Great Southern & Western Railway of Ireland Irish railway company incorporated in 1844. The first section of the line from Dublin to Cashel was completed and opened in 1846. In 1925 the GS&WR was amalgamated with all the other railways operating wholly within the Irish Free State to form the Great Southern Railways.
Karlskrona Vaxjo Railway Railway in Sweden, in existence in 1873.
Victorian Railways In 1883 the Victorian Railways Commissioners Act, 47 Vic., No.767, brought the staff of the Department of Railways, founded in 1856, under the jurisdiction of the Railway Commissioners, which became known as Victorian Railways. This act gave Victorian Railways the authority to construct, manage and maintain the railways of the state.
In 1889 Newport replaced Williamstown as the location of the Victorian Railways workshop, and being the largest in Australia. The Victorian Railways Head Office was located in Spencer Street from 1893, and housed the branch’s design and administrative functions. In 1919, the electrification of the Melbourne suburban system commenced and was completed in 1930. In 1922 the Border Railway Act extended some of Victorian Railways lines into New South Wales. In 1961 a standard gauge line connecting to the New South Wales system was constructed to allow travel between Melbourne and Sydney for the first time.
In 1973 the Railways Amendment Act passed the management to a Victorian Railways Board from the Victorian Railways Commissioners. In 1974 Victorian Railways became VicRail.
North Staffordshire Railway Co The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) came into being in April 1845. The earliest locomotives were built by outside contractors, among them Sharpe Brothers & Co, Robert Stephenson & Co, Vulcan Foundry, Hudswell Clarke, Kitson’s and Neilson & Co.
The NSR opened its own works at Stoke on Trent in 1864. They occupied a 12-acre site near the main line at Stoke Junction, between the canal and the company roundhouse. The location was cramped and difficult to access off the Leek branch line, becoming more difficult as the Works were expanded and developed. At first they were only able to complete repairs and heavy rebuilding. Facilities for new building were completed in 1868. By 1901 the locomotive works employed 450 men and the carriage and wagon works a further 400. Figures for 1914 were 483 and 391 respectively.
No new locomotives were built after 1923, when the North Staffordshire Railway was absorbed into the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS). The last Works Manager (1919-1927) was H G Ivatt, who later became the CMEE of the LMS.
London and South Western Railway Company The London and South Western Railway Company (LSWR) opened their first line in stages in from London to Southampton in 1838 under the name London and Southampton Railway Company. A year later the company name was changed to the LSWR. By the early 1900s, the line had been extended and ran from London to Plymouth via Yeovil, Exeter and Southampton. Some of the branch lines of the LSWR, further into Southern counties, were in direct competition with the Great Western Railway Company and others were worked in partnership with other railway companies such as the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.
Nine Elms in London was the main depot of the LSWR, until Waterloo Station was opened by the company in 1848. Nine Elms became the goods depot for the London and South Western Railway Company and Waterloo became one of the biggest passenger stations in the country. The main LSWR engineering works was transferred from Nine Elms to Eastleigh by 1909.
Sir Herbert Walker was General Manager of the London and South Western Railway Company from 1912, when he instituted the third-rail electrification programme, and was appointed General Manager of the Southern Railway Company in 1923, until his retirement in 1937. There were a number of notable engineers attached to the LSWR including John Viret Gooch, brother of Sir Daniel Gooch who was Locomotive Superintendent from 1841 to 1850. Dugald Drummond was the Chief Mechanical Engineer from 1895 to 1912; he facilitated moving the Works from Nine Elms to Eastleigh and their subsequent expansion and modernisation. Alfred Szlumper, appointed Chief Engineer in 1914 was key to the expansion and redesign of Waterloo Station, completed by 1922
The LSWR began electrification of its suburban lines from Waterloo in 1913. The first section was opened in 1915, and almost all the other planned routes were opened before the First World War curtailed the project. The London and South Western Railway Company was very prominent in handling all types of traffic during the First World War, due to it’s position serving London and the ports on the South Coast.
The LSWR also had an ocean-going port at Southampton, which was a growing rival to Liverpool and Glasgow for transatlantic travel. The purchase of Southampton docks by the LSWR in 1892, alongside their expansion and modernisation, was organised by Sir Charles Scotter, the General Manager from 1885 to 1898. Scotter then became Chairmen of the Company from 1904 to 1910. The LSWR also ran steamer services from Southampton to the Channel Islands and France.
In 1923, the LSWR was grouped into the Southern Railway Company by the Railways Act of 1921.
Norwegian State Railways State owned railway company that operated most of the railway network in Norway.
Helsingborg-Hasselholm Railway Railway company in Sweden
Cassaba Alaşehir Railway Turkish railway line, constructed c1871.
Bergslagernas Railway Swedish Railway, active c1874
