Sticking with steam – why Britain’s railways stayed loyal to Georgian technology into the ‘space age’

Abstract

This paper asks why was Britain slow to adopt diesel and electric traction on its railways. The management of Britain’s railways were aware of technical developments in electrification and diesel traction from the start. Advocates of electrification ranged across the rail industry and the UK had diesel pioneers such as the Armstrong Whitworth Company. British owned railway companies and equipment suppliers successfully pursued electrification overseas. Nevertheless, Britain’s domestic railways in the main stuck with steam until labour and coal shortages prompted change after nationalisation following WW2. Insufficient capital explains the reluctance to electrify during the inter-war period once the advantages became obvious, although Southern made considerable progress on its commuter routes into London. Britain’s railways remained ‘tooled-up’ for steam and locked into a labour intensive, coal using technology into the 1960’s. Fuel requirements for the Royal Navy set Britain on a twentieth century trajectory of oil use, a change that slowly fed into the rail industry once diesel technology became reliable.