I consider myself lucky to have been growing up as the post-war railways went through the massive changes of the '50s and '60s. After the long period of wartime austerity, the railways, and the country, were run-down but the traditional pride of railwaymen in being involved in a vital national enterprise was still visible. The socialist government nationalised the 'Big Four' railways in 1948 and, of course, opinions varied about the consequences which would follow. Steam was still supreme, the handful of main-line diesel electrics were seen as curiosities and nobody on the railways had yet heard of Doctor Beeching.
B.R. Standard steam locomotives
But when change came, it came quickly. B.R. Standard steam locomotive designs were intended to replace the motive power which had become 'clapped-out' through the pressures of wartime. Riddles' designs were based on sensible principles of simplicity, two outside cylinders with Walschaerts valve gear and rocking grates with hopper ashpans. The 999 new locomotives turned out were intended to be a unifying influence, encouraging loyalty to the new 'British Railways' rather than the old 'Big Four'. This aim was only partly achieved: the new locomotives were thought 'the best thing that had ever happened' or 'not as good as our old engines', depending who you talked to.
Although the B.R. Standard locomotives incorporated modern design features, steam traction still involved a lot of hard, unpleasant physical work which became less acceptable to employees. At the same time, the political wind changed and it was felt that 'dieselisation' was the future.
B.R. Diesel Shunters
The excellent 350 h.p. diesel-electric shunters revolutionised shunting and trip work, with their ability to be rapidly shut down until required and be available for perhaps a week before returning to the depot. There were also various diesel-mechanical types.
B.R. Diesel Multiple Units
The various designs of Diesel Multiple Unit quite successfully replaced steam on local (and not-so-local services). Existing automotive technology was fairly successfully adapted to the railway environment and the ability to operate variable-length trains by coupling units together or splitting them, as required was quite effective. At the time, the new experience of being able to sit behind the driver and share his view ahead was amazing. My post Diesel Multiple Units has links to various sources of information (the British Railways Driver Training Films on YouTube are particularly recommend).
B.R. Main-line Diesels
British Railways and the various British locomotive builders had a fairly steep learning-curve in seeking to develop successful high-power diesel traction. One of the pioneer classes was the 'Peak' and, of course, 'Penyghent' is preserved at Peak Rail. My post D8 'Penyghent' has links to various sources of information on this class but, despite the interest of the more complex control systems, I've not written a great deal about other classes.
B.R. Electrification
Having thrown away a modern 'stud' of steam locomotives in favour of diesel, British Railways then started to electrify. Of course, the Southern Railway had electrified much of their complex network radiating from London with 3rd rail, 750 volts d.c. before the war and there were other limited schemes (Manchester-Sheffield-Wath was started pre-war but couldn't be completed until after the war) but no major main-line route. Post-war, many other countries went straight for the electric option. At least when the first scheme was announced from Euston to Manchester, we chose a.c. rather than d.c. and high voltage, generally 25 kV, rather than low voltage. This decision was based on the success of a pilot scheme in the Morecambe area briefly outlined in my post Steam around Morecambe. Yet even today, much of the system is not electrified, resulting in a massive mileage by diesel trains even on routes which have been electrified.
Signalling
I was very lucky to get to work manual signal boxes (unofficially) in the late 'fifties and 'sixties before the great changes swept over British Railways. My post Visiting Signalboxes has links to more articles about some of the boxes I went to. The early manual signalling systems had had various electrical safeguards added piecemeal but the system still depended upon the integrity of a large band of signalmen. But over a period of time, boxes were abolished, and colour light signals, continuous track circuiting and Power Signal Boxes covering wide areas were introduced. Many of my posts are dedicated to signalling for railways 'Ancient and Modern' - you can find them under the label Railway Signalling.
