The BTP

[Locoman69]

The British railway system has had policemen ever since the first rail passenger service began with the opening of the Manchester and Liverpool Railway in 1831. However they were not employed as policemen, in the present sense, but more as signalmen to control the passage of trains, this was no doubt in consequence of the very first British police force being formed by Sir Robert Peel to police London during the same period.

As no electricity or telegraph had been properly invented at that time, the railways had to have some form of control, so a block house was built at every few miles and trains were allowed through on a time schedule. At first they were known as police stations and were manned by a policeman who controlled the trains with red and green flags or red and green lamps during darkness, hence the common name of signalmen today known as ‘bobbies’. If a person wished to travel they contacted the policeman who took down the persons details in his pocket book, hence the name ‘booking office’.

The Manchester and Liverpool Railway became an instant success and within a few years every city and town throughout the country wanted it’s own railway system resulting in a massive rail-building program and became part of the Industrial Revolution.

A massive army of men was obviously required to build the railways and the bulk of them were either Irish or foreigners, naturally it was a hard life and they were quite wild spirited and the railways had to have their own police force’s to control them. Although many of the smaller railway companies had been amalgamated or gone out of business there were quite a number in operation before the beginning of the 20th Century, likewise they had there own police forces.

Together with the millions of members of the public wishing to travel, plus the railways owned vast swathes of land, docks, commercial premises and stations, which were all privately owned, crime and all its various multi offences plus accidents proliferated, therefore they had to have some form of control. As a result the railway police forces were based on the civil police and were inaugurated and laws authorising them passed by Parliament. In 1923 all the many various railway companies were formed into four groups, LNER, LMS, Southern and Great Western.

Following the nationalisation of the railways by the Labour government in 1947 the railways were now known as British Railways and the four police forces amalgamated to be known as the British Transport Commission Police. This remained in existence until 1963 when the dock side of the railways, (they owned some of the largest ports in the country) decided to split away from the railways so that they could expand, hence the police force too separated into a dock division and a rail division. This remained in operation until the 1980’s when the docks decided they didn’t need a separate police force and this was terminated, leaving the various docks to employ private security.

Finally may I say this? Apart from the many numerous crimes, assaults, train smashes, level crossing crashes and fatalities which the British Transport Police have to deal with, try dealing with the numerous tragic people who decide to end their life by throwing themselves under a train and some unfortunate BT Police officer has to deal with it, liase with the family, attend inquests, coroners courts etc. Just one part of an officers (Keystone Cops ) duties.

[52D]

Thanks for that explanation locoman.