About GB Trains

An independent guide to Britain’s railways, line by line: each line’s length, stations, trains and history. The trains are drawn to one scale as each is measured (a few, marked indicative, from estimates), and the line-up on the rolling stock page sets them side by side.

How the figures are checked

Every figure comes from a source, and each line and train page lists its sources at the foot, including those for its history. A figure counts as checked once it matches TfL, Network Rail, the Office of Rail and Road, a builder’s or operator’s published data, or a reputable history. Where no source gives a figure, the page usually leaves it blank rather than guessing. A few figures are worked out from sourced ones, or carried over from a closely related train; those are tagged at the foot of the page, which says how.

What “unverified” means

On a line or train page, the unverified tag can appear in two places. Beside the title, it means the record as a whole hasn’t yet been checked against one of the sources above; a record that rests only on Wikipedia or the press stays tagged. At the foot of the page, it lists what’s still in doubt there: a figure not yet confirmed, sources that disagree, a figure worked out from others or carried over from another train, or one that no source gives. The tag comes off once those have been checked against one of the sources above. Until then, treat them as leads rather than facts.

The drawings

The train drawings are schematics, not engineering drawings. Every one is drawn at the same scale, 10 px per metre, with its proportions taken from the data: car lengths, heights, doors and bogies. Where a builder’s or TfL’s dimensioned drawing exists, the page says which one it was measured from. Details are simplified.

Faded drawings are indicative: drawn from estimates where no dimensioned drawing has been published, or, for trains not yet built, from the train they’re expected to resemble. Their captions say what was estimated.

The line diagrams are schematic too: stations in order, evenly spaced, not to scale.

Independent

GB Trains isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by Transport for London, Network Rail, Great British Railways or any train operator, and it doesn’t use their logos or map designs. Line colours are used only to identify the lines.

Data and credits

Station data: Powered by TfL Open Data. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2016. Geomni UK Map data © and database rights [2019]. Operator figures (route kilometres, stations managed, journeys) are the Office of Rail and Road’s, except Eurostar’s, which are its own; light rail figures are the Department for Transport’s.

Why the wordmark forks

The line under the name is the Bakerloo as it ran from 20 November 1939 to 1 May 1979. The ring is Baker Street, an interchange. The branch dropping away under it is the line to Stanmore: from 1939 Bakerloo trains reached it through new tunnels from Baker Street to Finchley Road, and on 1 May 1979 it passed to the new Jubilee line. The 1972 Stock in the icon was built for the Northern line and runs on the Bakerloo today. It’s a diagram, not to scale. On a line or operator page, the line under the name takes that line’s colour.

Who makes it

GB Trains is made by Kyle Barnard.

Sources 525

Every source on file, grouped by who published it, with the number of pages citing each. A few aren’t cited on a page yet.

Builders and train owners 49

Transport for London 144

Government, regulators and investigators 68

Infrastructure companies and consultants 5

Train operators 97

Museums and histories 48

Wikipedia and enthusiast sites 56

News and trade press 58