The Phoenix Works in Bradford were owned Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company of Hubert Street, Leeds Road in 1895 manufacturing arc lamps and electrical instruments. By 1900 the company works were manufacturing small motors and dynamos for driving machinery and providing lighting specifically for the textile industry. Large motors, turbines, turbo-generators etc. were manufactured for orders from the Admiralty and War Office. During the First World War, the works produced millions of shells, a large quantity of machine tools, sea planes and flying boats. In 1918 these works became the English Electric center for small to medium sized industrial AC and DC motors and generators including fractional horsepower machines and also eventually a specialised unit manufacturing generators and motors for aircraft applications. In 1930, the Dick, Kerr West Works at Preston closed and Traction electrical design and manufacture transferred to Bradford. Some key staff left and joined Crompton Parkinson. Important traction work included motors and generators for early diesel electric applications and continued manufacture of Metrovick designed motors for the Southern Railway. After the Second World War, most of the traction manufacturing transferred to the Preston East works factory but the design and commercial offices remained at Bradford until 1967. Some traction and associated military manufacturing work continued including conventional submarine control gear and pulse generators for mine sweepers. The Aircraft Equipment Division merged with Lucas Aerospace and left Bradford in the 1970’s and industrial machine manufacture ceased in the 90’s with complete closure in 1999. A B&Q store occupies the former Traction part of the site. An office block built in the 1950’s is all that remains of the factory.

A site on the east side of Strand Road had been intermittently used for railway work since the 1840’s. In 1898 the Electric Railway and Tramway Carriage Works Ltd (ER&TCW) took over the site. This company had strong links with Dick Kerr & Co. The building of Preston Dock in the 1880’s had involved the diversion of the river Ribble and associates of Dick Kerr & Co built the factory building which still stands on the west side of Strand Road in 1900. This site occupies the space between the road and the original river bank. The two sites became a major centre of tram building and electrical equipment manufacture. Dick Kerr & Co took over the West works in 1903 and ER&TCW became the United Electric Car Company in 1905. A major early railway contract was for the electrification of the Liverpool Southport line of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1904. The two factories continued in close association until they merged into English Electric in 1918. Military equipment and Seaplanes were built during the First World War and the Dick Kerr & Co Work’s Ladies became a famous football team at that time. Non railway electrical work was gradually transferred to other English Electric factories in the 1920’s. Besides continuing tramway business, major orders for Japan and France helped to establish electric traction industries in those countries, the Tarbes factory continues as a main unit in the Alstom group. A complete electrification scheme was supplied for the Arthur’s Pass line in New Zealand. 1930 saw the transfer of the traction electrical work to Phoenix, Bradford and the closure of West works until the late 30’s. East works continued making buses and trams including a large order for Blackpool. Early diesel electrics became a speciality and shunter contracts with the Willans built 6K engine for the LMS and others were very successful and formed the basis of large orders after the Second World War. In the late 30’s East works open yards and some surrounding properties were built over to form a large aircraft manufacturing site and with West works produced over 3000 Handley Page bombers during the war and just post war, DeHavilland ‘Vampire’ jet fighters. After the war most traction electrical equipment manufacture (but not the offices) was moved from Bradford to East works and ‘K’, ‘RK’ and ‘V’ engine manufacture moved from Willans, Rugby to the West works which also took on diesel and electric locomotive manufacture. Aircraft manufacture continued in both works with large orders for Canberra bombers and Lightning fighters. Final assembly was at Salmesbury and Warton aerodromes. Some locomotive manufacture was subcontracted to Vulcan from the late forties. Notable orders included large Electric locomotives for Spain and the ‘5E’ for South Africa. This locomotive was the basis of subsequent large orders for ‘5E1’ and ‘6E’ equipments produced by or in conjunction with AEI and GEC Traction. The prototype ‘Deltic’ was produced before the takeover of Vulcan and Robert Stephensons in 1955, when all locomotive production was quickly moved to those sites. Most of the diesel engines for the large number of locomotives supplied under the British Rail modernisation plan were made in West works. Aircraft production continued in both works until the formation of the British Aircraft Corporation in the mid-sixties. East works was transferred to BAC and diesel engines moved to Vulcan. The full range of traction equipment manufacture then took over West works and the offices moved in from Bradford in 1967. BAC closed East works in the early nineties and the factory was demolished. Four years after the merger with GEC in 1968 the former English Electric and AEI traction offices were reorganised with commercial and control gear at Trafford Park and machines at Preston. Production locations remained unaltered until the closure of Attercliffe, Sheffield in 1985. Semi-conductor technology gradually changed the product range in the 1980’s with GTO’s and IGBT’s enabling ac induction motors to take over from dc in the 90’s. Over 5000 EE507 dc motors were made for BR Southern region over a period of nearly 50 years. After the merger with Alsthom in 1989 the Trafford Park operation was gradually closed down and all offices and production were moved to Preston in the mid-nineties. Some buildings were demolished and others refurbished. Major orders for ac motor equipments included BR classes 465 and 365, ‘Eurostar’ motors and ‘common’ blocks, Korea, London Underground ‘Jubilee’ and ‘Northern’ lines and Virgin ’Pendolino’ and ‘Voyager’ trains. Most of the motors for these last two were made at Ornans, France after the closure of new motor manufacture in 1999. After 2003 only a small design and drawing facility remained, concentrating on repairs and modifications to existing rolling stock The site remains open as part of Alstom Transport’s Train Life Service business for the manufacture, repair and overhaul of traction control equipment and rotating machines, and as a spare parts distribution centre. BAE systems have occupied some offices on the site since 2006 as tenants of Alstom. Today, the factory is still operating on a reduced scale, only employing about 200.

The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) were operated by the New South Wales Government from 1855 who administered all the railway lines in the New South Wales area from headquarters in Sydney. The lines ranged from Brisbane (Queensland) and Broken Hill (South Australian Frontier) to Albury (Victorian Frontier). Between 1855 and 1932 the operation of NSWGR changed many times, altering between a Chief Commissioner with sole authority and groups of commissioners who shared responsibility. After the 1932 amendment of the Railways Act by the Transport (Division of Factions) Act, NSWGR was replaced by the Department of Railways New South Wales.

RENFE (Spanish National Railways Network) was created in 1941, with the unification of the existing railway companies in Spain into a single state-owned company. In 1975, RENFE began a period of comprehensive reforms for the purpose of turning the Spanish railway network into an efficient alternative for transporting goods and passengers. As a result, Cercanías commuter services were introduced to cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga. In 1992 RENFE opened the Madrid-Seville high-speed line, coinciding with the opening of Expo'92. On 1 January 2005, RENFE’s legal monopoly came to an end and two successor companies were established; Renfe, responsible for transport of freight and passengers and Adif (Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias) responsible for managing lines, stations and communications. RENFE was divided into Renfe-Operadora (operations) and ADIF (infrastructure) on 1 January 2005.

The Central Argentine Railway Company Ltd. (CAR) was established in 1863 by William Wheelwright. In 1862, Wheelwright obtained a concession with Thomas Brassey and George Wythes, from the Argentine government to construct a railway line from Rosario to Cordoba, originally granted to Jose Buschenthal (1802 -1870) in 1854. It was a British-owned, broad gauge (5’ 6”) company serving the Buenos Aires, Sante Fe, Tucuman, Santiago del Estero and Cordoba provinces of Argentina. By 1910, the company was considered one of the ‘Big Four’ British-owned, broad gauge railway companies in Argentina, alongside Pacific and Western, Buenos Aires and Great Southern. The Rosario –Cordoba line was the main broad gauge line constructed by Central Argentine Railways, extending from the eastern seaport of Rosario to Cordoba, started in 1863 and inaugurated on May 17th 1870. In 1870, President Sarmiento arranged a £6 million loan for Central Argentine Railway to extend this line north from Cordoba to Tucuman. In the Buenos Aires province there were three main suburban lines of Tigre West, Tigre East and Villa Ballester. The Retiro – Tigre West service was the first line in South America to be electrified on December 1st 1916, the units being supplied by British Thomson- Houston Company Ltd. The Tigre East and Villa Ballester lines were electrified in 1924, and 221 units were supplied by Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company Ltd. The Central Argentine Railway operated the fastest train in South America, known as the “Rapido”, running between Buenos Aires and Rosario from 1910. Central Argentine Railways transported timber from the north including goods such as railway sleepers and fence posts, and sugar from Tucuman. The company was a major grain carrier, transporting maize, wheat and linseed amongst others. CAR was the first to adopt gas lighting in trains, to provide sleeping cars and luxurious dining and restaurant cars, and to use block and pneumatic signalling. The main stations are Retiro, the Buenos Aires terminus, opened in August 1915; Cordoba opened in 1919; Campana opened in 1925. The company continued to function until 1948, when President Juan Peron nationalised the Argentine Railway, creating six state owned railway networks and Central Argentine Railways was incorporated into the Ferrocarril Mitre network.

In 1947, a major portion of the North Western Railways 8,122 kilometer route (5,048 mi) was transferred to Pakistan and named the Pakistan Western Railway. The remaining 3,133 route kilometers (1,947 mi) were transferred to Indian control. In May 1974 it was renamed Pakistan Railways.

Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) was formed as a private company under the Transport Act in 1944 and incorporated the Great Southern Railways (GSR) and the Dublin United Transport Company. CIÉ was nationalised and changed to a corporation status under the Transport Act in 1950 by merging with the Grand Canal Company. CIÉ railways became Iarnród Éireann in the mid 1980s.

Ceylon Government Railways (CGR) was developed in the 1850s to develop and unify Sri Lanka and was built by the British Colonial Government in 1864. The first train ran on 27 December 1864 and the main line between Colombo and Ambepussa officially opened on 2nd October 1865. The railway was initially built to transport tea and coffee to Colombo. Major population growth meant that passenger traffic increased and in the 1960s passenger traffic overtook freight as the main source of revenue. The railway network comprised of nine lines radiating from Colombo and connected many population centres and tourist destinations. Extensions were made to the main line in 1867, 1874, 1885, 1894 and 1924, extending its service to Kandy, Nawalapitiya, Nanu Oya, Bandarawela and Badulla, respectively. Many other railway lines were added to Ceylon Railway System within the first century of its life, such as a line to Matale in 1880, Coast Railway Line in 1895, Northern Line in 1905, Mannar Line in 1914, Kelani Valley in 1919, Puttalam Line in 1926, and Railway Line to Batticaloa and Trincomalee in 1928. Until 1953, Ceylon's railways operated steam locomotives. In the golden era, it enhanced its service by changing to diesel locomotives, under the leadership of Rampala. Various types of diesel locomotives were added to the service. Today the company is known as Sri Lanka Railways as Ceylon gained independence in 1948 and changed its name to Sri Lanka when it became a republic in 1972.

On 9th February 1855, the Imperial Government of Brazil signed a contract with Edward Price for the construction of the first section of a railway. Work commenced on the Central Railway of Brazil on 11th June 1855, and on 29th March 1858, the 48km section from Rio de Janeiro to Freguesia de Nossa Senhora da Conceicao de Marapicu was completed. On March 16, 1957 the company came under the control of Rede Ferroviária Federal S.A. (RFFSA).

Queensland Rail Limited also known as Queensland Government Railways was established in 1865. The railway stretched from coastal ports such as Brisbane, Cairns and Rockhampton, inland for the transportation of farming produce for exportation. The first railway line was built from Ipswich inland to Grandchester in 1864 and the first passenger train service ran on 31 July 1865. The line was extended to Darling Downs and Brisbane in 1875. Between 1899 and 1915, a large network of privately owned railways lines was built by mining magnate, John Moffat, which included Mungana, Mount Molloy, Mount Garnet, Mount Mulligan and the Etheridge mining field. As a result of falling share and copper prices, the Queensland Government took over these railway lines in 1919. A major restructure on 1st July 1991 with the introduction of the Transport Infrastructure (Railways) Act meant that Queensland Rail would begin to operate on a commercial basis as a State owned corporation. In accordance with the Queensland Rail Transit Authority Act 2013 (QRTA Act), Queensland Rail ceased being a government owned corporation from the 3rd May 2013 and the company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of this statutory authority.

In 1919, the Intercolonial Canadian Northern, National Transcontinental and Grand Trunk Pacific became part of a government railway system known as the Canadian National Railways (CN). The railway was referred to as the Canadian National Railways (CNR) between 1918 and 1960 and as Canadian National (CN) from 1960 to the present day. In January 1923, the Grand Trunk Railway officially became part of the railway. In 1937, CN organised formation of Trans-Canada Airlines (now Air Canada) and in 1938 the federal government cancelled more than $1 billion of its inherited debt. As a result, CN was able to purchase a large number of Canadian-built steam locomotives which were finished and serviced in the corporation’s own huge shops at Pointe St-Charles, Montréal. These locomotives hauled millions of tons of freight and thousands of troops during the Second World War. In the 1950s and 1960s, CN was modernized by reorganisation of its 80 subsidiaries into 30 companies, also with conversion to diesel locomotives and electronic signalling and the head office moved to Montréal in Quebec. In the late 1970s, CN started to divest itself of non-rail businesses, including real estate, hotels, and CNCP Telecommunications. Around the same time, Air Canada and VIA Rail, CN’s passenger train subsidiary became separate Crown corporations. On November 17th 1995, the Canadian Federal Government privatized the Canadian National Railway. According to the CN Commercialization Act of 1995, the company headquarters had to remain in Montréal, which ensured that CN would remain a Canadian corporation. Over the next decade, the company expanded significantly into the United States, it purchased US rail company Illinois Central Corp for $2.4 billion. It later acquired Wisconsin Central (2001), the rail and marine holdings of Great Lakes Transportation (2004), shares of BC Rail (2004), and the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway (2009). In the present day CN is the largest railway in Canada, in terms of both revenue and the physical size of its rail network, and is currently Canada’s only transcontinental railway company, spanning Canada from the Atlantic Coast in Nova Scotia to the Pacific Coast in British Columbia. It is the longest railway system in North America controlling more than 30,000km of track in Canada and the United States.

In March 1936 Britain sold Mesopotamian Railways to Iraq, which renamed the company Iraqi State Railways (ISR). In 1958 ISR was renamed Iraqi Republic Railways.

Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway Co. Ltd. (BAPRO) was a British-owned, broad gauge (5’ 6”), private limited company, serving the Cordoba, San Luis and Sante Fe provinces of Argentina. It was considered one of the ‘Big Four’ British-owned, broad gauge railway companies in Argentina, alongside Buenos Aires Western Railway, Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway and Central Argentine Railways. In 1872 John E. Clark secured a concession made by the Argentine government to construct a railway line from Buenos Aires to Chile. In 1882, Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway Co. registered as a joint-stock company in London. On October 6th 1886 a line between Mercedes in the Buenos Aires province, and Villa Mercedes in the San Luis province was opened, and the company was granted permission to build independent access to Buenos Aires. The construction of the Mercedes - Palermo line, which opened on 20th March 1888, created an independent line to Palermo on the outskirts of Buenos Aires at a cost of £604,800. In 1898, the company took over the British-owned company, Villa Maria and Rufino Railway. In 1899, John Wynford Philips became the chairman of Buenos Aires and Pacific, developing the company into a regional amalgamation of companies and lines reaching from Buenos Aires to the Andes, and extending from San Juan to Bahia Blanca. Philips held this post until 1934. During this time, many of the company's major stations were built to manage the growing population of Buenos Aires, including La Paternal (1887), Villa Devoto (1888), Bella Vista (1891), San Miguel (1896), Santos Lugares (1906), Villa del Parque and Sanez Pena (1907), El Palomar (1908). In 1900, over £6.3 million was invested in the company, which acquired part of a building in Florida Street in central Buenos Aires in 1908, for offices. In 1909 the Sanez Pena - Villa Luro line opened and construction began on Palermo station. The company continued to function until 1948, when President Juan Peron nationalised the Argentine Railway, creating six state owned railway networks. Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway Co. was incorporated into the Ferrocarril General San Martin network.

The construction of the Gold Coast Government Railway began in the Sekondi district in 1898, but protests to the Colonial Office, a shortage of labour and the breakout of the final Ashanti war meant progress was slow until 1900. The railway reached Tarkwa in 1901, Obuasi in 1902 and in 1903 Ashanti. In 1912 a line connecting the colony’s capital, and government seat, of Accra with Kumasi was commenced and completed in 1923, making the railway 362 miles. In 1928, Takoradi Harbour was opened which enabled the exportation of mangoase, mahogany, cocoa and timber brought by the railway from the interior of the Gold Coast Colony. With the exception of 39 mile journey between Accra and Mangoase, which was privately contracted, the whole Gold Coast Railway was built by government departments. The company headquarters were in Sekondi initially, but then moved to Takoradi in 1928 after the construction of the harbour. The railway was built using 16,000 native Africans, 12,000 of whom were Nigerian, after the Gold Coast government appealed to neighbouring colonies for labour, in addition the locomotives and rolling stock were imported. The main stations were Accra, Mangoase, Sekondi, Tarkwa, Obuasi, Takoradi and Kumasi. The workshops were situated two miles from Sekondi, though repairs were also carried out at Accra. In 1957, Gold Coast Railway became Ghana Railway after Ghana became an independent nation from the United Kingdom.

In 1910 the state-owned South African Railways and Harbours (SAR&H) organisation was created, after the four colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State were amalgamated into the new Union of South Africa. In 1916, SAR&H took over the activities of the Central South African Railways, the Cape Government Railways and the Natal Government Railways. In 1924 the last privately owned railway line in South Africa was taken over by SAR&H; the New Cape Central Railway between Worcester and Voor Bay. In 1920 electrification of South Africa’s railways was completed, and in 1924 the first electric test train ran between Ladysmith and Chieveley in Natal. In 1950 the first portion of the new Johannesburg station was opened and construction was completed on the huge workshops complex at Koedoespoort. In 1960, diesel locomotives were introduced on a large scale to SAR&H. In 1981, SAR&H changed its name to South African Transport Services (SATS) and took on South Africa’s railway, harbour, road transport, and aviation and pipeline operations.

The Transport Act 1947 nationalised virtually all British transport, including the railways, waterways, and road haulage. These were transferred to a newly-created operating body, the British Transport Commission (BTC). The British Transport Commission began operations on 1st January 1948, under Chairman Sir (later Lord) Cyril Hurcomb. At this time, the British Transport Commission acquired the “Big Four” grouped railways, with virtually all minor railways as well, together with the London Passenger Transport Board. This automatically transferred the assets of the rail companies to BTC, including ships, ports, hotels, and investments in bus, coach, and haulage companies. Two bus companies, Tilling and Scottish Motor Traction, were soon added, as well as long-distance road hauliers. The Transport Act charged the British Transport Commission with the task of charged with “integrating” various forms of transport into single public service. The British Transport Commission did not directly operate transport services. Operations were delegated to five separately appointed executives: Docks and Inland Waterways, Hotels, London Transport, Road Transport, and Railways. The Railways Executive operated under the name British Railways. In 1949, the Road Transport Executive was divided into two separate executives: Road Haulage and Road Passenger. The Commission exercised financial control over these Executives, and managed them through schemes of delegation. The Commission attempted to fulfil its statutory duty to “integrate” public transport by introducing Area Schemes. These were designed to establish regional monopolies for road passenger transport, ports, and harbours. “Integration” was also to be promoted through Charges Schemes, in which the true costs of different modes of transport were to be reflected in the charges. This was designed to attract traffic to the most economic and efficient mode of transport. The structure of Executives was dramatically altered by the Transport Act 1953, which abolished all Executives, with the exception of London Transport. Responsibility for the operation and maintenance of transport systems was delegated to the chief regional managers. The railways were reorganised into a system of area boards for each of its six regions. In September 1953, Sir Brian Robertson became Chairman. Disposal of the haulage fleet also began at this time, but a lack of buyers made this difficult. Rising costs, industrial action and competition from road traffic meant that the British Transport Commission was in financial trouble by 1955. It sought relief from this by publishing The Modernisation and Re-equipment of British Railways, a plan which proposed an investment in the railways of £1,240m over fifteen years. The main features of this plan were the replacement of steam with electric and diesel traction, the electrification of principle routes, and the introduction of new coaching stock. Despite the modernisation plan, the financial position of the British Transport Commission worsened. Two government reviews, in 1956 and 1959, concluded that the Commission was unwieldy and had an insufficiently commercial outlook. Sir Brian Robertson retired in May 1961, and was replaced by Dr Richard Beeching. The BTC was abolished by the Transport Act 1962. It was replaced with five new authorities that were answerable to the Minister of Transport: the British Railways Board, the British Transport Docks Board, the British Waterways Board, the London Transport Board, and the Transport Holding Company. Dr Beeching became chair of the British Railways Board.

The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was one of the four railway companies that were formed in 1923 due to the amalgamation of 1921. During the First World War the government had taken control of the railways for the purpose of the war effort. After the war ended it was decided that the railway companies could not competitively return to their prior state, and so the decision was made to combine the 120 existing railway companies into four companies, which became known as ‘the big four’. Smaller railway companies were merged together to form LNER, these previous companies consisted of; Great Central Railway, Great Eastern Railway, Great Northern Railway, Great North of Scotland Railway, Hull and Barnsley Railway, North British Railway and the North Eastern Railway. LNER was the second largest company of the ‘Big Four’ in terms of route miles (total route mileage amounted to 6700) and became famous for its prestigious high speed trains, including the Flying Scotsman and the Mallard, which reached speeds of 126mph (breaking the world record for steam). William Whitelaw, who was a public figure in Scotland, was appointed the first chairman of LNER operating mainly from the London headquarters. The management of LNER was decentralised as much as possible and one of Whitelaw’s main responsibilities became scrutinising proposals of expenditure, due to the shortage of investments. It was decided that the head of management should be Sir Lewis Wedgewood and it was under his management that three main headquarters should be created to best oversee the company. These areas were; Southern, North-Eastern, with offices being situated in York, and Scotland, which was then divided into Northern and Southern Scotland. By 1928 organisation in LNER had stabilised with the chairman being based in Marylebone, Chief General Manager being based in Kings Cross and the Southern headquarters being based in Liverpool. Sir Nigel Gresley became the first Chief Mechanical Engineer of the company. Each of the big four had a Chief Mechanical and Electrical Engineering department which was formed in 1923 with the creation of each company and after nationalisation in 1948, one CM&EE department was created. Gresley became very influential in the company, not only due to his designs of the Flying Scotsman and the Mallard, but also his Pacific designs and long-distance locomotives with the ability to overcome difficult operating conditions. Gresley died in office in 1941 and was succeeded by Edward Thompson, who remained CME until 1946. Arthur Peppercorn, a student of Gresley’s, succeeded Thompson but remained CME for just 18 months, as nationalisation cut short his career. After the Second World War all four railway companies were in financial trouble. The growth of road transport and the effects of the war had meant that each company was in need of severe maintenance work (LMS calculated it would have to spend £40 million on maintenance). Investors of the railways were also at a loss, the LNER’s investors had received no dividend since 1941. With the arrival of a new labour government in 1945, the decision to nationalise all public transport was put forward and in 1948 the ‘Big Four’ were replaced with the British Transport Commission, which separated LNER into Eastern and North Eastern Regions, as well as surrendering the Scottish territory.

In 1890 the Department of Works and Railways was separated into the Department of Works and Buildings and the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR). Its headquarters were located in Perth. The network had stations in Perth, Kelmscott, Cannington and Welshpool. These lines were primarily opened to service the wheatbelt – an area which reaches north from Perth to the Mid-West region, and east to the Goldfields-Esperance region. In 1914 the function of tramways was added and the Department's title changed to Western Australian Government Railways and Tramways. The Western Australian Government Railways, Tramways & Ferries was abolished in 1949 and its functions dispersed into two new bodies, Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) and Western Australian Government Tramways & Ferries. In September 1975, the WAGR adopted the trading name Westrail and created a logo. However, the official name of the WAGR was not changed at this point. The name Westrail was created simply to improve the company’s image. The new company headquarters were the Westrail Centre in the Perth terminal. On 17 December 2000, the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) freight division was sold to the Australian Railway Group along with the Westrail name and logo. The WAGR continued to operate as the Western Australian Government Railways Commission, until it was absorbed by the Public Transport Authority in 2003.