North Eastern Railway (UK)

North Eastern Railway

A map of the North Eastern Railway ca. 1900 displayed at York railway station
Reporting mark	NE
Locale	North East England, Yorkshire
Dates of operation	1854–31 December 1922
Predecessor	York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway York and North Midland Railway Leeds Northern Railway Malton and Driffield Railway
Successor	London and North Eastern Railway
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length	1,757 miles (2,828 km) in 1922
Headquarters	York

The North Eastern Railway (NER) was an English railway company. It was incorporated in 1854, when four existing companies were combined, and 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 4,990 miles (8,030 km) and the company's share capital was £82 million. The headquarters were at York and the works at Darlington, Gateshead, York and elsewhere.