The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was formed out of a number of constituent railway companies at the

grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

in 1923.

Main companies

The main companies, showing their route mileage, were: *

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

(GER) miles (1,906 km) *

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

(GCR) miles (1,364 km) * Great Northern Railway (GNR) miles (1,680 km) *

Great North of Scotland Railway The Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR) was one of the two smallest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping, operating in the north-east of the country. Formed in 1845, it carried its first passengers the fr ...

(GNSR) miles (535 km) *

Hull and Barnsley Railway Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in a ...

miles (170 km) (H&BR) (which had amalgamated with the NER on 1 April 1922) *

North British Railway The North British Railway was a British railway company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, and from the outset the company followe ...

(NBR) * North Eastern Railway miles (2,812 km) (NER)

Subsidiary companies

Independently operated lines

Colne Valley and Halstead Railway The Colne Valley and Halstead Railway (CVHR) is a closed railway between Haverhill, Suffolk and Chappel and Wakes Colne, Essex, in England. History A railway in the Colne Valley was first proposed in 1846 when the Colchester, Stour Valle ...

East and West Yorkshire Union Railway The East and West Yorkshire Union Railway was promoted in 1883 to connect the Hull and Barnsley Railway at Drax, North Yorkshire, Drax with Leeds. The company was unable to raise the money it needed to build the line, and it substantially reduced ...

miles (15 km) *

Mid-Suffolk Light Railway The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway (MSLR) was a standard gauge railway intended to open up an agricultural area of central Suffolk; it took advantage of the reduced construction cost enabled by the Light Railways Act 1896. It was launched with consi ...

miles (31 km)

Leased or worked railways

Many of these "railways" existed only in name; there were included on the list at the time of the Railways Act in order to legally qualify each line's position * Originally leased to or worked by the NER ** Brackenhill Light Railway (West Yorkshire) ** Fawcett Depot line (County Durham) miles (9 km) **

Great North of England, Clarence and Hartlepool Junction Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

line miles (10 km) * Originally leased to or worked by the GCR **

Humber Commercial Railway and Dock The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Trent, Trent. From there to the North Sea, it for ...

Mansfield Railway The Mansfield Railway was an eleven-mile railway line in Nottinghamshire, England. It was built to serve collieries opening in the coalfield around Mansfield, and ran between junctions at Clipstone and Kirkby-in-Ashfield on the Great Central Ra ...

North Lindsey Light Railway The North Lindsey Light Railway (NLLR) was a light railway in North Lincolnshire. It was later absorbed by the Great Central Railway and later, on grouping, it passed to the London and North Eastern Railway. The railway is now mostly closed. ...

Seaforth and Sefton Junction Railway Seaforth may refer to: Places Australia * Seaforth, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Seaforth, Queensland, a town in the Mackay Region Canada * Seaforth, Nova Scotia, Canada, a community * Seaforth, Ontario, Canada, a community Jam ...

Sheffield District Railway The Sheffield District Railway was a railway line in South Yorkshire, England. It was built to give the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway access to Sheffield, primarily for goods traffic, for which a large goods depot at Attercliffe ...

miles (7 km) * Originally leased to or worked by the GER **

London and Blackwall Railway Originally called the Commercial Railway, the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR) in east London, England, ran from Minories to Blackwall, London, Blackwall via Stepney, with a branch line to the Isle of Dogs, connecting central London to many o ...

* Originally leased to or worked by the GNR **

East Lincolnshire Railway The East Lincolnshire Railway was a main line railway linking the towns of Boston, Louth and Grimsby in Lincolnshire, England. It opened in 1848. The ELR ''Company'' had leased the line to the Great Northern Railway, and it was the latter whic ...

miles (76 km) **

Horncastle Railway The Horncastle and Kirkstead Junction Railway was a seven mile long single track branch railway line in Lincolnshire, England, that ran from Horncastle to (opened as ''Kirkstead'') on the Great Northern Railway (GNR) line between Boston and Li ...

miles (12 km) **

Nottingham and Grantham Railway and Canal Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robin ...

Nottingham Suburban line Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robin ...

** Stamford and Essendine Railway miles (20 km) * Originally leased to or worked by the NBR **

Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

miles (16 km) **

Forth and Clyde Junction Railway The Forth and Clyde Junction Railway was a railway line in Scotland which ran from Stirling to Balloch. It was built with the expectation of conveying coal from the Fife coalfields to a quay at Bowling on the Clyde for onward transport, but th ...

miles (49 km) **

Gifford & Garvald Railway Gifford or Giffords may refer to: People *Gifford (given name) *Gifford (surname) *Gabby Giffords (b. 1970), a former United States politician Places Canada * Gifford Peninsula, on the South Coast of British Columbia * Gifford, British Columbia ...

miles (15 km) **

Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Railway The Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Railway was a short locally promoted branch line built to connect the industrial town of Milngavie with the main line railway network, near Glasgow, Scotland. It opened in 1863. The town, and Bearsden, an in ...

miles (5 km) **

Kilsyth and Bonnybridge railway The Kilsyth and Bonnybridge Railway was a railway line in central Scotland, built to exploit the mineral extractive industries in the area; it opened in 1888. A passenger service was run, but bus competition overwhelmed it after 1920 and the pa ...

miles (14 km) (worked jointly with CalR) **

Lauder Light Railway The Lauder Light Railway was a railway line opened in 1901 to connect the remote agricultural settlement of Lauder in Berwickshire with the main line of the Waverley Route railway at Fountainhall. Traffic was never heavy and bus competition led ...

miles (16 km) **

Newburgh and North Fife Railway The Newburgh and North Fife Railway was a Scottish railway company formed to build a connecting line between St Fort and Newburgh, in Fife, intended to open up residential traffic between the intermediate communities and Dundee and Perth. It ope ...

miles (21 km) * Originally leased to or worked by H&BR **

South Yorkshire Junction Railway The South Yorkshire Junction Railway was a railway which ran from Wrangbrook Junction on the main line of the Hull and Barnsley Railway to near Denaby Main Colliery Village, South Yorkshire. It was nominally an independent company sponsored b ...

miles (18 km) * Originally leased to or worked by several constituent companies **

Nottingham Joint Station Committee The Nottingham Joint Station Committee was incorporated by the Great Central and Great Northern Railway Act 1897 to manage the railway station which was to become Nottingham Victoria railway station, Nottingham Victoria. The committee comprised ...

West Riding and Grimsby Railway The West Riding and Grimsby Railway was a railway company that promoted a line between Wakefield and Doncaster, in Yorkshire, England. There was also a branch line connection from Adwick le Street to Stainforth, which gave access towards Grimsb ...

miles (52 km)

Independently operated joint companies

* East London Railway: jointly leased by the LNER, Southern Railway,

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

(MetR) and

District Railway The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the first par ...

. Traffic operated by MetR (passenger); LNER (goods) *

Cheshire Lines Committee The Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) was formed in the 1860s and became the second-largest joint railway in Great Britain. The committee, which was often styled the Cheshire Lines Railway, operated of track in the then counties of Lancashire a ...

(CLC): Operated jointly by LNER/

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

(LMS). LNER supplies locomotive power; CLC own rolling stock *

Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway The Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway (MSJ&AR) was a suburban railway which operated an route between Altrincham in Cheshire and Manchester London Road railway station (now Piccadilly) in Manchester. The MSJ&AR line operat ...

: trains worked by both LNER/LMSR

Joint railways

Now totally LNER

Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway The Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway, colloquially referred to as "the Joint Line"''Joint Line Joy'', in the Railway Magazine, June 2015 was a railway line connecting Doncaster and Lincoln with March and Huntingdon in the eastern cou ...

Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway The Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway (also known as the Gowdall and Braithwell Railway) was a joint line which ran from Aire Junction, on the main line of the Hull and Barnsley Railway, near Gowdall to the Great Central and Midlan ...

Joint with LMS

* Axholme Joint Railway *

( share) *

Caledonian and Dunbartonshire Junction Railway The Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway (C&DJR) was a Scottish railway opened in 1850 between Bowling and Balloch via Dumbarton. The company had intended to build to Glasgow but it could not raise the money. Other railways later rea ...

(including Loch Lomond steamers) *

Dundee and Arbroath Railway The Dundee and Arbroath Railway was an early railway in Scotland. It opened in 1838, and used the unusual track gauge of 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm). In 1848 it changed to standard gauge and connected to the emerging Scottish railway networ ...

(including Carmyllie Light Railway) *

Great Central and Midland Joint Railway The Great Central and Midland Joint Railway, formerly, before 1897, Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee, was a collection of joint railways, mainly in the Manchester and South Yorkshire areas. Description of route In the South Y ...

* Great Central & North Staffordshire Joint Railway *

Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway The Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway was a British railway line, almost entirely within Leicestershire. Authorised by the same Act of Parliament, the Great Northern Railway Leicester Branch was built, branching from the ...

Halifax and Ovenden Junction Railway The Great Northern Railway (GNR) was a British railway company incorporated in 1846 with the object of building a line from London to York. It quickly saw that seizing control of territory was key to development, and it acquired, or took le ...

* Methley Railway ( share) *

Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GNJR) was a railway network in England, in the area connecting southern Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely and north Norfolk. It developed from several local independent concerns and was incorporated ...

Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway The Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway (NSJR) was a British joint railway company. The NSJR was owned by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) and the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (MGNJ) and consisted of two distinct sections: a line betwee ...

( share) *

Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge Railway The Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge Junction Railway (OA&GB) was a British railway company, which opened in 1861, connecting Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge. The company survived until it was nationalised in 1948. Early days In 1847 the Manch ...

* Otley & Ilkley Railway * Perth General Station ( share) * Prince's Dock, Glasgow ( share) *

South Yorkshire Joint Railway The South Yorkshire Joint Railway was a committee formed in 1903, between the Great Central Railway, the Great Northern Railway, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, the Midland Railway and the North Eastern Railway to oversee the constructio ...

( share) * Swinton and Knottingley Joint Railway *

Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway The Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway was a railway line in north London, formed by an Act of Parliament of 28 July 1862, which today is mostly part of the Gospel Oak to Barking line. It was effectively part of an attempt by the Great Easte ...

Joint with GWR

Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway The Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway was a railway built and operated jointly by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and Great Central Railway (GCR) between Northolt (in north west London) and Ashendon Junction (west of Aylesbury). It was ...

{{Big Four pre-nationalisation British railway companies Big four British railway companies Pre-grouping British railway companies Constituents of the London and North Eastern Railway