In 1861 Sir Edward Lumb, a British entrepreneur, requested a concession from the Legislature of the Province of Buenos Aires to build a railway line from Constitucion to Chascomus, 120km away from Buenos Aires, which was granted on June 12th 1862 by President Bartolome Mitre. In 1863, with the support of London shareholders Thomas Duguid, the Fair family, British consul Frank Parish (later Southern’s chairman), and bankers Baring and David Robertson, Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway Ltd. was established. The first general manager of the company was Edward Banfield, the Buenos Aires suburban station of Banfield was named after him when it opened in 1873. Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway had its company headquarters in London, and operated workshops and rolling stock depots in Barracas. The main stations of the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway are Constitucion, Barracas al Sud, Jeppener, Chascomus, Barracas al Norte, Las Flores, Azul, Dolores and Banfield. In 1877 Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway built a new warehouse in Constitucion station for freight trains and a freight station at Sola in Buenos Aires where repair shops operated for 15 years. By 1884 Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway was the largest in Argentina, with 1,025km of track. In 1901 new workshops were built at Remedios de Escalada, 11km from Constitucion station, being the largest workshop in South America, employing 2700. In 1925, the company took over Bahia Blanca and North Western Railway from Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway Company. By 1930 Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway Company had 8000 km of track, 504 stations, 857 locomotives, 955 carriages, 16,602 coaches and 30,000 employees. The company continued to function until 1948, when President Juan Peron nationalised the Argentine Railway, creating six state owned railway networks. Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway was incorporated into the Ferrocarril General Roca network.

The Great Indian Peninsular Railway (GIPR) came into existence on April 16, 1853, with the line running from Bombay to Kalyan. The aim was to open a channel to transport trade from cotton growing districts to beyond the Ghats. The GIP Railway was purchased by the Government of India on 1st July 1900 and amalgamated GIP with the Indian Midland Railway. In 1951 the GIPR combined with the Nizam Guaranteed State Railway, Dholpur State Railway and the Scindia State Railway to form a zone of Indian Railways named Central Railway.

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.

During the First World War the government had taken control of the railways to co-ordinate 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 120 existing railway companies were combined into four companies, which became known as the ‘Big Four’’. The London Midland and Scottish Railway, also known as the LMS, was founded on 1 January 1923. The London and North Western Railway (LNWR), Midland Railway (MR), Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR), North Staffordshire Railway (NSR), Highland Railway (HR), Furness Railway (FR), Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) and Caledonian Railway (CR) were merged. These eight large constituent companies were joined by 27 other smaller subsidiary railways. The LMS covered the Western half of the country, stretching from the London and the Midlands, through Yorkshire, Lancashire, and up to Scotland. In all the LMS had a total of 7,790 miles of track, which made it the largest railway of the Big Four. The London termini of the LMS were St. Pancras and Euston stations and it had works at Crewe, Horwich, Wolverton and Derby amongst other locations. In 1934 the LMS moved into a new headquarters at Euston House on Seymour Street (later renamed Eversholt Street) in London. Charles Napier Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence of Kingsgate was the first appointed chairman of LMS, he had previously been the chairman of the LNWR between 1921-1923. He was chairman of the LMS for one year, and was succeeded by Sir Guy Granet. The management structure was headed by a chairman and a deputy chairman, there was a board of directors that had initially had 20 members, made of men who previously worked for the constituent companies. The first General Manager was Arthur Watson from the LYR. There was a Deputy General Manager for Scotland, a post first held by D.A. Matthieson, formerly of the CR. J.H. Follows, from the Midland Railway, was the first Chief General Superintendent and S.H. Hunt, formerly of the LNWR, was the first Chief Goods Manager. The post of Chief Engineer was initially held by E.F.C. Trench, formerly employed by the LNWR. The first Chief Mechanical Engineer was G. Hughes from the LYR and his deputy was Sir Henry Fowler, from the Midland Railway. The management structure was re-organised from January 1926 and an Executive was set up, Sir Josiah Stamp was the first President of the Executive. From January 1927 four Vice-Presidents were appointed to replace the general managers on the Executive committee. The line was divided up for operational management into three geographical divisions, which were called Western, Midland and Northern. Each division was overseen by a General Superintendent who reported to the Chief General Superintendent. The main line of the LMS ran from London Euston to Wick over 729 miles. The LMS ran a number of joint railways with the London & North Eastern Railway and the Southern Railway. It ran the Cheshire Lines Committee, the Midland and Great Northern line between Peterborough, the Norwich and Lowestoft and the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham suburban line with the London & North Eastern Railway. It also joined forces with the Southern Railway to run the Somerset and Dorset line between Bath, Burnham and Bournemouth. The LMS undertook a limited programme of electrification, mainly focusing on suburban lines in London and Manchester. The LMS owned many hotels, including the Queen’s Hotel in Leeds and the iconic Art Deco Midland Hotel at Morecombe Bay. The LMS also ran passenger steamers from Holyhead, Heysham and Stranraer over the Irish Sea to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Following the 1947 Transport Act which nationalised the railways, the concerns of the LMS were taken over by the Railway Executive as part of the British Transport Committee. Within the Railway Executive, British Rail: London Midland Region assumed responsibility for the LMS’s former area of operations.

The Great Northern Railway Co (GNR) was authorised in 1846 to build a line from London to Doncaster via Hitchin, Peterborough and Grantham with a loop line from Peterborough to Bawtry via Lincoln and branches to Sheffield and Wakefield. The first section between Louth and Grimsby opened in 1848. The proper main line was opened in stages; by 1849 services were running from Peterborough to Doncaster via Lincoln and in 1850 services from London (Maiden Lane) to Peterborough started. In 1852 Kings Cross station and the main line between Peterborough, Grantham and Retford were completed. Coupled with its running powers over parts of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway and the York and North Midland Railway north of Doncaster, the GNR offered services between London and York. A combination of running powers, acquisitions and promotion of new railways, eventually gave the GNR access to Bradford Cambridge, Halifax, Leicester and Nottingham. The GNR also invested in joint railways including the Great Northern & Great Eastern Joint (Huntingdon-March–Doncaster), the Cheshire Lines Committee and in 1889 the Midland & Great Northern Railway giving access to North Norfolk, Norwich and the east coast. The GNR main line was part of the through route to Scotland and it established the East Coast Joint Stock, a common pool of vehicles, with the North Eastern Railway and the North British Railway. The Flying Scotsman was the most famous train service on that route. The GNR operated intensive passenger express services as well as suburban services to Hatfield, Dunstable and St Albans, and in North London and West Yorkshire, and local passenger services in Lincolnshire and the East Midlands. Its principal freight business was the transport of coal from Yorkshire, and later from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, to London, and the conveyance of coal to and bricks from the brickfields in the Peterborough area. The GNR’s principal works were at Doncaster where it built locomotives and carriages. Its famous locomotives include the Stirling Singles, Ivatt’s Atlantics and Gresley’s 1922 Pacific.