Title
Railfuture Archive
Reference
RFT
Production date
1955 - 31-05-2018
Creator
- RailfutureBiographyBiography
Railfuture is a company limited by guarantee. It was incorporated on 9th January 2004 and took over the assets of the unincorporated Railway Development Society shortly after in the same year. It is managed by a board of directors of nine members which are responsible for the definition of Railfuture’s policy. Directors are elected for a three-year term by the entire membership with policy decisions delegated to national groups comprised of individual members. The groups are Passenger Group, Freight Group, Infrastructure and Networks Group and European Passenger Group.
Railfuture has 20,000 affiliated and individual members. Christian Woolmar is the President and Vice Presidents are former chief executives such as Chris Green (ScotRail, Intercity, Network SouthEast) and Adrian Shooter (BR). The group holds regular conferences, has a regularly updated website containing papers and articles, a journal: Railwatch and a newsletter: Rail User Express. It has 12 active local branches.
Railfuture campaigns for improved railways and railway services. The issues on which it campaigns include more seats, value for money fares, quicker journeys and an enjoyable journey experience, new service and lines, and the shifting of freight from road to rail. It also has fourteen active branches which campaign on local railway issues and support national campaigns.
Railfuture lobbies the organisations that make decisions – central, devolved and local government, and the agencies and companies that make up the railway industry – either directly or by supporting other campaigning groups. Railfuture makes submissions in response to consultations held by the various railway industry bodies and provides interviewees to comment in the media. It also campaigns on specific major and local issues.
The company changed its name to Railfuture Ltd on 1 January 2018.
Scope and Content
Archive of the Railway Development Society Ltd (RDS). Contains promotional material relating to campaigns that have been or have not been released, reports collected by group published by other bodies e.g. British Railways Board (BRB), Government, universities, publicity created by Railfuture and predecessors, other bodies such as Passenger Transport Executives, BRB, correspondence created and accumulated by the group, some multi format such as VHS. Core material such as minutes, reports and correspondence originating from key members of RDS Frank Tomlins, Richard Pout, Michael Caton and John Barfield. Also includes, newsletters and magazines, policy papers, and official publications relating to local and national transport proposals.
Extent
17 boxes, 11 items
Language
English
Archival history
The papers and records were in the custody of officers of Railfuture until they were donated to the Railway Museum in 2017. They appear to have been mainly accumulated by John Barfield, Michael Caton, Richard Pout, Frank Tomlins and Rowland Victor Banks
Level of description
TOP
Repository name
National Railway Museum, York
Associated people and organisations
- British Railways BoardBiographyBiography
The British Railways Board was an independent statutory corporation responsible for running the British railway network from 1963. It was established by the Transport Act 1962, which abolished the British Transport Commission and divided its undertakings between five newly-created bodies: the British Railways Board, the British Waterways Board, the British Transport Docks Board, the London Transport Board, and a Transport Holding Company. The British Railways Board was responsible for running the railway network, as well as managing government-owned railway hotels. Members of the British Railways Board were also appointed by the Minister for Transport. The first Chair of the British Railways Board was Dr Richard Beeching.
The British Railways Board operated through regional boards, which were responsible for regional sections of the railway network. These regions were Southern, Western, London Midland, London and North Eastern, Eastern, and Scottish. Members of these regional boards were appointed by the British Railways Board, in consultation with the Minister for Transport. The British Railways Board also operated a series of committees to manage every aspect of railway control, including committees for finance, technical, works and property. These committees were frequently reorganised throughout the life of the British Railways Board, under both different Chairs of the Board and different governments.
Several changes occurred during the 1960s. The Board had two new Chairs; Stanley Raymond, who replaced Richard Beeching in 1965, and his successor Henry Johnson, who became Chair in 1967. In 1968, the Transport Act transferred the control of the Sundries and Freightliner divisions from the British Railways Board to National Carriers Ltd and Freightliners Ltd. The Board retained a forty-nine per cent stake in Freightliners Ltd.
During the 1970s, the British Railways Board created several subsidiary companies which were to manage some of its undertakings. These included British Transport Hotels Ltd, British Rail Engineering Ltd, and British Rail Hovercraft Ltd. Many of these subsidiary companies were sold under the Conservative governments of the 1980s. There were also two new Chairs during this time. Richard Marsh replaced Henry Johnson in 1971, and Peter Parker became chair in 1976.
The privatisation of the British rail network during the 1990s radically changed the role of the British Railways Board. The Transport Act 1993 established Railtrack, a publicly-owned company. The Act transferred the ownership of track and railway infrastructure from the British Railways Board to Railtrack, in addition to the control of signals. Railtrack also replaced the British Railways Board as the body responsible for track investment and maintenance. The British Railways Board remained in existence after these changes, but only performed residual functions relating to pensions, liabilities, and non-operational railway land. The Board also continued to operate the British Transport Police service.
The British Railways Board was abolished by the Transport Act 2000, which transferred the remaining functions of the Board to the newly-created Strategic Rail Authority.
Conditions governing access
Access is given in accordance with the NRM access policy. Material from this collection is available to researchers through Search EngineA Data Protection form must be signed prior to accessing this material
Conditions governing Reproduction
Copies may be supplied of items in the collection, provided that the copying process used does not damage the item or is not detrimental to its preservation. Copies will be supplied in accordance with the NRM’s terms and conditions for the supply and reproduction of copies, and the provisions of any relevant copyright legislation
Appraisal
The papers appear to have been accumulated by several individual members of Railfuture but were in no particular order. They consisted of a mixture of items that related to Railfuture and its predecessor organisations, the Railway Development Society, the Railway Development Association and the Railway Invigoration Society, with documents published by various public bodies. The decision has been taken to acknowledge the contribution of the individuals in collecting the papers, but to reorganise the papers in series by type and date, so far as possible. Duplicates have been removed.
