National Records of Scotland (NRS) holds the largest written and pictorial archive of Scottish railway history. The bulk of the collection is made up of the records formerly held by the British Transport Records Historical Records Department in Edinburgh and passed to us by the terms of the Transport Act 1968 (section 144) (NRS reference BR).
We also hold collections of more recent records deposited by the British Railways Board, British Railways (Scottish Region), British Rail Board (Residuary), Scotrail, Railtrack Scotland and Network Rail. The company records contain minutes and reports, letter books, deeds and agreements, circulars, locomotive and rolling stock records, civil engineers records, station traffic books, accident reports, and staff records. We also hold an important collection of specialised books and periodicals on transport subjects, mostly inherited from the old railway companies and dating back to the 1840s, as well as timetables, publicity material and a large series of engineering and architectural drawings.
You can view a sample of photographs from railway company records in our image gallery.
With the exception of public timetables and publicity matter, a 30 year closure period is applied to the records of these four depositors.
