus and merged with Kentish Bus into Invictaway.

1995 Apr 22   English Partnerships open Tees Barrage, Stockton (Ove Arup and The Napper Partnership, engineers).

1995 Apr –      Res takes over ECS haulage for ROSCOs.

1995 Apr –      British Bus purchases Caldaire Holdings bus holding company.

1995 Apr –      National Express purchases Bournemouth International Airport from local authority.

1995 Apr –      TBI purchases Cardiff–Wales Airport from Glamorgan County Council.

1995 May 23  M4 (Avon) accident: hire coach rolls down embankment (10 killed).

1995 May 26  Manchester Ship Canal Co. opens Pomona Lock connecting with Bridgewater Canal (12 ft 6 in./3.8 m rise) replacing Hulme Locks.

1995 May 27  BR operates its last Motorail services.

1995 May 28  Great Britain Bus Timetable first published, by Southern Vectis (continues to 2000).

1995 Jun  3    BW reopens first 1½ miles (2 km) of Montgomery Canal (Llanymynech branch of Ellesmere Canal) at Frankton Locks.

1995 Jun 5–7  BR Rail Maintenance companies (rolling stock depots) sold to private sector.

1995 Jun 12   Association of Train Operating Companies establishes Rail Settlement Plan to provide clearing house facilities for passenger revenue.

1995 Jun 16   FirstBus formed by merger of Badgerline Group plc and GRT Bus Group plc of Aberdeen.

1995 Jun 19   European Directive 18 lays down criteria for rail operator licencing; 19, for allocation of infrastructure capacity.

1995 Jun 26   Eurotunnel shuttle service open to road coaches.

1995 Jun end Freightliner separated from RfD.

1995 Jun –      M3 motorway completed throughout, Sunbury–Southampton.

1995 Jun –      (?1994) Wightlink management buy-in, financed by Cinven.

1995 Jul  5     Raglan roundabout accident: hire coach overturns (10 killed).

1995 Jul 27    New lock on Little Ouse opens at Brandon.

1995 Jul –       DLR fully converted to Alcatel SelTrac moving block train control.

1995 Jul –       Go-Ahead introduces interchangeable stored value tickets in Tyne & Wear.

1995 Jul –       Johnson Bros cease inter-site water transport of pottery ware on Trent & Mersey Canal (Caldon branch), begun 1987.

1995 Aug 12   Assets of BR rolling stock companies (ROSCOs) transfer to Government.

1995 Aug 25? Scottish Railway Preservation Society opens Scottish Railway Exhibition at Bo’ness.

1995 Aug –     Discovery of substantial remains of the wooden Lambton waggonway near Sunderland (excavated Feb–Nov 1996).

1995 Sep  5   BR Red Star Parcels sold for nominal consideration to MBO as Rald Ltd.

1995 Sep –     BT takes last Strowger public telephone exchange out of service, Isle of Canna. Its nine subscribers lose their two-digit numbers.

1995 Oct  1    Petrol sold in litres.

1987 Oct  5    BR reopens line north from Birmingham Snow Hill to Smethwick.

1995 Sep 27   BBC begins regular DAB broadcasts from Crystal Palace.

1995 Sep 30   NIR reopens Belfast Great Victoria Street station.

1995 Smr end BTA sold to Maiden Outdoor Advertising.

1995 Oct  4    OBS Services (former InterCity On-Board Services) in MBO.

1995 Oct  9    The Provincial Bus Co. Ltd (People’s Provincial) sold to FirstBus.

1995 Oct 14   Steam train returns to Penzance (70000 Britannia).

1995 Oct 16   Skye Bridge opens (reinforced concrete cantilever; main span 250 m (273 yds, longest of type in Britain), having been constructed by Miller-Dywidag under private finance initiative, superseding Kyleakin ferry. Bridge tolls charged by concessionaire Skye Bridge Ltd lead to local protests.

1995 Nov  8   Disability Discrimination Act.

1995 Nov  9   ROSCOs sold.

1995 Nov 12   Terminal for ferry sailings from Stranraer transfers from Larne to Belfast.

1995 Dec  6    Indian Railways withdraws its last broad-gauge steam locomotives, Jalandhar–Ferozepur.

1995 Dec  6   Stagecoach purchases CHL Group (Cambus Holdings).

1995 Dec  9   North & South Railways (Wisconsin Central consortium) purchases Res.

1995 Dec 10   BRB train operating units become train operating companies (limited).

1995 Dec 10   easyJet Airline Co. Ltd makes first flights, London Luton–Glasgow/Edinburgh (Stelios Haji-Ioannou).

1995 Dec 12   BRT sold to Racal Electronics.

1995 Dec 22   Last train ferry sailing, Dover–Dunkerque, Nord Pas de Calais.

1995 — –         BTP first recruits Special Constables, experimentally, in North West Area.

1995 — –         Stagecoach introduces first British-built articulated coaches on express services, ten Volvo B10MA/Plaxton Premiere 326.

1995 — –         Southampton General Hospital begins paying staff for not using parking permits.

1995 — –         Tesco.com becomes first online-based home grocery delivery service (offered via home internet connections c1998).

1995 — –         Irish Ferries fleet name replaces B+I Line.

1995              Steam excursions return to Shap incline during year, Pacific-hauled.

1995              Chesterfield Canal Partnership (BW/local authorities/British Coal) formalised and work starts on restoration between Worksop and Norwood Tunnel.

1995              Forth Ports acquires Port of Tilbury London Ltd from PLA and Port of Dundee Ltd.