National Railway Museum

On the 18th of October, the Bucknell in London group travelled to York and visited, among other things, the National Railway Museum. This extremely large building was filled with several important artifacts from the past pertaining to the railway industry such as replicas and restorations of historic locomotives who broke records and revolutionized railway transportation. It also had many different exhibitions; one of which was entitled "British Rail -- a Moving Story." This exhibition told the story of the company that ran the UK rail network for half a century. Several aspects were covered within this exhibition, but I was particularly interested in the topic that discussed journey times and ticket costs for a trip from London to Edinburgh as well the average weekly income of workers from 1948 to 1995. As I explored the exhibition and found information on this topic, I found it very interesting to compare the statistics between the years and see how economic conditions had changed from decade to decade.

In 1948, the journey time from London to Edinburgh was seven hours and fifty minutes. The cost of a first class single ticket was £4.30 and that of a standard single ticket was £2.57. The average weekly income of a worker was £5.75.

The travel time from London to Edinburgh surprisingly increased by four minutes in 1951 when it took seven hours and fifty-four minutes, but the prices for tickets as well as the average weekly income increased. The price for a first class single ticket had increased to £6.61 and it cost £4.01 for a standard single ticket. The average weekly income in 1951 was £9, a rather significant increase from 1948.

In 1960 the travel time from London to Edinburgh decreased to just over seven hours (7 hours, 2 minutes). The interesting statistic of 1960 as compared to 1951, however, lies in the ticket prices; they actually decreased. The price of a first class single ticket was £5.31 and a standard single ticket was £3.50. I cannot explain exactly why this decrease in ticket prices happened; I can only guess that the prices dropped to perhaps influence more people to use the train as their mode of transportation. There could be several reasons as to why this drop occurred; I however am unaware of the exact and correct reason. The average weekly income again raised substantially compared to earlier years as it was around £16.50.

The journey time from London to Edinburgh in 1970 decreased by a great amount as it took five hours and forty-one minutes. The ticket prices, however, increased since 1960. A first class single ticket was around £8.61 and a standard single ticket was around £5.61. The average weekly income also increased greatly to £32.35.

In 1985, it actually took a minute longer to travel to Edinburgh from London (5 hours, 42 minutes). However, there was a great increase in ticket costs and average weekly income. Tickets prices rose to £61.00 for a first class single ticket and £40.50 for a standard single ticket. The average weekly income rose to £171.00.

The last available information on this topic in the exhibition was for 1995. During this time, it took four hours and twelve minutes to travel from London to Edinburgh, and cost £92.00 for a first class single ticket and £63.00 for a standard single ticket. The average weekly income increased to £336.30.

The general decrease in journey time and increase in ticket prices and average weekly incomes (with the exception of a few key statistics in the years listed above) reflects the traditional economic tendencies of society. As time goes on, the efficiency of modes of transportation increase which causes travel time to decrease, and prices of tickets and incomes rise in turn as the standards of living increase and the price of other goods and services increase in quality. It was very interesting to tour the "British Rail -- a Moving Story" exhibition and gain more insight on how economic conditions have changed over a period of almost fifty years.