On the Causes of British Railway Nationalisation: A Re-examination of the Causes, 1866-1921

This article examines public debate over the proper relationship between railways and the British State (the railway question) between 1866 and 1921, and challenges the argument that their later nationalisation was the inevitable outcome of long-run economic and political tendencies. It outlines the socio-economic context for the emergence of the railway question. Contemporary responses to it are then examined, and it is argued that they form three distinct perspectives on the railway question. Lastly, the 1921 Railways Act is interpreted as shaping the railways in accordance with a perspective on the railway question which opposed their nationalisation.