North British Railway

The North British Railway ( NBR) was a British railway company that existed from 1844 to 1922. The length of the situated mostly in Scotland route network was 2218 km.

In July 1845, about a year after its inception, the NBR opened its first route from Edinburgh to Berwick -upon- Tweed. Shortly before the society the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway had taken over. This was followed by numerous other acquisitions of railway companies of local and regional importance. The most important was 1865, the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway between the two largest cities of Scotland.

In order to provide direct trains to London, cooperated, the NBR in 1860 with the North Eastern Railway and the Great Northern Railway; the three companies acquired rolling stock with uniform technical specifications in order to allow a continuous operation on the East Coast Main Line.

The main lines of NBR were:

• The today's East Coast Main Line between Berwick -upon- section Tweed and Edinburgh as well as the sequel to Dundee and Aberdeen
• The Waverley Line between Edinburgh and Carlisle
• The West Highland Line from Glasgow to Mallaig
• Edinburgh - Glasgow
• Edinburgh - Perth
• Edinburgh - Stirling

The NBR was known primarily through two major bridges, the Tay Rail Bridge (1877 opened in 1879 collapsed in 1887 reopened ) and the Forth Bridge (1890 open ). In Edinburgh, the NBR had the luxury North British Hotel, which opened in 1902, the city is regarded as one of the landmarks.

With the entry into force of the Railways Act 1921 on 1 January 1923, the NBR went into the London and North Eastern Railway.