The idea for a shop which could sell off British Rail’s (BR) collectable items commonly known as relics arose from a staff suggestion after it was noticed that a former BR Fireman who had been made redundant had set up a business buying and selling railway relics which in the late 1960s mainly comprised of items from steam locomotives such as name and number plates. Collectors Corner opened in November 1969 in a building on Cardington Street, Euston which had originally been a harness room for horses which were used for the delivery and collection of parcels in the local area of London. Starting from a small staff of two which was part of the London Midland Region`s Stores Controller organisation, a sweep of various stores around the Region had brought together all sorts of items from lamps to station signs, out of date copies of rule books, timetables, labels, signalling equipment, old uniform clothing etc. Initially the shop was open on three days a week from Wednesday to Friday but as business grew this was extended to also include Saturdays to allow customers from outside London to visit. A price list was published and a lot of business was conducted by post.
The success of the shop saw the staffing increased initially in the 1970s to three and then for a short period to four days with opening hours extended to include Mondays to Saturdays. To promote the business the opportunity of attending the various BR depot and station open days was taken and proved in the main to be very successful and easy to achieve using the transit van used by staff to visit various railway locations to collect new stock. The resigning of stations across BR brought an almost non ending supply of new material but also changes on the railway such as the introduction of new battery hand and train tail lamps had dramatic and fortunate consequences for Collectors Corner, plus other changes such as withdrawal of locomotives which carried names meant these were some of the most desirable and expensive items the shop ever sold.
In 1983 the premises occupied since 1969 were considered not fit for use and as an adjacent building on the same site which was at ground level and had previously been used as a garage was available, this was procured for use by the shop which then transferred over the courtyard. Unfortunately this was not to last very long as the site had been sold for a hotel development so another move was made into a building which had adjoined the original shop premises and had originally was used as an electrical substation to supply Euston Station before it was rebuilt in the 1960s. This proved to be beneficial to Collectors Corner as including the ground floor it comprised of two further floors above, one of which was used as the sales area. The Shop was then based here until January 1998 after which the business was transferred to a site on Hudson St in York.
As described above Collectors Corner formed part of the London Midland Region of BR under the oversight of the Stores Controller subsequently renamed Regional Stores Controller. When this organisation was disbanded in the late 1980s oversight of the organisation was transferred to the local Area Manager at Euston, but when the railway was being split up into Business Sectors a decision was made to transfer Collectors’ Corner to BR Headquarters Central Services this being one of the last reorganisations under OFQ (Organisation For Quality) which was a sensible move as the shop was by this time dealing with all parts of BR. Privatisation of BR saw Collectors Corner sold to be part of National Railway Supplies but the building at Euston was not included in the sale and was subsequently sold in 1998 hence the move of the shop to York.
Date
1969-1997
Scope and ContentThese files and documents relate to the decommissioning and sale of clocks, watches and nameplates by British Railways, including sale of items via Collectors Corner at Euston Station. The collection includes press cuttings, correspondence, price list catalogues, and general distribution lists for the railway memorabilia market.
Extent4 boxes
LanguageEnglish
Archival historyThese files arrived in 2005 from National Rail Supplies, York, who took over the running of the Collectors Corner relics and memorabilia sales after it relocated from Euston Station to York.
Railways in Britain were nationalised under the terms of the Transport Act 1947 which came into effect on 1 January 1948. The Railway Executive, a corporate body subordinate to the British Transport Commission, was created to manage and operate the railways. It divided them into six geographical regions, largely based on the areas served by the pre-nationalisation railway companies.
London Midland Region (LMR) was one of those territories. It comprised the railway operations in England and Wales of the former London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company (LMS) with the exception of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway which was placed in Eastern Region and lines in central and south Wales which passed to Western Region. Subsequently, the area of operations was adjusted by the transfer of “penetrating lines” between regions
Between 1948 and 1952 the regional manager was responsible to the Railway Executive for day to day operations in his region. After the Railway Executive was abolished in 1952, he reported to the British Transport Commission (BTC). In 1963, BTC itself was abolished and replaced by British Railways Board (BRB). Between 1963 and 1968 LMR was a statutory board in accordance with the provisions of the Transport Act 1962, subordinate to and reporting to BRB. It ceased to be a statutory board in 1968, following reorganisation of the railways’ business along sectoral or functional lines. The name survived until 1992 when the railways were privatised.
There were two principal routes in the region. The first was the former Midland mainline which had several components: London St Pancras to Sheffield via Leicester and Nottingham, Rugby through Derby to West Yorkshire and Leeds and continuing over the Settle-Carlisle route, Derby to Manchester, and Birmingham to Derby. The other was the West Coast Mainline (WCML) from Euston to Carlisle, via Birmingham and Manchester with its branch to Liverpool.
There was one major “penetrating line”, the former Great Central London Extension from Annesley in Nottinghamshire to London Marylebone, via Leicester, and Rugby. Originally in Eastern Region, this line was transferred to London Midland Region in 1958.
The WCML which formed part of the major route from London to Scotland was electrified in stages between 1959 and 1974. Only the southern end of the Midland Mainline from Bedford to London Moorgate was electrified during the period that London Midland Region existed.
Like other regions London Midland experienced withdrawal of services and closures, especially following the Beeching report. The most notable casualty was the Great Central line, which, because it largely duplicated the Midland Main Line from Nottingham to London, was closed almost in its entirety. The line through the Derbyshire Dales between Matlock and Buxton was also closed thus severing the route from St Pancras to Manchester. Many branch lines and industrial lines were also closed
Railways in Britain were nationalised under the terms of the Transport Act 1947 which came into effect on 1 January 1948. The Act created the British Transport Commission and the Railway Executive. The Act vested the business and assets of the then existing railway companies in the British Transport Commission. The Railway Executive, a corporate body subordinate to the British Transport Commission, was created to manage and operate the railways. It divided them into six geographical regions, largely based on the areas served by the pre-nationalisation railway companies, one of which was Western Region.
It comprised the railway operations in England and Wales of the former Great Western Railway Company with adjustments to eliminate “penetrating lines”. From the former London Midland and Scottish Railway Western Region gained the lines in central and south Wales, the Birmingham-Bristol-Bath line, the Somerset and Dorset Joint line (in part) and from the Southern Railway the lines west of Exeter. It also was assigned Marylebone to Northolt. Sections of the former Great Western Railway lines to Weymouth, the Midland & South West Junction, the Didcot Newbury & Southampton, and Reading – Basingstoke and Westbury – Salisbury were assigned to the new Southern Region. Subsequently Marylebone was transferred out of Western Region.
Western Region served the south-west of England, south and central Wales, and the West Midlands. Its principal routes were London Paddington to Bristol, via Reading, Didcot and Swindon, and London Paddington to Birmingham. In Bristol the line divided, one route continuing to the south-west serving Exeter and terminating in Penzance and the other into South Wales, via the Severn Tunnel to Cardiff, Swansea and Milford Haven. There was a more direct route to Exeter through Newbury, Westbury and Taunton. From Didcot a line ran north to Oxford and then divided, the southern route serving Worcester and Wolverhampton, by-passing Birmingham, and the northern route going to Birmingham via Banbury Leamington Spa and Warwick. Western Region also had several cross-country routes including Birmingham to Bristol, and many branch lines, with a dense network serving the valleys of south Wales.
Throughout the time Western Region existed, loss-making and underused branch lines were closed, some as early as 1951. Of the cross-country lines, passenger services ceased on the former Midland & South Western Junction in 1961 and freight services were withdrawn between 1964 and 1970. Following the Beeching report in 1962 the Somerset and Dorset line closed in 1966 (with the exception of a short length serving Writhlington colliery in Somerset). The decline of the coal-mining industry in south Wales was followed by closures in the Valleys. Duplicate lines, such as the Honeybourne line from Cheltenham (closed in 1976), were also closed.
Between 1948 and 1953 the regional manager was responsible to the Railway Executive for day to day operations in his region. After the Railway Executive was abolished in 1953, he reported to the British Transport Commission. In 1963, the British Transport Commission itself was abolished and replaced by British Railways Board. Between 1963 and 1968 Western Region was a statutory board in accordance with the provisions of the Transport Act 1962, subordinate to and reporting to British Railways Board. It ceased to be a statutory board in 1968, following reorganisation of the railways’ business along functional lines. The name survived until 1992 when the railways were privatised.
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