I've been fortunate to have lectured multiple times in the United Kingdom. The UK is probably my favorite place to visit on earth. The people are very nice to Americans, our history is based on British history and my family is from Scotland, so I feel at home when I visit there.
One of my dearest friends, John Mcleod, and his wife live in Grimsby, a town a couple of hours northeast of London. He was kind enough to take me railfanning and he actually hates the hobby! In England, we railfans are called train spotters. Train spotters are almost depised by many and certain the butt of jokes. Perhaps that why John does not really care to take me to watch trains, so I really appreciate his sacrifice.
The pictures in this section start at King's Cross Station in London (the railroad station bombed my Islamic terrorists a few years ago -- just about one week after I was there). We took a private train owned by Virgin Airlines and traveled northeast to Grimbsby. Then I'll post some pictures taken in and around a Barnetby, a busy freight and passenger yard. All aboard for our Magical Mystery British rail tour!
Brief History of British Rail Service
British Railways, which was later known as British Rail, ran most of the British railway sytem from the nationalization of the 'Big Four' British railway companies in 1948 until privatization in stages from 1994 to 1997. Obviously, the Brits realized that socialism does not work and private enterprise improves quality and service. This period of nationalization saw massive changes in the railway network: steam was eliminated in favor of diesel and electric power, passengers replaced freight as the main source of business, and one third of the network was eliminated. Since the passenger trains run on their own, privately owned rails, delays endured by Amtrak don't occur. Freight can't purposely delay passenger service as CSX does here.
Today
I have personally observed the excellent rail service in England and the promptness of the trains. But then, competition seems to make private companies do things like that! In the US, so many continue to cry from Amtrak to return to Fostoria and other Midwestern cities. People try to compare the US passenger service to that of England, but that is impossible. England is only slightly larger (in size) than the State of Ohio, but has over 61 million people (compared to Ohio's 11 million). The density of population and the number of small towns make rail service very reasonalbe in England. On the other hand, in Ohio for example, the distances between our cities are vast when compared to England (or, for that matter, all of Europe), which really makes business travel by rail almost impossible. Also, as stated above, the British rail companies own their own tracks, crossings, switches and most stations, so they can exert strong control over rail operations. In the US, most passenger service has to bow to freight traffic because Amtrak has to use the tracks of freight companies (e.g., CSX, NS) for the most part.