Records inherited and created by the Ministry of Transport and successors, Railways,...

Records of the Railways, Inland Waterways, Ports and Harbours Divisions and of the Nationalised Transport Divisions of the Ministry of Transport, established to regulate the governmental administration of these forms of transport, are relevant to the development of the railway system, inland waterways and ports and harbours. They also chart the transition of much of the transport infrastructure of the UK from private to state ownership. They include:

• reports of the Railways Inspectorate in MT 29, with indexes in MT 30;
• general files of the Railway Inspectorate in MT 114;
• tramway inspection registers in MT 94;
• minute books, and drawings and plans, of the Board of Trade Railway Department in MT 13 and MT 91;
• correspondence and papers relating to railways in MT 6, MT 7, MT 11, MT 12 and MT 188.
• light railway records in MT 14, MT 16, MT 17, MT 18, MT 54 and MT 58;
• correspondence and papers of the Board of Trade, Harbour Department in MT 2, MT 3, MT 10 and MT 48;
• correspondence of the Admiralty Harbour Department in MT 2 and MT 19;
• papers and accounts of Ramsgate Harbour in MT 21 and MT 22;
• papers of Mersey Conservancy in MT 75 and MT 76;
• minutes and papers of the Port and Transit Executive Committee in MT 61;
• files of the Port and Transit organisations of the Ministry of Shipping, and the Ministry of Transport, in MT 63;
• registered files relating to Ports departments in MT 81 and MT 82;
• correspondence and papers of the Board of Trade Inland Waterways and Ministry of Transport, Inland Waterways in MT 52;
• registered files of the British Transport Commission and of the Ministry of Transport, Railways and Inland Waterways Divisions, in MT 115 and MT 124;
• registered files of the Waterways and Railways General Division in MT 140;
• papers relating to Ministry of Transport, Inland Waterways Divisions in MT 52;
• registered files of the Nationalised Transport Divisions in MT 87 and MT 88;
• registered files of the Railways and Ports Division in MT 197;
• Transport Ministries: Rail (R Series) files in MT 214.

See also records of pre-nationalisation railway companies and canal companies in RAIL

Topics

Shipping

Railways

Trade and commerce

Transport management

Maps and plans

Navy

Armed Forces (General Administration)

A Railway Department and a Railway Inspectorate were established in 1840. The latter was part of the Board of Trade; the former attached to the Statistical Department of the Board of Trade, but soon became a distinct unit. In 1844 it was reorganised as a Railway Board, subject to but administratively separate from the Board of Trade.