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GWR, LNER, LMS, SR - The Big Four Quiz

Immediately prior to nationalization, the United Kingdom's railway network was owned by four huge railway companies. What do you know about them?

A multiple-choice quiz by Quelquechose. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
Quelquechose

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
357,580

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
366

Last 3 plays: Guest 82 (4/10), Guest 194 (4/10), Guest 87 (5/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Since Britain had once had over 100 railway companies, what was the main reason for there being only four by 1923? Hint

The fifth largest, the Caledonian Railway, had gone bust

Forced mergers under the 1921 Railways Act

Law of the jungle: the most successful had taken over the weakest

Railways were having difficulty in competing with motor transport

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. These railway companies had magnificent livery, and probably none more than the London, Midland and Scottish (LMS). What was the official title of the red used in their livery? Hint

Maroon

Red

Crimson Lake

Lime

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. To this day, the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) locomotive "Mallard" still holds a particular record. What is it? Hint

World Speed Record for a steam-driven locomotive at 125.88mph

Most costly locomotive to develop

Most accidents by a railway engine

The only British-made railway engine in North Korea

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. The main engineering works for the Great Western Railway (GWR) were at Swindon. According to legend, just how did Isambard Kingdom Brunel select the city and site for these works? Hint

GWR were offered a big prize by the town of Swindon

His deputy surveyor misread the chief surveyor's notes

He chucked a stone and said to built it where it landed

He had a prophetic dream

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. What is the famous, long-standing nickname for the GWR? Hint

Our Home

God's Wonderful Railway

The Western

Brunel's Folly

6. Which Great Western Railway Company Director, forced out of office by Labour's nationalization law, gained sweet revenge by helping to push the Prime Minister and the Labour Government out of office and keep them out of office by becoming Prime Minister himself? Hint

Harold Macmillan

Edward Heath

Margaret Thatcher

Neville Chamberlain

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. "Next train's gone" is a classic line from the 1937 movie "Oh, Mr Porter!", starring Will Hay, about laughably incompetent railway staff at a small backwater station in Northern Ireland. On which rail network was this film shot? Hint

GWR

LMS

LNER

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. The gap between rails is known as the "gauge". What assertion is UNTRUE out of the following? Hint

Railway companies disliked wide gauge as it cost more to build

Russian wide gauge is the same as Brunel's original

Original GWR gauge was 7 ft and 1/4 inches, nearly twice today's

When forced to convert to narrow gauge, GWR relaid its entire network in just 48 hours

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. After nationalization in 1946, the UK rail network was unified into one public body, trading as British Rail from 1965 onwards. In the UK today, what is sometimes referred to as the "British Rail School Of Charm"? Hint

A nostalgic look back at the days before nationalization

The largest College in downtown Swindon

Slang term for extreme abuse and ignorance

A system of management training in the Midlands

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. The two main railways serving the north of the UK were LMS, which had a London terminus at St Pancras, and LNER, which had one at Kings Cross. What feature of these two stations served as evidence for those arguing for rationalization of the networks? Hint

Connections between them were poor

They were built on opposite sides of the same street

They did not share the same gauge

They were built too far from Central London to be of use

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Since Britain had once had over 100 railway companies, what was the main reason for there being only four by 1923?

Answer: Forced mergers under the 1921 Railways Act

Although many railways were producing little profit and many had merged, an Act of Parliament was passed with a view to making them more efficient through forced mergers. At the time of drafting, serious consideration was made to having a fifth railway, an expanded Caledonian Railway, but this idea was scrapped before the Bill came before Parliament.

2. These railway companies had magnificent livery, and probably none more than the London, Midland and Scottish (LMS). What was the official title of the red used in their livery?

Answer: Crimson Lake

Although commonly referred to as "Maroon", the hue's name was actually "Crimson Lake".

3. To this day, the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) locomotive "Mallard" still holds a particular record. What is it?

Answer: World Speed Record for a steam-driven locomotive at 125.88mph

125.88 miles per hour is no mean feat for a steam-driven machine. The A4 Class "Mallard" achieved this on 3rd July 1938.

4. The main engineering works for the Great Western Railway (GWR) were at Swindon. According to legend, just how did Isambard Kingdom Brunel select the city and site for these works?

Answer: He chucked a stone and said to built it where it landed

The story goes that Brunel randomly threw his stone (or in some versions a sandwich) from the train on which he was travelling on at the time, just as it was passing the small market town of Swindon.

5. What is the famous, long-standing nickname for the GWR?

Answer: God's Wonderful Railway

There was a great deal of pride amongst those working on the railways and the employees of the GWR regularly referred to their company as "God's Wonderful Railway".

Answer: Harold Macmillan

Harold Macmillan became Prime Minister in 1957 and was nicknamed "Supermac", not only for his ability to govern, but also for his ability to better his Labour Party opponents at ever election and keep them out of office.

Answer: SR

It is ironic that the adorable "Oh, Mr Porter!" was filmed on location at Southern Railway (SR) locations. The story is set around a railway station in Northern Ireland, yet the logo of SR is visible nearly everywhere - a railway that served the commuter areas in the south-east of England around London. Notions of accuracy and continuity were clearly not uppermost in the minds of the makers of cheap-and-cheerful 1930s British film comedies.

8. The gap between rails is known as the "gauge". What assertion is UNTRUE out of the following?

Answer: Russian wide gauge is the same as Brunel's original

Even the Russian "wide gauge" of 4 ft 11 5/6 inches is nowhere as wide as Brunel's.

When forced to convert to narrow gauge, the GWR was so annoyed that they waited to carry out the work until the very last moment, and then had 4,200 plate-layers move one of the rails across the entire network by 3 feet or so over in just 48 hours.

Answer: Slang term for extreme abuse and ignorance

After nationalization, there was considerable criticism for British Rail's poor performance and lack of pride that had existed during the era of the "Big Four". In particular, passengers regularly complained of "being taken for granted" by staff working for a monopoly that they were forced to use.

In the 1980s, BR management tried sending staff for training at public relation consultants, with the unfortunate result that the Press (which had been hostile to BR from the start) began referring to the "British Rail School Of Charm"... and the term drifted quickly into popular culture.

Answer: They were built on opposite sides of the same street

Although the tracks rapidly diverge outside London, many distant cities like Glasgow were served by the same two railway companies, whilst in London, a small road is all that separates the two stations.

Source: Author Quelquechose

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor stedman before going online.
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