Railways Post-Privatisation Research Proposal

During the 2022 AGM Grahame Boyes appealed for more articles being published by the Society, particularly in the Journal, about British Railways and the post-privatisation era (i.e. following the 1993 Act). The background to Grahame’s appeal may be found here: Appeal for post-WW2 material for RCHS Journal

The conclusion is that it is certainly not too soon to start researching and writing about the history of Britain’s railways since their privatisation became Government policy in 1991. Implementation of the policy began in 1994 and access to the Railtrack files in the National Railway Museum’s archives are scheduled to start being opened under the 30-year rule from 2025. The Railtrack archives accumulated by Network Rail Archives are likely to follow a similar timetable. But there are already extensive sources open for researching this  period. Many of them are accessible on-line.

On-line Sources for Researching the Post-Privatisation History of Britain’s Railways

Following the discussion at the AGM, Grahame has been investigating the sources already available for researching the history of the post-privatisation years. An intial list of these may be found in the PDF: Records of the Post Privatisation Railway (PDF). This document includes links to sources.

Please send any comments you may have on this proposal, by email, to Grahame Boyes who will be pleased to receive them.