The British railway system is the oldest in the world. It consists of
21,000 miles (33,000 km) of standard gauge track, of which 3,062 miles
(4,928 km) is electrified. JOHN MAPPIN RAIL INFO

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The system was originally built as a patchwork of local rail links
operated by small private railway companies. Over the course of the
19th and early 20th centuries these amalgamated or were bought by
competitors until only a handful of larger companies remained (see
railway mania). The entire network was brought under government
control during the First World War, and a number of advantages of
amalgamation and planning were revealed. However, the government
resisted calls for the nationalisation of the network (first proposed
by William Gladstone as early as the 1830s). Instead, from 1 January
1923 almost all the remaining companies were grouped into the "big
four", the Great Western Railway, the London and North Eastern
Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the Southern
Railway companies (there were also a number of other joint railways
such as the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway). The "Big Four"
were joint-stock public companies and they continued to run the
railway system until 31 December 1947.

The growth in road transport during the 1920s and 1930s greatly
reduced revenue for the rail companies. Rail companies accused the
government of favouring road haulage through the subsidised
construction of roads. The railways entered a slow decline owing to a
lack of investment and changes in transport policy and lifestyles.
During the Second World War the companies' managements joined
together, effectively forming one company. A maintenance backlog
developed during the war, and the private sector only had two years to
deal with this after the war ended. After 1945, for both practical and
ideological reasons, the government decided to bring the rail service
into the public sector.