Delve into this collection to discover more about your ancestors who made a living on the railway. This collection allows you to explore staff records for the Great Central Railway Company, which was best known for its ambitious ‘London Extension’ which connected the industrial north directly to the centre of London in 1899. Whether your ancestor worked as an accountant, a clerk or a carter, these records can help you learn more about their everyday working life on the railways, which were fundamental to the creation of modern Britain.
Delve into this collection to discover more about your ancestors who made a living on the railway. This collection allows you to explore staff records for the Great Central Railway Company, which was best known for its ambitious ‘London Extension’ which connected the industrial north directly to the centre of London in 1899. Whether your ancestor worked as an accountant, a clerk or a carter, these records can help you learn more about their everyday working life on the railways, which were fundamental to the creation of modern Britain.
Each record includes a transcript and the option to view the original image. While details can vary for each record, you can expect to find a combination of the following facts:
The records in this collection originate from the RAIL 226 series (Great Central Railway Company 1852-1958) at the National Archives. The Great Central Railway Company was a major British railway company and was known for constructing the last mainline railway connecting northern industrial England to central London.
The company began as the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) and served the industrial hubs of northern England, but was ultimately limited by not having a direct London connection by the late 1800s. In 1897, the company was renamed the Great Central Railway (GCR) and aimed to build a ‘London Extension’ to compete with other established railway giants of the time. The London Extension was completed in 1899 with Marylebone Station as its southern terminus, which is still in use today.
Even after this success, due to an overcrowded and competitive railway landscape, the Great Central Railway was absorbed into the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923 as a result of the Railways Act 1921, which grouped many of Britain’s railway companies into larger regional networks.