Records inherited and created by British Railways, Research Department

Division within AN

1951-1973

Records of the British Railways Research Department, established in 1951 to develop and initiate scientific research into the railways, document aspects of research primarily concerned with the operation of rolling stock, and include reports of the following divisions of the Research Department:

• Director of the Research Department in AN 146
• Engineering Division in AN 139
• Operational Research Division in AN 142
• Vehicle and Track Division in AN 143
• Physics Division in AN 145
• Electrical Research Division in AN 147 and AN 150
• Chemistry Division and Chemical Research in AN 148 and AN 149
• Metallurgy Research Division in AN 152.

Public Record(s)

English

• British Railways, Research and Development Division, 1972-1989
• British Railways, Research Department, 1951-1972

11 series

Topics

Railways

Research

Iron, steel and metals

The Research Department of British Railways was established in 1951, following a review of current and previous research into the railways carried out in 1948 by a committee headed by Sir William Stanier.

Scientific research on the railways had developed from the 1840s, as part of the efforts then being made to improve the performance and reliability of the early steam locomotives. For many years research continued to focus on locomotives and rolling stock, and this developed in the twentieth century through and beyond the grouping of the railway companies and the emergrence of the big four in 1924.

The Research Department established in 1951 was divided into six dixisions: Engineering, Metallurgy, Chemistry, Physics, Textiles and Operational Research.

The Chemistry Division was renamed the Chemical Services Division in 1954. In 1963, it was divided into the Chemical Research Division and the Regional Scientific Services Division. In the same year, the Electrical Research Division was formed.

In 1972, a major re-organisation renamed the department the Research and Development Division, and placed the various functions of the organisation under the control of project managers.

Further reorgainsations took place in 1978 and 1980, and in 1989, following a change in policy which allowed the department only to undertake work for other departments or outside bodies when requested, and the implementation of a policy of self-accounting, the name was changed to Research Division.