The North Eastern Railway (NER) was an English railway company. It was incorporated in 1854 by the combination of several existing railway companies. Later, it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Eastern Railway at the Grouping in 1923. Its main line survives to the present day as part of the East Coast Main Line between London and Edinburgh.
Unlike many other pre-Grouping companies the NER had a relatively compact territory, in which it had a near monopoly. That district extended through Yorkshire, County Durham and Northumberland, with outposts in Westmorland and Cumberland. The only company penetrating its territory was the Hull & Barnsley, which it absorbed shortly before the main grouping. The NER's main line formed the middle link on the Anglo-Scottish "East Coast Main Line" between London and Edinburgh, joining the Great Northern Railway near Doncaster and the North British Railway at Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Although primarily a Northern English railway, the NER had a short length of line in Scotland, in Roxburghshire, with stations at Carham and Sprouston on the Tweedmouth-Kelso route (making it the only English railway with sole ownership of any line in Scotland), and was a joint owner of the Forth railway bridge and its approach lines. The NER was the only English railway to run trains regularly into Scotland, over the Berwick-Edinburgh main line as well as on the Tweedmouth-Kelso branch.
The total length of line owned was and the company's share capital was £82 million. The headquarters were at York and the works at Darlington, Gateshead, York and elsewhere.
Befitting the successor to the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the NER had a reputation for innovation. It was a pioneer in architectural and design matters and in electrification. By 1906 the NER was further ahead than any other British railway in having a set of rules agreed with the trades unions, including arbitration, for resolving disputes. In its final days it also began the collection that became the Railway Museum at York, now the National Railway Museum.
In 1913, the company achieved a total revenue of £11,315,130 () with working expenses of £7,220,784 ().
During the First World War, the NER lost a total of 2,236 men who are commemorated on the North Eastern Railway War Memorial in York. An earlier printed Roll of Honour lists 1,908 men. They also raised two 'Pals Battalions', the 17th (N.E.R. Pioneer) Battalion and 32nd (N.E.R. Reserve) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. This was the first time that a battalion had been raised from one Company. The company also sent two tug boats, NER No.3. and Stranton The latter became HM Tug Char and was lost at sea on 16 January 1915 with the loss of all hands.
The NER Heraldic Device (seen above the tile map photo) was a combination of the devices of its three major constituents at formation in 1854: the York and North Midland Railway (top; arms of the City of York); the Leeds Northern Railway (lower left; arms of the City of Leeds along with representations of the expected traffic, wool and corn, and connection to the sea via the West Hartlepool Harbour and Railway); and the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (lower right; parts of the arms of the three places in its title)
Constituent parts of the NER
Constituent companies of the NER are listed in chronological order under the year of amalgamation.
Their constituent companies are indented under the parent company with the year of amalgamation in parentheses.
If a company changed its name (usually after amalgamation or extension), the earlier names and dates are listed after the later name.
The information for this section is largely drawn from Appendix E (pp 778–779) in Tomlinson.
1854
York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway was York and Newcastle Railway (1846–1847) and Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway (1842–1846) Durham Junction Railway (1844) Brandling Junction Railway (1845) Durham and Sunderland Railway (1846) Pontop and South Shields Railway (1846) Stanhope and Tyne Railway (1842) Newcastle and Berwick Railway (1847) Newcastle and North Shields Railway (1845) Great North of England Railway (1850) York and North Midland Railway Leeds and Selby Railway (1844) Whitby and Pickering Railway (1845) East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway (1852) Leeds Northern Railway was Leeds and Thirsk Railway (1845–1849) Malton and Driffield Railway 1857 Deerness Valley Railway Hartlepool Dock and Railway 1858 North Yorkshire and Cleveland Railway 1859 Bedale and Leyburn Railway 1862