Sticking with steam – why Britain’s railways stayed loyal to Georgian technology into the ‘space age’ (2021)
Robert Gwynne (Author)
International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology
Volume: 91
Issue: 1
Pages: 1-26
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.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Book
Brian Solomon;
(2009)
Alco Locomotives
(/isis/citation/CBB754760779/)
Book
Brasher, Larry E.;
(2006)
Santa Fe Locomotive Development: The Journey to Supreme Steam and Pioneer Diesels
(/isis/citation/CBB291156817/)
Book
McDonell, Greg;
(2008)
Locomotives: The Modern Diesel & Electric Reference
(/isis/citation/CBB761069376/)
Book
Brian Solomon;
(2010)
Baldwin locomotives
(/isis/citation/CBB298507659/)
Book
Brian Solomon;
(2015)
Streamliners: Locomotives and Trains in the Age of Speed and Style
(/isis/citation/CBB973953203/)
Book
Morgan, Ric;
(2007)
The Train of Tomorrow
(/isis/citation/CBB000950802/)
Book
Glenn Courtney;
Kevin J. Holland;
Ken Goslett;
(2014)
Canadian National Railways Diesel Locomotives. From Steam's Final Decade to Privatization / Volume Two. The Road Switcher
(/isis/citation/CBB920432483/)
Article
Schramm, Jeff;
(Spring 2001)
Foreigners
(/isis/citation/CBB001180870/)
Book
Brian Solomon;
(2011)
Modern Diesel Power
(/isis/citation/CBB257631046/)
Article
Preston Cook;
(Fall/Winter 2014)
EMD's 25th Anniversary Party
(/isis/citation/CBB956003062/)
Book
Erk, Karl;
Smith, J.C.;
(2007)
Diesel Demonstrators
(/isis/citation/CBB018598869/)
Book
Brian Solomon;
(2011)
Electro-Motive E-Units and F-Units: The Illustrated History of North America's Favorite Locomotives
(/isis/citation/CBB571051628/)
Book
Bruce C. Nelson;
(2015)
Chicago & North Western: The 400 Club, A History of the Presidential F Units
(/isis/citation/CBB000880371/)
Article
Preston Cook;
(Fall-Winter 2018)
Inside EMD, Part 2
(/isis/citation/CBB417428844/)
Article
William D. Middleton;
(Fall-Winter 2008)
Electrification over the Sierra Nevada
(/isis/citation/CBB886794819/)
Book
Lorenz P. Schenk;
Robert L. Frey;
(1995)
Northern Pacific Railway: Diesel Era, 1945-1970
(/isis/citation/CBB903096187/)
Book
Kevin J. Holland;
Ken Goslett;
(2012)
Canadian National Railways diesel locomotives. Volume one. The steam-to-diesel transition on North America's largest railway
(/isis/citation/CBB750178203/)
Book
Ronald D. Sims;
(2013)
General Electric 70-ton Diesel Locomotives
(/isis/citation/CBB656514835/)
Article
Preston Cook;
(Spring-Summer 2018)
Inside EMD, Part 1
(/isis/citation/CBB652502291/)
Article
Preston Cook;
(Fall/Winter 2015)
Selling the Diesel
(/isis/citation/CBB127490456/)
Be the first to comment!