The Scottish Region comprised all the railways in Scotland, and it was the only British Railways region built from more than one of the Big Four. When the regions were formed on 1 January 1948 it drew together the Scottish operations of both the LMS and the LNER north of the border, with headquarters in Glasgow. In its early days the former LMS lines were worked partly through the London Midland Region, and it was from 1 January 1949 that the Scottish Region took full and undivided control of every railway in Scotland. By 1960 it was a single system stretching from the Border to the far north coast.
Territory
The region covered the whole of Scotland. Its principal termini and centres were Glasgow, with its two great stations at Central and Queen Street; Edinburgh, served by Waverley and Princes Street; and the northern and eastern centres of Aberdeen, Perth, Dundee and Inverness. The main routes reflected the competing lines the region had inherited. The West Coast route came north of Carlisle to Glasgow, Perth and Aberdeen, while the Waverley Route ran south from Edinburgh to Carlisle across the Border hills. To the west and north lay the celebrated scenic lines: the West Highland Line to Fort William and Mallaig, the Highland main line to Inverness, and the Far North lines carrying on to Wick and Thurso.
Inherited constituents
Because it was assembled from two of the Big Four, the Scottish Region inherited the traditions of all five of the principal pre-Grouping Scottish companies. From the LMS side came the Caledonian Railway, the Glasgow and South Western Railway, and the Highland Railway. From the LNER side came the North British Railway and the Great North of Scotland Railway. These rival concerns had built the duplicated and overlapping network the region now worked as one, and their engineering and route character remained plainly visible across the system in 1960.
Motive power in 1960
The mainstay of Scottish motive power was the Stanier design: the Black Five 4-6-0s and the Stanier moguls worked hard on both main-line and secondary duties the length of the region. Older machines from the constituent companies also survived, with ex-North British and ex-Caledonian designs still to be found on secondary and local work. The region is best remembered by enthusiasts for a late and celebrated use of the Gresley A4 Pacifics, which from the early 1960s were transferred north to work the Glasgow to Aberdeen three-hour expresses, giving those engines a distinguished final chapter far from their East Coast home. Allocations for 1960 are recorded in the Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, Combined Volume.
The transfer of the A4 Pacifics to Scottish sheds followed the arrival of diesels on the East Coast Main Line, which released the class from their original express work. The Aberdeen turns became one of the last regular high-speed duties for express steam anywhere on British Railways.
Beeching and after
The Reshaping Report fell heavily on the rural Scottish network, where long routes carried thin traffic across difficult country. Many Border, Highland and branch lines were closed through the 1960s. The most contested loss was the Waverley Route between Edinburgh and Carlisle, closed at the end of the decade after a long public campaign to save it, and among the most bitterly argued of all the closures. The main lines to Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness survived, as did the West Highland and Far North lines, which remain in use today. The wider closure programme is set out in the closures section, and the region is placed among its neighbours in the regions overview.
- Awdry, C. (1990) Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies, PSL, Scottish companies sections.
- Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, Combined Volume, for the 1960 allocation snapshot.
- RCTS Locomotives of the LNER series, for the history of the Gresley Pacifics.