Welcome to the first issue of BR Times, a new history periodical dedicated to students and enthusiasts of the British Rail (BR) era.

As a rail enthusiast of 40 years and a railwayman now in my third decade of service, I have a deep appreciation for the British Rail period. I grew up in Westhouses, a modest Derbyshire village that owes its very existence to the Midland Railway. The railway built not only an engine shed, but also rows of terraced houses for its employees – each street named after a Midland Railway director. They even constructed the school I attended as a child.

Westhouses, much like BR Times, is a microcosm of interest for the railway enthusiast, the modeller, and the social historian alike.

Unlike the established Times series, BR Times will focus specifically on the era from around 1965 to 1997. This was a time of immense change. Steam gave way to diesel and electric traction, many lines were closed, and DMUs and EMUs proliferated under the Modernisation Plan. BR’s corporate image became omnipresent – an era symbolised by the HST and the bold declaration that this was ‘the age of the train.’

Against this backdrop, BR Times will examine the everyday activities of BR through carefully chosen photographs and illustrated articles covering the five regions and three decades of British Rail. But we will also be asking: Was BR really as bad as many remember? And do we give it enough credit for its many achievements?

Contents
Introduction
Auld Reekie to Dear Green Place: Scotland’s Glasgow to Edinburgh Route, Part 1 – The DMUs
BR’s Most Successful Type 3 – Pip Dunn
The Cans that Could: Class 86s on the West Coast Mainline
Goyles of Many Colours: The Liveries of the Class 31
A Crooked View: Observations of Trains Through Chesterfield in the Late 1980s
The Diesels of Penzance: Penzance Diesel Depot
Heading up West: Activity at Aller Junction
The Trunking Controller: A Personal Account of Freightliners from Southampton – Richard James
The Final Whistle: The First and Last Withdrawals of the Class 40s – Part 1
Deltic Delights: The Life of 55002
Powering a Nation – BR’s Merry Go Round Operations: Part 1 – The Impetus to Build
Getting the Boot: The Market Harborough to Northampton Line
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